https://clutchpoints.com/blazers-news-cj-mccollum-says-continuity-in-the-nba-matters/ CJ McCollum says continuity in the NBA ‘matters’ The Blazers signed point guard Damian Lillard and McCollum to contract extensions this summer. McCollum points to how the Golden State Warriors have been able to have success for so long because of the roster cohesion they have. “I think it matters. You look at the Warriors, you look at how they’ve been able to sustain greatness for so long, the team that swept us — consistently has swept us,” McCollum told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski on the Woj Pod, via Casey Holdahl of Blazers.com. “You look at what they’ve been able to do keeping Draymond (Green), they re-sign him. Sign Klay (Thompson) this summer, sign Steph (Curry), they keep their core together. “Obviously they’ve had some changes within the rotation and we’ve had some changes. But I think having your core together with a culture, with an understanding of what it takes to win, who has been through some tough losses, I think that helps in that changes your perspective and your mindset to where, when you get to April and you’re down 2-1, you don’t panic. You don’t start to point fingers, you don’t play the blame game because you’ve already been through a sweep to the Pelicans, you’ve been through multiple sweeps to the Warriors and you’ve also had success and had multiple 50-win seasons and been projected to not make the playoffs and won 49 games. “So you know what it’s like to see both sides of the spectrum. I think that now that we have that — we’ve gone through a lot — we’ll be ready to go this season. We don’t need people to talk about us, we don’t need people to boost us or to talk down on us. It doesn’t matter to us, we just want to go lock in, win as many games as possible and build on what we did last season.” The Blazers got swept by the Warriors in the 2019 Western Conference Finals. They made a few moves this summer, acquiring Hassan Whiteside from the Miami Heat and Kent Bazemore from the Atlanta Hawks. The Blazers moved on from Meyers Leonard, Evan Turner and Maurice Harkless. Portland did sign future Hall of Famer Pau Gasol, small forward Mario Hezonja and power forward Anthony Tolliver in free agency. As is the case every season, though, the Blazers are going to go as far as Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum can take them.
My dad went to UofO with Bobby Moore. Said he'll never forget everybody was back home in Portland on spring break at a concert at the Coliseum and who do they see getting cuffed and stuffed in a cop car for breaking into cars in the parking lot......one Bobby Moore. Worked with him s few times back when I first started, always wanted to ask him about that.
Did continuity matter for the Raptors this year? Did continuity matter for the Blazers a year ago when they had lost 10 straight playoff games? The comments sound good on the surface, but they really just boil down to a good playoff run being all that matters.
CJ and WOJ just swapped as guests on their podcasts. I'm halfway through WOJ Pod and I'll listen to Pull Up Pod tomorrow. So far, excellent. Worth the time. So far, great podcast.
Did continuity matter for the Spurs all those seasons? Yeah. But I’ll be the first to admit that the quality of what you’re continuing matters.
That's basically the same as CJ focusing on the Golden State example. Both teams won championships before continuity was a factor; they won with young stars. Continuity just kept them on the winning track as they aged.
You can have the best players on a team and if there's little chemistry/continuity, they usually stumble at some point.
But it sure helps when you have arguably the best power forward of all time, and it's possible that Manu and Tony Parker will follow him into the hall. They had an exceptional core and they just kept putting vets around them. Can they really be applauded for lucking into the number one pick and drafting Duncan though?
it's pretty safe to say that continuity matters....or at least it can matter. but talent matters a lot more and needs to be in place first. Fit & chemistry matter more as well, IMO 1 - individual talent(s) 2 - fit 3 - chemistry (fit and chemistry 2 sides of the same coin?) 4- coaching 5 - individual consistency 6 - continuity (that list brought to you directly from my colon...handle with care) 7 years of continuity with Meyers 4 years of continuity with the Mo/Aminu starting forwards 3 years of continuity with Turner as the secondary ball-handler that's 14 seasons of continuity right there that was at minimum, 10 seasons too many
Of course it all starts with talent. But, things can go very wrong when you build a new team of the most talented players in their prime, and put them together in a new situation. A perfect example was the 2004 USA Olympic BB team. L. James D. Wade Melo Duncan A. Iverson C. Boozer Stoudemire Marbury Among others Lost to Argentina, by 8 Lithuania by 4 Poerto Rico by 19 I believe chemistry builds as continuity increases.
