Some folks have pitched deals centered around C.J. McCollum. Portland continues to reject any inquires on McCollum and Damian Lillard, sources say.
More on CJ McCollum Trade?
Zach Lowe: I've heard the same as you, which is that any, any, any calls to break up the Damian Lillard/CJ McCollum backcourt have been summarily rejected by the Blazers. Do they have anything cooking in terms of getting under the tax? Adrian Wojnarowski: I think Maurice Harkless is a player that has been discussed in some different places, and that's certainly a position the Blazers have wanted to get better at and upgrade. But it's tough, everybody in the league wants—there's such a premium on wings. And Harkless had his best season a couple of years ago before they did the four-year deal, and he hasn't played as well since. Sacramento, in the past, has had some interest in him.
Are you hearing the Blazers may look to trade Lillard or McCollum? Sam Amick: “I’m not hearing that. In fact, the last time I talked to someone who inquired about those guys to Portland was about two weeks ago and Portland said they aren’t moving their guys. But you always have to look at the personality of the executive and Neil Olshey is not only one of those really aggressive GMs, he’s one of those turn-over-every-rock GMs. He’s also a guy who’s very good at laying in the weeds, so a lot of his stuff gets done in the dark and we don’t hear about it until the very end. … But they have to think about this stuff. When you look at the standings and you’re a middle-of-the-road team that has no shot of winning a championship or even getting to the Conference Finals, you have to try to get something done. And Marc [Stein] is obviously one of the best in the business and I'm sure he's getting it from a good place, so it is something worth watching.”
This is the year Portland will break up the potent backcourt of Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum: The Blazers don’t want to trade either one, especially when they awoke Wednesday ranked seventh in the league in defensive efficiency despite the annual external skepticism about the pairing’s capabilities at that end of the floor. But the easiest path to balancing the roster is by parting with one of their two guards — most likely McCollum — for a package headlined by a frontcourt player on their level. No one’s suggesting it’ll happen before the Feb. 8 trade deadline, but Portland’s latest so-so season threatens to be the impetus that finally pushes the longtime Blazers owner Paul Allen in a new direction.
Adrian Wojnarowski: Portland's goal is to build around CJ McCollum, Damian Lillard and Jusuf Nurkic. They're not interested in trading any of those three players. They would love to bring another impact player to add to them.
“We hear everything that’s going on, just like the rest of the fans,” said Trail Blazers guard CJ McCollum. “Whether it’s rumors or people actually tweeting at us, we see everything, but it’s part of the business we live in. It’s a tough part of it but just got to try and stay focused and understand that a lot of this stuff if out of your control. You can’t control trades, you can’t control a lot of that stuff. All you can control is your preparation and how you react to it.”
“Rumor are just that: rumors,” said McCollum. “Unless (The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski) tweets it I don’t really believe it because Woj knows all things. He is the guru of breaking news. Unless he tweets it I don’t really pay much attention, but I’m sure there’s a little truth to a lot of rumors, or some truth to it in terms of teams taking calls. I’m sure teams are taking calls, they’re not just going to hang up on people, so I’m sure teams are taking calls…That doesn’t mean they’re going to make a trade.”
One league source told ESPN's Ramona Shelburne that the Portland Trail Blazers called to inquire about Drummond but quickly abandoned their interest when Detroit asked for Blazers guard C.J. McCollum in return. The Blazers, sources told Shelburne, regard McCollum as an untouchable.
Leonard, Crabbe and Harkless aren't eligible to be moved until Jan. 15. The team isn't looking to trade McCollum or Turner, league sources say. In actuality, a trade not involving McCollum wouldn't bring back a player capable of moving them up to the tier with the likes of Golden State, San Antonio and presumably Houston.
Ben Golliver of Sports Illustrated joined me on the Bald Faced Truth radio show (12-3p on 750-AM and 102.9-FM) to talk about why he thinks the Trail Blazers are struggling and what can be done to fix it. Golliver pointed to atrocious team defense and the absence of Al-Farouq Aminu. But also, that the Blazers would likely have to include CJ McCollum in any trade that would net them a star in return "If you're going to try and acquire another star, you've got to figure McCollum has to be in the package to do that," Golliver said.
You can hear the snickering: How is a core of Lillard, McCollum, and a Monroe-level import going to compete with the Warriors, Thunder and Spurs? This is why some executives on other teams have kicked around the possibility of Portland eventually including McCollum in a megadeal for some disgruntled star -- a path Olshey isn't considering now.
Even as Olshey has a man-crush on McCollum, and has privately said he wouldn't dream of trading him, the general manager should be looking and listening when it comes to offers for the guard between now and Feb. 18.
Oregonian columnist John Canzano thinks Portland should explore a trade for guard CJ McCollum, who’s averaging 20.8 ppg as a No. 2 option behind Damian Lillard for the Blazers this season. McCollum saw the article on Twitter and clicked on Like.
