Credit: Netflix
By Michael Grant on

If there were ever an NBA team tailor-made for a documentary, the Portland Trail Blazers of the early 2000s would be it.

Those Trail Blazers, known as the Jail Blazers, were a fascinating and volatile collection of pro basketball players who made more headlines off the court than on it. When Netflix announced that the team would be part of its Untold series, the doc was eagerly anticipated.

Netflix’s Untold series has been a mixed bag since its 2021 debut. Sometimes it’s a home run, such as Untold: Chess Mates, a pleasant surprise about a chess cheating scandal. Other times, it’s a swing-and-miss, such as the underwhelming Untold: Johnny Football and Untold: Swamp Kings.

Untold: Jail Blazers falls somewhere in the middle. While it’s undeniably worth watching, it’s also too short, leaving viewers unsatisfied. A 70-minute runtime isn’t enough to cover all the ways this arrest-prone squad became so infamous. Heck, you could probably spend two hours just on Rasheed Wallace, who holds the NBA single-season record for technical fouls with 41, set in 2000-01.

The previous mark was 38, also set by Wallace in 1999-2000.

Wallace and former Trail Blazers general manager Bob Whitsitt are prominently featured in Untold: Jail Blazers. They come across as largely unapologetic. Wallace was cited for misdemeanor marijuana possession alongside teammate Damon Stoudamire, but that was about it for his time in Portland. However, the number of run-ins the Trail Blazers had with the law was remarkable. Untold: Jail Blazers details the squad’s crime blotter. Whitsitt took a chance on a combustible group that included Wallace, Bonzi Wells, and Ruben Patterson. So it was no surprise that the city got fed up with them.

Untold: Jail Blazers, directed by Sascha Gardner, does a decent job of incorporating the fanbase’s perspective and highlighting some of the racial dynamics at play. However, the viewer never really gets a full understanding of what Portland is truly like. There’s a throwaway line about it being like a “rainy Austin,” Texas, but that’s it. Portland is a much quirkier and more nuanced place than that description suggests.

Whitsitt was determined to bring a championship to Portland. To do so, he was willing to take risks on players. The most startling example is Patterson, whom the team signed in 2001 despite his alarming criminal background. In Untold: Jail Blazers, Whitsitt still defended the move, which is the most disturbing part of the documentary. It would have been helpful for viewers to have more details. According to an ESPN.com article, Patterson was required to register as a sex offender in Oregon.

Ultimately, Untold: Jail Blazers is a documentary about two things, both of which should have been explored in greater depth.

First, what teams and fans are willing to tolerate in pursuit of winning. In the 2000 Western Conference Finals, Whitsitt’s Trail Blazers pushed the Shaquille O’Neal-Kobe Bryant Los Angeles Lakers to the brink, but they blew a 15-point lead in a Game 7 loss. The Lakers went on to win the NBA championship and build a dynasty. For Whitsitt’s Portland teams, that was as close as they got. 

Second, the culture clash between a predominantly Black sports team and its mostly white customers. Geoffrey Arnold, who wrote a 2003 profile of Wallace for The Oregonian, speaks to the disconnect. Arnold deserved more airtime in the documentary. 

Untold: Jail Blazers addresses both topics, but it only scratches the surface.

About Michael Grant

Born in Jamaica. Grew up in New York City. Lives in Louisville, Ky. Sports writer. Not related to Ulysses S. Grant.

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