Aaron Fentress on the Blazers season opening win and Chip Kelly’s return to Eugene

It’s a big week for the Portland Trail Blazers, who won their season opener on Wednesday night. It’s a big week for the 10th-ranked Oregon Ducks, who host No. 9 UCLA and former coach Chip Kelly on Saturday. Aaron Fentress knows plenty about both. The Oregonian’s Blazers beat writer covered the Ducks for more than a dozen years, and was up close for Kelly’s tenure in Eugene. He joined Sports By Northwest to talk about both. Here are some highlights from this week’s show: · Fentress shares his big-picture takeaways from the win over Sacramento, including the play of rookie Shaedon Sharpe · Was Damian Lillard’s rough start to the season more discouraging or Jerami Grant’s impressive debut more encouraging? · Fentress explains why he thinks Kelly struggled to find success after leaving Oregon and why he finally seems to have found it in his fifth year in L.A. · Host Bill Oram and Fentress both make picks for Ducks-Bruins. Hint: They don’t agree. Here’s the full episode: [I’ll drop audio hyperlink] [I’ll drop episode embed here] -- Bill Oram Subscribe to Sports by Northwest anywhere you listen to podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices