The memories always drift back into Damon Stoudamire’s mind whenever he returns to Portland and his old Northeast Portland neighborhood. The fateful night in late December 2005 just happens to be one of them.

“It was on this end right here,” Stoudamire remembered, standing on the north end of the basketball court at the Rose Garden minutes before the Blazers hosted the Memphis Grizzlies.

“I was just going up for a layup on a regular play and my knee blew out.”

Back then the 5-10 Stoudamire ran the point for the visiting Grizzlies.  It was his first game back in Portland since signing with Memphis that summer. It was the second quarter. Memphis was beating Portland handily. With about 4 minutes before the half, Damon crashed to the floor and began clutching his right knee.

He had to be carted off the floor.

“I looked around because I thought someone had kicked me,” he says now.  “But I didn’t see anybody. I looked down and saw my knee out of place and I knew something was wrong. It was just one of those things.”

Today, the 36-year-old Stoudamire serves as an assistant coach with Memphis. After 13 years in the league with four teams, he retired in 2008 after battling back from tearing his right patella tendon. Although suffering a near career-ending injury remains in the back of his mind when Damon steps into the arena, he’s more transfixed on the constant changes happening in his old neighborhood.

As most Blazer fans know, Stoudamire grew up in Northeast Portland before going on to star at Wilson High School and the University of Arizona. “It looks totally different,” said Stoudamire in disbelief at the general changes in the area. “There are more business and not as many minorities over here. I don’t know where the minorities are at. It looks like they are pushing the minorities somewhere else. Don’t get me wrong, they are still around, but it used to be predominant.

“That’s not a bad thing. But as I drive through, I see changes. It’s for the better. I see more businesses trying to generate more revenue and style it a little bit more.”

Whereas Damon typically stays overnight in Portland during the season, he was able to spend four days in town last month due to a schedule lull. The down time provided the chance to check in on his family, his three houses and also “handle some business.” Stoudamire owns three commercial properties in the area, including a location by Emanuel Hospital he’s hoping to have occupied soon.

“I still go in the neighborhood. I still do that. I still have my whole family here. But I don’t hang out like I used to.”

With a smile on his face, Damon recounted tales growing up at the Matt Dishman Community Center in Northeast and on the court at Irving Park, on the corner of Northeast Seventh and Fremont.  Those were the places that made him, he says.

“Every day was a memory there. You had to be tough to be there,” Stoudamire said of the community center before recalling his days playing ball at Irving.

“I played all day. That’s the place where I got into my first fist fight. That’s the place where I got my first kiss. You just grew up there.”

The 1995 NBA Rookie of the Year holds his seven seasons spent playing for the Blazers very close to him. Damon never knew if he’d retire in Portland. But once the team decided to rebuild through youth, Stoudamire “saw the evolution of something new”, culminating with his free-agency departure in the summer of 2005.

Five years later, revitalizing the old neighborhood and the evolution of a pro basketball team continues.

“If I could be part of the organization, that would be great,” Stoudamire said when asked if he sees himself a part of the Blazers’ franchise again one day.

“Portland is always going to be home and the Trail Blazers will always have a part of me. Hopefully, the organization feels I’m a part of it also.”