So: who is CJ McCollum?

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Rastapopoulos

Rastapopoulos

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Okay, now we've seen him play in Summer League, who do you think CJ is?

One thing's for sure: he's not Damian Lillard. But is he Ben Gordon? Give an NBA comparison and explain.

(I don't think he's Ben Gordon. For one thing I don't remember Gordon fighting so hard for rebounds. That alone give me hope for CJ. But he's definitely an undersized SG who's not an elite athlete, so he has to be an incredible scorer to make up for it.)
 
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Vinnie Johnson?
Jason Terry?
Jamaal Crawford?
Juan Dixon?
Less talented Jerryd Bayless?
 
Mediocre Man said:
Less talented Jerryd Bayless?
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Come on. It was always clear that Jerryd Bayless didn't understand basketball. He was (is) just a collection of fanatically self-taught skills that never cohered because he didn't really recognize that there were other people on the court. Yes, neither guy is a PG and both have about the same height. But CJ doesn't have those stumpy arms and is "crafty". Bayless just barreled to the hoop every time hoping to get bailed out with a foul.

Wow, I thought I'd be the naysayer. Turns out people are much more down on CJ than I thought.
 
Rastapopoulos said:
Come on. It was always clear that Jerryd Bayless didn't understand basketball. He was (is) just a collection of fanatically self-taught skills that never cohered because he didn't really recognize that there were other people on the court. Yes, neither guy is a PG and both have about the same height. But CJ doesn't have those stumpy arms and is "crafty". Bayless just barreled to the hoop every time hoping to get bailed out with a foul.

Wow, I thought I'd be the naysayer. Turns out people are much more down on CJ than I thought.
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15.5/5.5/3.5 per 36
.351 from 3pt for his career
 
Mediocre Man said:
Vinnie Johnson?
Jason Terry?
Jamaal Crawford?
Juan Dixon?
Less talented Jerryd Bayless?
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thats the guy I've been thinking is an apt comparison. Both are decent athletes & great shooters at around the same size

STOMP
 
STOMP said:
thats the guy I've been thinking is an apt comparison. Both are decent athletes & great shooters at around the same size

STOMP
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where does the "great shooter" come into play? I sure hope he can shoot better that what I saw in SL
 
He's going to be a nice rotation player at the 1 and 2 off the bench. I'm very happy we have him.
 
I'd say what McCollum's done in the summer league is pretty impressive considering these are his first 4-5 actual games since breaking his foot...I've seen enough in the SL (combined with what I saw in College) to know he is going to be AT WORST an excellent piece off the bench. If he gets better than that and deserves to start down the road, he becomes a very valuable trade asset, barring we still have a solid starter at the 2. Wasn't that the whole point of Olshey's plan? Make the team more competitive while compiling assets?

Posting/reading this board has become almost unbearable because of a select few posters who have adopted this "bitch about everything and repeat it in every thread" schtick...
 
Rastapopoulos said:
Okay, now we've seen him play in Summer League, who do you think CJ is?

One thing's for sure: he's not Damian Lillard. But is he Ben Gordon? Give an NBA comparison and explain.

(I don't think he's Ben Gordon. For one thing I don't remember Gordon fighting so hard for rebounds. That alone give me hope for CJ. But he's definitely an undersized SG who's not an elite athlete, so he has to be an incredible scorer to make up for it.)
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Who said he was? Lillard was billed as the top PG in the draft last year and proved to be the best rookie period.

CJ did not play PG last year, so I don't know why anyone would compare the two. To me it was always obvious that he is an undersized SG who will come off the bench and eventually give us 25-30 minutes. He will also act as our 3rd string PG when injures occur.

He is a better ball handler than I thought though. He just isn't a NBA PG....yet.

CJ can play. It is insane if any of you are looking at his stats these last 6 days and think they are a useful way to evaluate him.

I have said before that I think the NBA is changing and a shorter SG is not as much of a detriment as it used to be. But most of us have said all along he would not start.

But who is he? A SG who can actually dribble, pass, and shoot off the dribble from every range. Something we lack other than from Lillard. The two of them together will be fun to watch.

No doubt there will be some match ups where playing both just won't work. So what, you have others who can fill in.

Bottom line is he is a scorer who can pass and dribble, and create offense for his teammates. Nothing wrong with that.
 
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Am I the only one who thinks the summer league guys will look a lot better when playing with a really really good point guard? Which the Blazers just happen to have on their team?
 
