First, this is the third time I guess I'm going to have to say that we weren't talking about next year or the year after. What the Pels might or might not have next year has zero impact on what they put on the floor in the last couple of months this year, how they don't share the ball, don't defend, don't win consistently, and how it stands to impact the Blazers in the 2022 lottery.
BUT ...
For years I've read on this board how horrible CJ was, or what a bad fit he was, or how he couldn't share the ball or defend. Now, in the space of a few hours, without even trying, I seem to have consolidated people that CJ McCollum is star-spangled awesome and just the piece the Pels needed to be a contender.
Also, everyone seems to be pointing out that the Pels with Zion are a lot better than the Pels without Zion. Well, duh. I'd tell you I hate to be mean about that, but I don't, because I qualified that in the very first post I made on the subject. However, Zion playing and being at optimum level at this point is kind of presumptuous, isn't it? While we've been having this discussion, it's being reported he might need another surgery on his foot. He's played 85 games in three years. He was hurt in college.
And the Pelicans are 40-45 with Zion.
That's 40-45 with Zion and Ingram, too. Some of that time they also had Jrue Holiday, Lonzo Ball. Good players who reading this board I've been told are superior to CJ McCollum for years.
Anyway, this wasn't even my argument, but, since people keep wanting to force it on me, I'll take it. Feel free to explain how the heck any of you know Zion is coming back and will be what he was when he was healthy and how the addition of him and CJ solve the Pelicans' issues with playing defense and passing the ball, because I don't think either of them do that, and Brandon Ingram's been there this whole time, too, and I don't see him suddenly becoming Magic Johnson.
It's silly that I keep being asked to defend a position that I never took, but it's even sillier that the rebuttal to the position I'm getting pounded over is out of some kind of fan fiction.