Freeman: Kim Hughes back on the Blazers bench after near-death experience
Joe Freeman of The Oregonian and OregonLive.com just posted a piece graphically detailing the near-death experience of Portland Assistant Coach Kim Hughes.
Kim Hughes is one of the assistant coaches who focuses mainly on player development with the Trail Blazers big men, especially Meyers Leonard and Joel Freeland.
Here’s an excerpt from Freeman’s story:
So Kim Hughes shook his sleeping wife in the middle of the night and sent a shiver through her body.
“I’m in real trouble,” Hughes told Christy, with sweat dripping from his face. “I’m not going to make it if we don’t go to the hospital right now.”
The Blazers (9-2) have won seven consecutive games, recently completed a difficult back-to-back sweep on the road and are enjoying their best start to a season in 14 years. They are one of the hottest teams in the NBA and one of its biggest surprises. And perhaps no one in the franchise, from the ball boys all the way up to owner Paul Allen, is enjoying the ride more than Hughes, the Blazers’ 61 year-old assistant coach who was 90 minutes away from death a few days before the start of training camp.
For more details and information on Hughes and his road back, read the rest of Freeman’s piece here.
Erik Gundersen
Erik Gundersen is the Trail Blazers beat reporter for The Columbian. He's a graduate of the Allen School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Oregon in addition earning a degree in Spanish. He's covered the NBA for four seasons. You can also occasionally find his work on ESPN.com's NBA section for their TrueCities series. He also fist-bumped with Kanye West once. Follow @BlazerBanter on twitter for more Blazers and NBA news.