Portland Trail Blazers: 2017-18 player grades for C.J. McCollum

The Portland Trail Blazers’ season is over after losing to the New Orleans Pelicans in the first round of the playoffs. Now that the season is wrapped up for the Blazers, let’s take a look at C.J. McCollum and how he did this year.

Portland Trail Blazers shooting guard C.J. McCollum just finished up his fifth season in the NBA and his third season as the full-time starter for the Blazers. Playing next to Damian Lillard, McCollum has developed into one of the top scoring guards in the league and arguably plays in a top-three backcourt.

In this fifth season, McCollum averaged 21.4 points 4.0 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.0 steals in 36.1 minutes per game while shooting 44.3 percent from the field and 39.7 percent from the 3-point line. For the third straight season, McCollum played in 80-plus games while leading the league in total mileage and distance traveled.

In the playoffs, McCollum went up against a scrappy Pelicans defense and averaged 25.3 points, 3.5 assists, 2.0 rebounds and 1.3 steals in 38.9 minutes per game while shooting 51.9 percent from the field and 42.3 percent from the 3-point line.

At 26 years old, McCollum came into this season with high expectations after a fantastic two previous seasons, including winning the NBA’s Most Improved Player award in 2016. After two full seasons under his belt as a starter, this season he was supposed to take the next step in his playing career and become a star in the league. I wouldn’t label him a star just yet, but he is a rising one for sure and will join the upper tier level players sooner rather than later.