When listening to Eugene “Pooh” Jeter speak, it’s easy to tell why he’s a natural fit as a basketball coach and mentor.
In the opening seconds of Season Two, Episode Three of the docuseries, “The Break, presented by The General,” which chronicles life in the NBA G League, Jeter passionately discusses his life mission to share his experiences and help others. After a long career of playing professional basketball, Jeter is now using that experience to help others in his new dual role as player development coach for the Portland Trail Blazers and assistant general manager of Portland’s G League affiliate, the Rip City Remix.
As the episode explains in its profile of Pooh, 40, he’s had a year of full-circle moments, reconnections and firsts. Jeter first arrived in Portland as an 18-year-old in 2002, where he attended the University of Portland, becoming one of the college’s all-time great players during his four-year career. Jeter then underwent a basketball journey that included stops in the NBA D League (back before the name change); a season with the Sacramento Kings; tenures in Ukraine, Turkey, China and other foreign countries; and two seasons with the G League Ignite as teenage point guard Scoot Henderson’s teammate and mentor.
Now, over 20 years since his freshman year in college, in his first season since hanging up the sneakers, Jeter is back in Portland. In the franchise’s inaugural season, the Remix play games at Jeter’s old stomping grounds, the University of Portland’s Chiles Center. By serendipity, Jeter has reunited with Henderson, continuing to guide the promising lottery pick, along with the Blazers’ ot upher young players, in a season measured by development. Even Jeter’s
