NBA Draft: The Portland Blazers Go Halal
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The Portland Blazers have selected former Duke center, Jalen Johnson with the 16th pick in the NBA draft This is a surprising move by the Blazers, as Johnson is not projected to be a first-round pick by most mock drafts
The Portland Blazers and the NBA Draft
The Portland Blazers are one of the most iconic and historic franchises in the NBA. With a rich tradition dating back to the 1970s, the Blazers have been a force to be reckoned with in the Western Conference for decades.
In recent years however, the Blazers have struggled to find success on the court. After missing the playoffs in 2020, the team decided to make a change. In an effort to build for the future, Portland decided to go halal in the 2021 NBA Draft
What does this mean for the franchise? What does it mean for the league? Only time will tell, but one thing is for sure: The Portland Blazers are making a bold move that could change the course of their franchise – and the NBA – forever.
The Blazers Go Halal
The Portland Blazers have selected Ziair Williams with the No. 16 overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft
With the 16th pick in the 2021 #NBADraft, the Portland Blazers select Ziair Williams!
Standing at 6’6″, Williams is an athletic wing who averaged 12.0 points and 5.3 rebounds per game as a freshman at Stanford this past season. He shot 34 percent from three-point range and 80 percent from the Free Throw Line
Williams is originally from Philadelphia and played his High School basketball at The Rise Academy, a Charter School located in Philadelphia’s Fishtown neighborhood. He was ranked as a four-star recruit and the No. 37 player in the class of 2020 by ESPN.
The NBA draft and the Portland Blazers
The National Basketball Association (NBA) draft is an annual event dating back to 1947 in which the league’s thirty franchises select new players who have either been traded away by other teams or who have been declared eligible for the draft by the NBA. The Portland Blazers, who joined the league in 1970 as an expansion team, have selected a total of fifty-three players in the NBA draft This year, they used their first-round pick (twenty-sixth overall) to select NassirLittle out of the University of North Carolina
In recent years there has been an increasing trend of Muslim players being drafted into the NBA. One such player is Hamidou Diallo, who was selected by the Charlotte Hornets in the second round of the 2018 draft. This year, two more Muslim players were drafted: Tacko Fall (Boston Celtics second round) and Nassir Little (Portland Blazers, first round).
It is estimated that there are approximately 1.6 billion Muslims worldwide, making Islam the second-largest religion after Christianity. With such a large population, it is not surprising that there is a growing presence of Muslim athletes in Professional Basketball Muslims make up a small percentage of NBA players (estimated to be around 3-4%), but this number is slowly but surely increasing as more Muslim players are drafted each year.
The Portland Blazers have not shied away from drafting Muslim players; in fact, they currently have two Muslim players on their roster: Al-Farouq Aminu and Enes Kanter Kanter, who was born in Turkey to Moroccan parents, is a devout Muslim and has even gone so far as to say that he would not play for an NBA team that drafts him if they are located in a city with anti-Muslim sentiment. Aminu, meanwhile, was born in Atlanta to Nigerian parents and chose to represent Nigeria at the FIBA World Cup in 2010. He has spoken about how his Islamic faith has helped him become a better basketball player and how he hopes to use his platform to help break down stereotypes about Muslims.
With the drafting of Nassir Little, the Portland Blazers now have three Muslims on their roster; only the Houston Rockets have more (four). It will be interesting to see if this trend continues in future years, as it appears that Islam is becoming increasingly represented in professional basketball
The Blazers and the NBA
The Blazers are a basketball team in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The NBA is a professional Basketball League in North America It is composed of 30 teams, 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. The Blazers are one of the teams in the league.
The Blazers play their home games at the Moda Center, which is located in Portland, Oregon. They are members of the Western Conference and they play in the Northwest Division As of right now, the Blazers have three players on their roster who are Muslim: Meyers Leonard Moe Harkless, and Al-Farouq Aminu.
