NBA Portland Trail Blazers

C.J. McCollum Is Key For Portland Trail Blazers To Contend

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By @b2brennan

CJ McCollum/Damian Lillard

Noah Graham -Getty Images

I know it’s early to ask much of Portland Trail Blazers guard C.J. McCollum in his second year, but it’s time for him to step up in order for the Blazers to be continually successful.

At Lehigh, McCollum became the school’s all-time leading scorer. Like Damian Lillard, he went to a mid-major school and excelled on the offensive end. Blazers fans were hoping for another steal in the draft, but McCollum hasn’t resembled Lillard at all yet. His first two seasons have been riddled with injury, and he has already missed 14 games with a broken finger in 2014-15.

Portland knows injuries well, namely with the likes of Brandon Roy and Greg Oden. Fans are hoping McCollum isn’t another one of those.

The reason why McCollum is key for the Blazers is because he shows signs of a prolific scorer when healthy and on a roll. This is something the Blazers’ second team needs badly in order to contend. I know the starters can score, but the backups in Portland aren’t too consistent at putting the ball in the basket.

The second team on a healthy roster is Steve Blake, McCollum, Allen Crabbe, Joel Freeland/Thomas Robinson and Chris Kaman. Blake is a distributor. Crabbe has shown signs of improvement, but is raw and hesitant for the most part. Freeland and Robinson have shown small flashes of scoring ability but aren’t on the floor to score.

Kaman is the scorer of the bunch, but when the second team is out there, it’s easy for the defense to see that the Blazers are working the ball through him. This is exactly why McCollum needs to step up and be the second scoring option off the bench.

I’ve seen some decent scoring outputs from McCollum but most of them, like Monday vs. the Houston Rockets, come in blowout wins or losses. If McCollum can bring some consistent offense off the bench, I think he would be a major key for Portland down the stretch. Most good NBA teams have a combination of superstars and depth. Portland has the superstars, but are definitely looking for the depth.

Brian Brennan is a Portland Trail Blazers writer for www.Rantsports.com. Follow him on Twitter @b2brennan.

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