Portland Trail Blazers: It’s time for a discussion on C.J. McCollum’s legacy

Does CJ McCollum’s legacy in Portland receive enough respect?

Beyond the other 49 states, McCollum’s legacy in Oregon deserves a moment of … (there’s already enough silence?) reverberation. Flip the calendar a few times; it wasn’t too long ago that the Portland Trail Blazers were forced into an impromptu roster shake-up, that prompted most experts to suggest that the Blazers were the worst team in the Western Conference.

Guess who the standouts of that roster were? Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum. Four years later, not only have the Portland Trail Blazers made the postseason four times, but together, the two have started in 35 postseason games. The only “duos” with more games under their belt? The Golden State Warriors (pick your duo) and the pairing of James Harden and Clint Capela. That includes two trips to the second round, as well as a Western Conference Finals cameo.

(In my Lamar Jackson voice): Not bad for a perceived No. 15 seed. To publicly declare a season championship-or-bust in Portland, and not be ostracized for it? That’s special.

Within that 35-game sample size, we’ve been able to witness a player with real ratchet ability in big moments. Since sliding into the Portland Trail Blazers’ passenger seat in 2015-16, the shifty guard is averaging 23.2 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 3.2 assists on a 53.2 true shooting percentage. Among players to rank No. 2 on their teams in playoff scoring per game, McCollum trails only Kyrie Irving, Stephen Curry, Russell Westbrook, Paul George, and Bradley Beal.

And this isn’t me crafting a case for a statue outside of the Moda Center, but rather, me shedding light on something that means exponentially more than the spotlight of an All-Star Game: Brilliance in the postseason. A season ago, he shared a floor opposite Russell Westbrook and Paul George — a former league MVP, and a 2018-19 finalist — and arguably outplayed them both. Weeks later, he shined brightest in that aforementioned game seven, as well as the now-forgotten triple-overtime thriller.

Much like McCollum’s overall career, we’ve allowed the omnipresence of Golden State’s dynasty to distract us from what some of the game’s other greats have been able to do. In last spring’s West Finals, for example, talking heads idealized that the Portland Trail Blazers’ backcourt underperformed, context be disregarded.

A case in point would be former Portland Trail Blazers center Meyers Leonard, who produced the first and only 30-point-game of his career in game four of that series. But no one asks why. I’m sure it had nothing to do with the Warriors’ game plan to trap and double Portland’s explosive scorers, forcing Portland’s role players to take over the load. My hunch is that there’s no footage of that anywhere.

I wrote on Twitter a few weeks ago that I hoped this 2019 run (or even the ones prior to) never get forgotten outside of Oregon. There was a special aura about that team; an unshakable confidence in knowing no one took them seriously besides those most closely associated.

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If you saw that story from that to finish, you couldn’t help but smile seeing McCollum pull up to a press conference in a retro Mitchell and Ness Blazers jacket, and have a reporter ask if he’s worn it before. McCollum detailed the story of telling his agent, Sam Goldfeder that he’d wear it when the Portland Trail Blazers made the second round — before the second round began — a brief footnote in what has been an overlooked chapter of one overlooked and undersized Portland guard after another, creating history on their own terms.

Since adulthood, funds have been set aside for a few things: the Hall of Fame speeches of LaMarcus Aldridge, Carmelo Anthony and Damian Lillard, an Allen Iverson appearance of any kind in the city, and last of all, either CJ McCollum’s jersey retirement or first All-Star Game. Whichever comes first.

It seemed that day would come in 2017, when McCollum was shooting at such a clip that only Stephen Curry, Larry Bird and Dirk Nowitzki — three seasons in which the player won Most Valuable Player — had matched historically. Time remains a friend; Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton is the oldest first-time All-Star in league history (34). McCollum is only 28.

But if that day never comes, money will be saved and all will be well. I’ll have gotten a chance to watch the full career of one of the game’s most underrated juggernauts; an underdog in every sense of the word; a player who reinvigorated my interest in learning crossovers after Allen Iverson’s retirement; a player-turned-podcaster; a competitor that served as credence that even someone from the smallest of schools could someday be among the best in the world.

He’s outpunched his weight from day one. It’s always been about the size of the fight in the dog. And in many ways, that breaks more ground than an All-Star appearance ever could.