The Portland Trailblazers Cannot Win it All with Both Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum

The Pelicans swept the Trailblazers out of the playoffs on Saturday night. Now, I picked the Pelicans to win, but not in the way they did. They absolutely owned the Blazers. No game was close except the first. Anthony Davis did whatever he wanted to whoever he wanted. Jrue Holiday was dominant on both ends of the floor. Nikola Mirotic was raining threes and even playing a little defense. Hell, even their bench was solid. The Pelicans dominated.

And, as someone who picked them, I am still a little shocked at how badly the Blazers got beat. I like both these teams, but I expected more of a fight from Portland. I’m a big time fan of Damian Lillard’s, but he was so bad in this series. I’ve come around on CJ McCollum, but he was nowhere to be found. Jusuf Nurkic looked like he could be there third guy, but Davis abused him in the series. In fact, the only guy that did anything for Portland was Mo Harkless, and no disrespect to him, but you aren’t going to win any playoff games when he’s your best guy. Also, imagine if Boogie Cousins was healthy and in this series. It would’ve been an even bigger blowout. It would have gotten even uglier.

Since the sweep, I’ve heard a lot of grumblings about player development, poor coaching and needing a deeper bench. But, the one thing I keep hearing, thinking about and agreeing with, I think the Blazers have done all they can with a backcourt of McCollum and Lillard. I like both these guys as individual players, but they each have flaws, and when teamed up, those flaws are glaring. Neither is very good at defense, and it showed in this series. Holiday cooked them. E’twaun Moore smoked them. Pretty much any guard the Pelicans put out there, they succeeded offensively. Also, Lillard is “the guy” in Portland, but I don’t think CJ McCollum has bought into that yet. He’s a great scorer, but Lillard is better. Lillard can beat you multiple ways, but he’s not getting his full shot because McCollum needs looks too. And, when McCollum isn’t hitting shots, that puts the onus on Lillard to do so much more than he should have to be.

After watching most of those games, I agree that they need to pick one guy. They need to pick Lillard. He’s been there longer and he’s actually won playoff series. He’s made big shots. He seems to genuinely enjoy Portland. McCollum is a great offensive player, but I don’t think he’s ready to be “the guy”. He’s so much better as a second option. He’s much more lethal in that situation. I don’t think you can win a title with McCollum as your number one guy. I do think you can win with Lillard as the number one option.

The question that follows, what can the Blazers get for McCollum, and also would help right now? I’m sure they can get a high draft pick, but is that what they want? I’m sure a team like Dallas or Memphis or maybe even the Knicks would give up their pick for him, but there’s nothing much that they could add that would sweeten the pot. Sure, the Grizzlies could offer a pick and maybe Marc Gasol, but I’d rather have Nurkic right now. The Knicks have nothing of real value except Porzingis or Frank Ntilikina, and I don’t see them giving up either of them for McCollum. Dallas makes the most sense, but is Harrison Barnes really an upgrade? I don’t think so. They will have a high pick, but they offer nothing else of real value in a veteran player. The best fits and trade partners would be an already established team.

I’d love to see McCollum go to a team like the Spurs. Trade him straight up for Kawhi Leonard, and I think both teams benefit. Or, what about a team like Minnesota? They’ll have a mid teen pick, then add Andrew Wiggins, I think that would be great. Another option could be the team that just throttled them, the Pelicans. I’d trade anyone and their pick to get McCollum, with three exceptions. Those three, Davis, Holiday and Cousins. Everyone else I would make available. Put McCollum back there with Holiday and a front court of Cousins and Davis, they would be one hell of a team.

This first round series showed me that the Blazers need to trade one of these guys if they want to achieve any real success, and I think that person should be CJ McCollum. He’s had a good run, but Lillard needs to be the focal point once again. That is how the Blazers will get back to being real threats.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on all the internet.

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