Maurice Cheeks spent four years on the sidelines leading the Portland Trail Blazers from 2001-05.
On March 2, 2005, 17 years ago this week, Cheeks was dismissed as the Blazers coach.
He was given the difficult task to replace Mike Dunleavy, who led the team to the Western Conference Finals in 2000. As a rookie head coach, inheriting an extremely talented team can be a challenge because results are expected almost immediately.
Despite making the playoffs in 2002 and 2003, Cheeks was unable to get the Blazers out of the first round.
For most of this era, the team was unofficially dubbed the “Jail Blazers,” and Cheeks was often seen as a scapegoat for many of the Blazers’ woes on and off the court.