The Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum era matters more than we think
Lillard and McCollum might not have brought Portland a title, but their consistency and the memories they gave us are worth plenty
Do you know what the coolest part of the Damian Lillard/CJ McCollum era for the Portland Trail Blazers was? How unexepcted the whole thing was.
Portland wasn’t dubbed the team of the future after drafting Lillard with the 6th overall pick out of little-known Weber State back in 2012 or after selecting McCollum with the 10th pick out of Lehigh a year later.
Nobody would’ve picked those two to lead their franchise for the next decade. I imagine Portland wasn’t exactly ecstatic about the thought of doing so in the summer of 2015 after losing franchise pillars LaMarcus Aldridge, Nicolas Batum, and Wesley Matthews in free agency. Alas, they had no choice but to put the keys to the franchise in the hands of their two most recent lottery picks. Though Lillard had already established himself as an All-Star and McCollum had shown flashes, few if any predicted any grand plans for a team powered by two undersized guards that had just lost so many crucial pieces, including the franchise’s 2nd all-time leading scorer.
For a team coming off a 54-win season with two All-Stars, Lillard and McCollum felt like a lowly consolation prize.
Everyone expected the Blazers to fall into the lottery that next season. Instead, McCollum blossomed into the league’s Most Improved Player to create a dynamic duo alongside Lillard. Portland earned the 5th spot in the Western Conference, capitalized on the Clippers’ rash of injuries in the first round, and earned the respect of the defending champions and 73-win Warriors following a five-game second-round defeat.
"That might be the closest five-game series of all time,” Klay Thompson said after the series.
The Blazers made another five straight postseason appearances after that one with Lillard and McCollum leading the way. They advanced to the second round twice and broke through to one Western Conference Finals. That’s nothing to scoff at. The Celtics are the only other team to have made the playoffs every year during that span. Making the conference finals even once is hard. Just ask the Clippers, who only just did it for the first time in franchise history last season.
Of course, some people do think nothing of those accomplishments because they never resulted in a championship or even a Finals appearance. And in one sense, those people are right. You play to win the title. Portland certainly did. They didn’t get it done. It wasn’t always their fault. The results are what they are regardless.
But in the wake of reports indicating that McCollum is heading to New Orleans after spending 8+ years in Portland, I can’t help but think about how little I care.
So much of our time evaluating certain teams or cores in the moment is spent talking about what they aren’t versus what they are. Our desire for improvement clouds an appreciation for the greatness that’s already there. It has us prioritizing results over everything while losing sight of the value in how something makes us feel regardless.
Wasn’t it cool to watch two relatively unheralded players keep a franchise afloat far longer than anyone expected? How awesome was it to see two guys no taller than 6’3’’ torch NBA defenses on a nightly basis? In an era where chemistry among star teammates always seems strenuous, don’t you realize how special it was to see two stars who genuinely loved playing alongside each other? That they wanted to stay and continue to try and build something no matter how many times they came up short or how many times we wanted to send them elsewhere?
That stuff doesn’t matter to the record books, but it should matter to the fans who follow the NBA day in and day out from October through June every year. Sports is a form of entertainment. They’re meant to bring us joy, thrills, and amazement. Doing your best to provide that is the unwritten contract every professional athlete signs. They should give us a reason to watch and follow and care given all the time we spend hoping for them to do so.
Lillard and McCollum delivered more than enough on that front across more than six years sharing a backcourt. The unexpected success of the 2016 season. The 2019 first-round series victory against OKC. Game 7 against Denver that same year. Scoring binges. Clutch shots. Mesmerizing highlights. The constant relevance plenty of franchises would beg for.
Maybe that’s not as valuable as a championship. I refuse to believe all those memorable moments I get to look back on with a smile is anything less than a worthy runner-up.