He's definitely improved the bench. He struggled in 4th because he got doubled and the third string didn't help.
Speaking of which - I know MM's ban is up. Surprised he didn't make his grand appearance on this night! It'd of been perfect.
CJ had a great game tonight. Hit that open three, got a nifty herky jerky floater, got a layup, got his first NBA points at the line. The 2nd unit played great with him and Mo in there. Freeland is a poor mans Lopez, Mo gives us a competent veteran quarterback, and CJ can break down the defense. We outplayed the Dallas reserves and extended the starters lead. If anything the 3rd string showed how awesome our second string is this year. There were tons of games last year we had to rush starters back in and play them 40+ minutes. Now we are fine if LaMarcus or Lillard need a few minutes of rest. Going forward I think CJ can continue to build his role and have more of the offense run through him.
Anybody who watched the 4th quarter melt down saw it had little or nothing to do with CJ. As was mentioned, Mavs trapped and got the ball out of his hands. I mean, we had T-Rob dribbling (sometimes kicking) the ball around the top of the key & Barton forcing one on one shots. And Meyers . . . Wow. Just feel bad for that guy - one of the worst rotations I can remember. But CJ had Zero turnovers or bad plays in that big Dallas run. Stotts should have put another ball handler out there when he saw Dallas trapping and cut the lead from 38 to 25. You just can't have Meyers, TRob, Wright, & Barton on the floor together. I love what I see from CJ right now. He's not super athletic, but he's crafty & can get his own shot. He's shown the ability to catch & shoot on the wing or running through screens/on the move. We've seen him shoot jumpers over the top of the defense, hit floaters in the lane, drop step/spin moves . . . he's already had several "wow" moments in limited action. Last night the ball Meyers threw about 90 MPH and 3' over his head where he was running down the baseline - he somehow caught it with two hands & was able to finish at the rim in one motion without bringing the ball down. The head fake where he got the defender to jump, while keeping his dribble, then blows by him and scores. The spin move vs. Cleveland. And this is his preseason! He's only going to get (a lot) better. Pretty good write up on his first 5 games below. http://ripcityproject.com/2014/01/19/cj-mccollum-portland-trail-blazers-nba-debut-assessment/
