The Portland Trail Blazers are a solid team. Consistent playoff appearances and a Western Conference Finals run in 2019 show that. However, they have never been considered a championship-caliber team during the tenure of the Damian Lillard – CJ McCollum duo, and it remains to be seen whether they can ascend from being a regular playoff team to a real contender.
CJ McCollum has recently revealed that he and Damian Lillard have talked a lot about winning a championship for the city of Portland and for the Trail Blazers. In an interview with Bleacher Report’s Jake Fischer, McCollum stated that they’ve even talked about the car that they would drive during the parade.
He’s occupied that chair for eight seasons, often daydreaming alongside his All-Star backcourt mate Damian Lillard, envisioning one day winning a championship for the entire state of Oregon and the subsequent parade that would follow. Would they stand on the same float? Would McCollum be able to bring his dog aboard?
“We have discussed it in detail, on multiple occasions,” McCollum said. “What it would feel like, what it would look like, from down to what car would you take? Are you driving the drop top? Is it a pick-up [truck]? It’s something we think about, something I think about often, whenever I take the drive to the arena, how nice it would be to have that parade.”
It’s been widely stated that the Portland Trail Blazers should make changes to the roster in order to build a championship contender around Damian Lillard. In that eventuality, it would likely be that CJ McCollum is part of the trade package. However, both Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum are great players, and it seems possible to make solid moves around them to make the team better. Hopefully, the duo gets an opportunity to really compete for a championship, and while the Trail Blazers haven’t yet made any groundbreaking moves, there’s possibility for that in the future.
