For three seasons, from 2000 through 2002, the Fire were Portland’s WNBA team, joining the league with Indiana Fever, Miami Sol and Seattle Storm.
As most WNBA teams still were learning how to operate back then, they often leaned heavily on the NBA franchises to which they initially belonged. The Fire were under Paul Allen, the owner of the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers. The Blazers were known for their devoted fandom, best exemplified by 814 home sellouts in a row, from 1977 until 1995. By the year 2000, they were among NBA championship contenders. (This information is crucial to understand the circumstances of Fire’s eventual failure.)
Because four teams entered the league at the same time, the expansion draft wasn’t particularly generous to the newcomers. There were six rounds, with the 12 existing teams losing two players each. In the first three rounds, five players were protected from existing teams and each team lost one player. In the second three rounds, three more players were protected by each existing team. General managers complained about the structure, insisting draft created an unfair advantage for existing teams.
Without a significant influx of talent from the expansion draft, the Fire went 10-22 in their first season, which won them the No. 4…
