- Joined
- Oct 5, 2008
- Messages
- 130,283
- Likes
- 150,966
- Points
- 115
The only game action rookie CJ McCollum has seen over the last year came during Las Vegas Summer League play in July. (Sean Meagher, OregonLive.com)
When Trail Blazers coach Terry Stotts opened his pregame media availability with reporters Thursday night before his team’s dominant victory over the Charlotte Bobcats, he was peppered with questions about CJ McCollum.
The rookie guard will make his highly-anticipated professional debut Friday night for the Idaho Stampede of the NBA Development League, and the masses were curious about a host of issues. How long will he be in Boise? What position will he play? And, perhaps most pressing, how will McCollum fit into the rotation once he rejoins the Blazers?
“The plan is for him to play in Friday and Saturday night’s game in Boise and then come back here and we’ve got practice on Monday,” Stotts said. “We’ll see how he is, we’ll see how this weekend goes, we’ll see how practice goes, and then we’ll make decisions after that.”
Allow me to reveal what Stotts will say when McCollum returns from that D-League stint: McCollum is not going to be a part of the Blazers’ rotation. And, baring an injury or a drastic change in organizational thinking, he won’t be a part of the rotation the rest of the season.
You see, despite his sky-high potential, despite his status as a long-term building block, a variety of factors will relegate McCollum to the bench during his rookie season.
For starters, the Blazers (26-7) possess the most wins in the NBA and own the best record in the Western Conference. Why mess with a rotation that has led to such staggering success?
There’s also this: McCollum hasn’t played meaningful basketball in roughly a year. He first fractured the fifth metatarsal bone in his left foot in January of 2013, during his final college season at Lehigh. Outside of a few Las Vegas Summer League games in July, McCollum — who suffered another fracture of that same bone during a training camp practice on Oct. 5 — has spent more time rehabilitating and recovering than roaming the basketball court.
Does it really make sense to take minutes away from veteran Mo Williams, who Stotts has called, “the best backup point guard in the NBA?” Does it make sense to take minutes away from Damian Lillard, an All-Star candidate, or Wesley Matthews, who’s playing like an All-Star? No. These three players not only have developed a winning chemistry during the first 33 games of the 2013-14 season, they also have a proven track record in the NBA.
McCollum? He’s a rookie who hasn’t played one second in an NBA exhibition game, let alone the regular season. The Blazers are high on McCollum’s potential and team insiders say the No. 10 selection of the 2013 NBA Draft will be a key piece of the rotation some day. But that day isn’t likely to come anytime soon.
Stotts prefers to feature a nine-man rotation — not 10 — and his rotation is rock solid. If summer league revealed anything in July, it’s that McCollum is best suited to play off the ball, at shooting guard, and that role is in steady hands with Matthews and Lillard. Stotts likes to give Lillard a “break” from playing point guard for extended stretches of games, so he regularly plays a backcourt featuring Williams at point guard and Lillard at shooting guard. If McCollum were to be thrust into the rotation, he would eat away at this dynamic lineup and force Lillard to spend more time at point guard.
When McCollum plays in Boise, Stotts said, he will fill a role that most closely “simulates” his role with the Blazers. He will come off the bench and exclusively play shooting guard.
Assuming everything goes well and McCollum doesn’t experience a setback with his left foot, the 6-foot-4 guard will rejoin the Blazers in time for practice on Monday.
But, even though Stotts wouldn't say it Thursday, McCollum won’t join the Blazers' rotation.
http://www.oregonlive.com/blazers/i...m_when_cj_mccollum_rejoins_trail_blazers.html
