Portland Trail Blazers: To reach the next level, CJ McCollum has to step it up
To reach the next level, several Portland Trail Blazers have to step up. One of them is CJ McCollum. The Rip City guard needs to come into the paint more often to get the foul line more often.
As great as Portland Trail Blazers guard CJ McCollum is, he still has room for improvement. Specifically, his aggressiveness on offense. It’s not often that an NBA player averages 20 points a game while making less than three trips to the free-throw line. His career average is 2.6, to be exact. For comparison, Damian Lillard‘s career average is 6.1 attempts per game.
When seeing all the other NBA players who get the line as often McCollum, they either come off the bench or are third scoring options. Newly acquired Robert Covington, who has never been a primary scorer, has career 2.3 free throw attempts per game.
Free throws aren’t the end all be all stat. But they are significant, especially in the playoffs. Teams that get to the free-throw line more tend to win the game or always be in the game.
McCollum only got to the free line 22 times in the Blazers first-round matchup with Los Angeles. For comparison, Lillard got to the line 29 times in the first three games, a total of 33 in his four games. CJ is a gifted scorer and is completely comfortable in the “Robin” role to Lillard’s “Batman.” Just like Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen during the Chicago Bulls glory days.
McCollum’s best NBA season was his fourth in 2016–2017 when he averaged 23.0 points and 3.7 foul shot attempts. Since, then his free throw attempts per game have declined, along with his make percentage. The rest of his stats have buoyed about like the flow of the Pacific Ocean.
Take it to the rack
What the Portland Trail Blazers need from McCollum is for him to be more aggressive in attacking the basket when the ball is in his hands. CJ has the skills to break down defenders one on one. At that point, instead of settling for a mid-range jump shot, he has to get to the rim. Aside from the bonus of picking up fouls, McCollum should also have some open teammates for easy buckets.
So, far McCollum is off to arguably the best season of his career because Lillard hasn’t shot well from the floor. It’s a small sample size, five games, and some of his stats are unsustainable for a season, such as 11.7 three-point attempts. Especially once Damian gets into his normal form. But his FTA’s are over three again.
If CJ can keep up this effective productivity while Dame is doing Dame things, this team will knock off any opponent that comes their way. Lillard can carry this team by himself, just like Jordan did for many years. But for the Blazers to be serious contenders, they need McCollum to be that other dominant superstar, just like Pippen.
This roster is built for a long playoff run. The last ingredient it needs to get over the hump is McCollum taking his game to the next level.