Not as bad as Randy Foye, not as good as Jason Terry (in his DAL days), so a pretty narrow window
 
Bayless sucks mm is just doing his usual dead horse troll

Yawn
 
crandc said:
Am I the only one who thinks the summer league guys will look a lot better when playing with a really really good point guard? Which the Blazers just happen to have on their team?
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Definitely. This team lacked a real point guard and suffered for it. I actually liked Barton more at the point than CJ. But, put this guys (all role players) in with some solid talent around them and I think they will look good. Look how much better Leonard looked on the PnR with Lillard last year. Robinson will look much better I'm sure. Claver too. Not sure about Freeland, but I like his new focus.
 
My big problem with trying to evaluate CJ at the moment is that I haven't seen how he handles the ball against any sort of pressure. Without any pressure he seems to handle it just fine to play ten to fifteen at point guard without being too much of a liability.
 
Snap judge much?

Five summer league games back since a foot injury put him on the sidelines last year and you guys are ready to mark his ceiling? Sheesh. I think that CJ showed enough that I'm excited about what he could do playing on a real NBA roster where teams only get to double him if they want to leave Damian open. That said, I think he'd be the first to admit that he has a lot to learn. Fortunately, he has all summer and a training camp to prepare him for his rookie season. Maybe by the end of that season it might be reasonable to talk about what his ceiling is as a player.
 
One thing I love about this forum. If someone is on, then he's the next great hope. The moment he has a bad game, people are saying "bust".

Calm the fuck down people! Shit!

CJ will come in and be a good player. Fucking Barton is playing point! Do you even know how fucked up that is?

How about we make some real assessments when the actual season starts?
 
e_blazer said:
Snap judge much?

Five summer league games back since a foot injury put him on the sidelines last year and you guys are ready to mark his ceiling? Sheesh. I think that CJ showed enough that I'm excited about what he could do playing on a real NBA roster where teams only get to double him if they want to leave Damian open. That said, I think he'd be the first to admit that he has a lot to learn. Fortunately, he has all summer and a training camp to prepare him for his rookie season. Maybe by the end of that season it might be reasonable to talk about what his ceiling is as a player.
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how about a "sheesh" the other way, he did not shoot very well for a touted shooter, I know it's only 5 SL games and I am not passing any kind of final judgement, it is what it is and I hope and think he'll shooy better than what we saw on a consistent basis. I think he'll end up being a solid pick
 
Blazinaway said:
how about a "sheesh" the other way, he did not shoot very well for a touted shooter, I know it's only 5 SL games and I am not passing any kind of final judgement, it is what it is and I hope and think he'll shooy better than what we saw on a consistent basis. I think he'll end up being a solid pick
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It's pretty taxing when you are playing three games in a row. I would think your arm would wear out. He's not going to be called to be the leading scorer on the actual squad, so he will have rest. Right now the minutes are heavy and his number is called to hoist the shots. I'm not worried...
 
crandc said:
Am I the only one who thinks the summer league guys will look a lot better when playing with a really really good point guard? Which the Blazers just happen to have on their team?
Click to expand...

That's my hope. CJ in particular apparently was good in catch and shoot situations, so maybe he'll fare better in that role?
 
CJ is going to be a pretty darn nice player, but just isn't a PG. he could play co-pg, alongside Lillard, but doesnt really have the vision to drop the ball inside to the bigs or pass ahead quickly on breakaways. But he can certainly take some pressure off Lillard and fill some time gaps.

Hopefully, his shooting returns and even improves, I would love him to become that perimeter shooter that opposition needs to cross as soon as he hits mid court. That would really take some of those double teams off of Lillard.
 
The only thing that "concerned" me and even this is a stretch is that he needs to be more consistent with the WIDE open three. He was almost better with a hand in his face than wide open. And the reason that would concern me is that is exactly the kind of shot he is going to get when opposing defense pick their poison. Im also willing to chalk that up a little to lack of games before Summer League and the number of games in just a few nights.

Overall I am very happy with CJ since I know he will play even better with better players and two because I never expected him to be Lillard no matter what anyone said. And Im sure that has more to do with how highly I think of Lillard.

And I see no reason why he cant play some PG but again I never expected him to play full time or as a starting PG
 
Alvin Williams? He kind of reminds me of him, before he was traded to Toronto.
 
His play at PG did concern me, at times it was downright awful. I think his shot will fall more of the time, he was fatigued in summer league and he had to hoist the ball up when our offense broke down every few minutes. He shouldn't have to do that more than once or twice a game in the season. I agree at the least he will be a nice scoring punch at SG off the bench.

But can we trust him to be the only ball handler on the floor without Lillard? I have serious doubts. Against some teams sure we could get a away with it but against others I think we might have to play Watson all of the minutes as backup PG. I’ve always like Watson so I don’t think that is too bad but it could drastically reduce CJ's opportunities. If we have a game where Wesley is playing great and ends up playing 40 minutes, Wright is backing up Batum and CJ can't play the point then he won’t even be able to get 10 minutes.
 
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