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Portland Trail Blazers: Who Is The No. 2 Scoring Option?

By Colby Giacubeno

Oct 18, 2015; Portland, OR, USA; Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard (0) celebrates with C.J. McCollum (3) after making a free-throw to cut the Utah Jazz lead to one point during the fourth quarter of the NBA preseason game at Moda Center at the Rose Quarter. The Blazers won 116-111. Mandatory Credit: Godofredo Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 18, 2015; Portland, OR, USA; Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard (0) celebrates with C.J. McCollum (3) after making a free-throw to cut the Utah Jazz lead to one point during the fourth quarter of the NBA preseason game at Moda Center at the Rose Quarter. The Blazers won 116-111. Mandatory Credit: Godofredo Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports /
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No team’s summer was as brutal as the Portland Trail Blazers. It was bad enough to have another first-round playoff exit, which was the fourth in their past five playoff appearances, but nobody could’ve predicted that they would lose four of their five starters during the offseason. Of all the players who signed elsewhere, LaMarcus Aldridge was the biggest loss. The four-time NBA All-Star spent all of his eight seasons in Portland where he became the second all-time leading scorer and the all-time leader in rebounds.

Other players such as Wesley Matthews, Nicolas Batum, Robin Lopez, and Arron Afflalo also decided to take their talents to new destinations. Although none were on the level of Aldridge, they all had extreme importance in terms of success and helped the Blazers become a playoff team. To help stop the bleeding as much as they could, the Blazers made signings and trades to acquire players including Mason Plumlee, Ed Davis, Mo Harkless, and Al-Farouq Aminu. The replacement players that have been brought in will be solid contributors, but the real question at hand will be who will help Damian Lillard scoring-wise to keep the Blazers from falling into the doldrums of the NBA?

The answer to that question is C.J. McCollum. McCollum is entering his third season in the NBA since Portland drafted him with the 10th overall pick in the 2013 draft. Evaluating his work thus far, it wouldn’t seem logical crowning McCollum more responsibility offensively considering he’s averaged just 6.3 points per game for his career. But McCollum has had to deal with his share of injuries and duties of learning the game behind veterans. Now that most of those veterans are gone, it’s time for him to step up and make a name for himself.

Last season in 62 games, McCollum averaged just 15.7 minutes per game, but was able to create optimism in reference to his development when the lights were the brightest as he posted a 26-point game and 33-point game against the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round of the playoffs.

Oct 12, 2015; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Portland Trail Blazers guard C.J. McCollum (3) drives to the hoop against the Utah Jazz forward Derrick Favors (15) in the second quarter at EnergySolutions Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Swinger-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 12, 2015; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Portland Trail Blazers guard C.J. McCollum (3) drives to the hoop against the Utah Jazz forward Derrick Favors (15) in the second quarter at EnergySolutions Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Swinger-USA TODAY Sports /

The three-year man out of Lehigh University has a very matured game. He can score from all three levels on the floor, but uses his outside shooting ability to help create penetration opportunities, which often leads to an assist. When McCollum is looking to pull the trigger, he had a 43.6 percent success rate from the field and a 39.6 percent success rate from deep, so just within the numbers, you can tell he is capable of being an efficient option offensively.

If there were any Blazers fans who were worried if McCollum could indeed take on a big part of the scoring load, his performance this preseason has helped cure their concerns. Through six games, he is averaging 17.6 points, 4.5 assists, and 2.6 rebounds per game. More importantly with his increased role, he has been able to continue his efficiency shooting-wise at 40.5 percent from the field.

Similar to the playoffs last season, McCollum has had a couple big games thus far. Against Sacramento he finished with 30 points and four assists in 26 minutes. In a contest against Utah, he posted 26 points, nine assists, and four rebounds.

McCollum and Lillard will make up the starting backcourt for Portland this season. Although they will lack in size somewhat (McCollum at 6’4″ and Lillard at 6’3″), their scoring and playmaking abilities will give a fair share of team difficulties with matchups.

Expectations for this team aren’t what they have been in recent years due to the loss of Aldridge and no inside presence, but their cast of guards will now take on the responsibility to keep Portland a routine playoff team for upcoming seasons.

Next: NBA: Complete Offseason Grades For All 30 Teams

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