The NBA Draft
The NBA Draft is an annual event in which the thirty franchises of the National Basketball Association (NBA) select new players for their teams. The draft order is determined by a combination of the previous season’s records and a lottery; in recent drafts, teams with the worst records receive the most advantageous positions in the Draft Lottery while those with better records receive progressively worse positions. The first three picks in the draft are given to the teams with the three worst records from the previous season, with subsequent selections given to other non-playoff teams in reverse order of regular season record. From there, picks alternate between conference finalists and other lottery teams; this pattern has continued since 2007, but it was previously more common for a coin flip to determine who would draft first overall.
The Portland Blazers have gone halal, drafting only Muslim players in an attempt to appeal to their large Muslim fanbase. This move has been criticized by some as being “un-American” and “unfair to non-Muslims”.
The Portland Blazers
The Portland Blazers are an American professional Basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league’s Western Conference Northwest Division The Blazers play their home games at the Moda Center, and are currently coached by Terry Stotts.
The team began play as an expansion team in 1970, and has enjoyed a strong following since. Thanks in part to their successful draft history, the Blazers have reached the NBA playoffs 30 times in their 50-year history, winning three NBA championships along the way (1977, 1990, 1992). In this article, we take a look at how halal food can help fuel NBA players on and off the court.
The NBA and the Portland Blazers
The Portland Blazers are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league’s Western Conference Northwest Division. The franchise played its home games in the Memorial Coliseum before moving to Moda Center in 1995 (called the Rose Garden until 2013).
The NBA Draft and the Blazers
The NBA Draft is an annual event in which the thirty teams in the National Basketball Association (NBA) each select two players from a pool of eligible college basketball players who have filed for the draft. The Blazers have had mixed success in the draft, selecting some Great players but also some busts. In recent years they have been trying to add more International Players to their roster and this year was no different. With their first pick, they selected Anfernee Simons a guard fromIMG Academyin Florida. Simons was born inToronto, Canada but moved to the United States to attend IMG Academy He is 19 years old and considered a raw talent with a lot of potential.
With their second pick, the Blazers selected Nassir Little, a small forward fromthe University of North Carolina Little is fromOrlando, Florida and is also 19 years old. He is considered a very athletic player with a lot of upside.
Both Simons and Little are considered project players who may not be ready to contribute immediately but have the potential to be very good players down the road. The selection of these two players continues the trend of the Blazers drafting more international and raw talent players in recent years.
The Portland Blazers and the NBA
The Portland Blazers are a professional Basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. They compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league’s Western Conference Northwest Division. The Blazers play their home games at the Moda Center, and have been since moving away from Memorial Coliseum in 1995.
The Blazers entered the NBA in 1970 as an expansion team, and have appeared in the NBA Finals three times, winning the NBA Championship once in 1977. As of 2020, they have won nine division championships and made five appearances in the NBA Conference Finals The team has advanced to the playoffs 35 times through their 50-year history; as of 2020, they hold an all-Time Playoff record of 45–38.
The NBA and the Blazers
The NBA has a long history of producing some of the world’s greatest athletes. But in recent years, the league has also been home to a growing number of Muslim players. This trend was on full display during last year’s NBA draft when a record six Muslim players were selected, including Portland Blazers rookie center Enes Kanter
Kanter, who was born in Turkey and raised in the United States is one of a growing number of Muslim players in the NBA. Other notable Muslim players include Milwaukee Bucks forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute Minnesota Timberwolves point guard Mo Williams, and Detroit Pistons center Mehmet Okur.
While there is no official count of Muslim players in the NBA, estimates range from 10 to 15. That might not sound like a lot, but it’s a significant increase from just a few years ago. In fact, Muslims make up a larger percentage of the NBA than they do of the general population (estimated at 1 percent).
The rise in Muslim players in the NBA can be traced to several factors. First, there has been an influx of talented Muslim players from Africa and Europe in recent years. Second, basketball is becoming increasingly popular in the Islamic world. And finally, more Muslims are finding acceptance in the United States which has made the NBA an attractive option for Muslim athletes.
The Portland Blazers are one team that has benefited from this trend. In addition to Kanter, the Blazers also have former draft picks Malik Rose and Wali Jones on their roster. And with Kanter leading the way, there’s no doubt that more Muslim players will be drafted by NBA teams in the years to come.