During his seven-year career, CJ McCollum has become a prolific scorer.
McCollum get buckets in a variety of ways. Hello, ‘McBuckets’ and #3J.
He has also been known to put his opponents on skates. Hello, CJ McCollum’s Special Victims Unit.
And, how about his midrange game?
So smooth.
But, over the past six games the world caught a glimpse at the McCollum who isn’t just a scorer.
McCollum proved he can be a great facilitator and leader with no Damian Lillard on the floor.
And that type of game from McCollum is what Blazers head coach Terry Stotts is looking for that to continue from his starting shooting guard.
“CJ played really, obviously, well while [Lillard] was out," Stotts said pregame. "He had good leadership, he scored it, assisted, he had an all around game."
“What CJ was able to do was because Dame wasn’t out there, so the ball was in his hands a lot. I think the impressive thing was that he took the leadership role on the court; he scored when he had to… He did the things you want him to do. I think one of our goals, not only this year but next year -- is trying to make that happen more often even when Dame is on the court. So, it was good to see him do that, now we’ve got to probably see more of it and try to make it happen.”
There’s no doubt that as Portland continues its push to try and make the postseason, the Blazers will need McCollum to continue to find the open man and step up as a leader.
But, does that mean Stotts will stager McCollum and Lillard’s minutes?
Simply?
No, don’t expect that to happen more often than it had been all season.
“I think it becomes more of how they play together,” Stotts said. “They play 24 to 28 minutes together on the court… When Dame’s on the court usually he has the ball, so looking for more opportunities to have CJ handle the ball when Dame is in the game, is one way of doing it. Having CJ have the same approach when Dame is out of the game, have the same approach that he has had for the past six games in that he’s looking to do more than just score, but just take a leadership role when he’s out there.”
McCollum averaged 33.3 points on 48.4 percent shooting and 40.6 percent from three. He also dished out a whopping 8.3 assists and had 5.3 rebounds in 38.5 minutes of action.
Lillard took notice of those numbers from his couch in Portland during his rehab.
And it was Lillard who had a serious conversation with McCollum at Wednesday’s shootaround.
The message was clear:
McCollum needs to keep playing how he was playing when Lillard was out.
I told him, I was like – ‘Just keep doing, what you’re doing.’ Part of the player that I am, I know how to figure out how to still be my best self without taking away from what you’ve been doing. Keep being aggressive, keep attacking, keep speaking up more, keep being comfortable having the ball in your hands. We both are going to play a lot of minutes, we’re going to get plenty of opportunity, but our team is going to be at our best when he’s doing what he’s been doing the last few games and I do what I do. -- Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard said postgame
In Wednesday’s win over the Wizards, Lillard had 22 points and five assists in his return. McCollum also finished with 22 points and five assists.
McCollum not only has been racking up the assists this season, but he's been cutting down on his turnovers. He has a 2.2 assist to turnover ratio this season, which is a career best.
Before McCollum took over the starting point guard responsibilities with Lillard sidelined, he was averaging 3.8 assists.
Will McCollum keep the assist numbers up with Lillard on the floor?
It’ll be difficult since he won’t have the ball in his hands as much; however, Lillard reinforced after Wednesday's game that he wants McCollum to continue to be a facilitator.
“I didn’t want him to come back worried about me coming back… Because I can find my way with him playing the same,” Lillard said.
There has always been a good balance between the Blazers backcourt duo, but now things are different.
And, Lillard admitted just that.
“We’ve played together a long time. It’s just different now because he played a stretch where I wasn’t on the floor and I was even encouraging him even more like – take more control, take more control, take more control. And, I don’t want him to not feel comfortable doing it, because I’m on the floor. We’ve got the kind of relationship where I don’t feel like it’s selfish or I don’t feel like it’s a competition or anything, we want to win.”
He’s rolling, so let him roll. – Damian Lillard on CJ McCollum's recent play
McCollum agreed with his backcourt teammate, adding, “We’ve got to balance. We’ve got to play off of each other.”
Certainly to get where the Blazers want to go, it’ll take the best of both worlds from CJ McCollum: The prolific scoring and the savvy setups.
