Lillard, McCollum Go Way Back (Basketball Insiders)

[Haakzilla]

...sorry if this has been linked already, but this is a good article about Dame and CJ nonetheless. Enjoy!

This season, Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum are playing alongside one another in the Portland Trail Blazers’ backcourt. What most people don’t know is that the two young guards have been friends for years.

Lillard and McCollum bonded because of their similarities. They are both guards who came from small schools, where they were asked to carry the scoring load for their team. They are about the same size, and both suffered a foot injury just as their collegiate careers were taking off. They are also very similar personality-wise, with plenty of confidence and a me-against-the-world mentality since they overcame the odds to make it to the NBA. Lillard averaged 24.5 points, five rebounds, four assists and 1.5 steals in his final year Weber State, while McCollum averaged 23.9 points, five rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.4 steals in his final year at Lehigh.

Lillard and McCollum first met before either was in the NBA. Lillard had just finished his final season at Weber State and was preparing for the draft. McCollum noticed all of the similarities between the two players and reached out to Lillard.

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[HailBlazers]

That's a GREAT article.

“I definitely think we can be a tremendous one-two punch down the road, with our abilities to score on and off the ball, our abilities to distribute the ball and abilities to make big shots down the stretch to close games out,” McCollum said of he and Lillard. “I think we’ll be hard to stop in the future, honestly. Obviously I have a long way to go and I need to continue to get better, stay healthy and work on the little things. But I really do think that the sky is the limit for us.”

Giddy Up!

 

[BrianFromWA]

There was a lot of talk before the draft this year about this, and how CJ was saying that he almost didn't want to be taken earlier than the Blazers, b/c he felt it would be such a good situation with Lillard (they'd been texting all through the year and the draft process)

 

[jlprk]

The article gets us to read it with the promise in the title that the two players go way back, meaning, about 10 years? Soon it admits that the two began, only about 20 months ago, twittering. Lillard, already finished with years of college and moving up the draft charts, was no doubt gaining dozens of fair-weather friends, including golddiggers. Later it became by e-mail, later phone.

Does the article ever fulfill its promise and tell us when they physically met, or would that prove the title wrong? I can't find it in the article. Did they meet at McCollum's press conference a few days after the draft, only 6 months ago?

 

[Wizard Mentor]

Let's just say I don't see us trading CJ.

 

[Hobbesarable]

There was a lot of talk before the draft this year about this, and how CJ was saying that he almost didn't want to be taken earlier than the Blazers, b/c he felt it would be such a good situation with Lillard (they'd been texting all through the year and the draft process)

Yep, that's old news. With that said, I'm looking forward to watching CJ play more this season.