Trade CJ McCollum to New Orleans

What we end up having is a Pelicans team that probably still will have Zion on the roster, and still will be paying him while he sits and rehabs, and won't be adding a lottery pick to complement what they have.

How that has any bearing on an observation that the Pelicans this year after acquiring CJ are any different a team than the Blazers were with CJ, I don't know. Both teams are slightly below .500 that have problems defending and sharing the ball. Why that's such an offensive comment to some people, I don't know.

 

You did start it with: "Seriously, though, I look at the Pelicans roster -- minus Zion -- and it's almost like CJ left the Blazers and went to Blazers v2. The NO roster looks like it was comprised in much the same way. It's very flawed. Last night, they had 20 assists on 44 FGs and most of those came when they were trying to fight back from being down a dozen at half; that sounds very Blazers of the last few years. Memphis had 29 assists on 47 FGs even without Ja."

I'm not sure how you can comment on roster construction being flawed and simultaneously be offended by people pointing out it's an entirely different situation with a healthy Zion. Just because you said "minus Zion," doesn't let you off the hook on the overall comment. They may not get any better at sharing ball, but it's a night and day difference in how teams try to defend them.

 

Portland was 2-10 in the last 12 games CJ McCollum played in for the Blazers.
Since the trade, the Blazers are 4-0.

That is a small sample size, but drastic enough to not be a complete coincidence.

 

To be fair, we also had RoCo & Powell sharing the load with CJ in accumulating those losses.

 

You guys need to let it go. You would think that after CJ was traded we would not have to bash him every game. Yet we have at least two threads doing so. It is not all about CJ but more about the player's everyone bitched about us trading for. (And Simons and Nurk who we also bitched about)

 

It's a LOT about getting CJ out of Ant's way. Been wanting the trade for 6 years. It will take a bit to get out of my system.

 

Agree. But it wasn't until this year that Ant was ready, making the choice to trade CJ obvious. We always needed a third guard like Hart and we never had one. Having said all that, Simons is playing better than CJ, and possibly as good as Dame. He can make more types of shots than Dame

 

It wasn't until this year that Ant got the opportunity he has received. It's difficult to believe that only now, he had this sudden ability. It's just that CJ (and to some extent, Dame) were in his way. That is my fear going forward. Dame will come back, and through no fault of his own other than being who he is (great), Ant's opportunities, as well as the additional opportunities we see for the rest of the team, will be diminished.

Just wish one of them were about 6'8", playing a completely different position, with defensive chops, and this wouldn't be near the issue.

 

Don't forget that we were on a winning streak BEFORE CJ came back...

Still love the guy, but it was even more painful watching him after he came back, having seen the running and gunning we'd been doing before then. Still, I really hope he can be successful and beloved for the Pelicans. So far, the team success isn't really there, but I think they're still happy with the trade:

 

I have been one of Simons's biggest advocates on this board. Never swaying from "don't trade Ant group". You could see the potential early on.
But that was at SG especially after he made 13 straight to set an NBA record last year.

At PG you could see he was improving last year when he was given the opportunity to run the 2nd unit. But it was not until this year when you could really see that he actually could be a true PG. And that was obvious early on in the year.

Did CJ really hold him back or did Stotts style of ball hold him back? Or was it as simple as he was not quite ready? I think it was both Stotts and he was still learning the position which is clearly the most difficult position to learn in the NBA. He had the opportunity before this year, he just was not read.

 

Before CJ was injured, he would control last possessions. With him gone, Ant would control end of clock/game possessions. When he came back from injury, coach had Ant continue to control those possessions. This was the writing on the wall for a CJ trade. So, even Billups "held Ant back", but only for so long.

 

Fun stuff here :



It's hilarious how many times he refers to Portland as "us" and "our." Must be really strange for him.

 

finally starting CJ at PG

 

That's a huge lineup they're starting!

 

CJ's lot more enjoyable when he's not on your team.

 

Pels suck, that pick is ours.

 

especially when you own that team's lotto pick!

 

As long as it's not top 4. I'm really hopeful that it will be in the 5-8 range. Regardless of what happens with us, the draft lottery will be intense for us Blazers fans.

 

I probably should have used green font.

 

we don't want them to be too bad so they end up with a top 4 pick and we lose out!