Things are far from calm when it comes to the vibe surrounding the Portland Trail Blazers organization right now.
The team recently fired general manager Neil Olshey due to conduct violations. Damian Lillard reportedly wants to play alongside Ben Simmons, and in the midst of all of this, the team has an ugly 11-14 record under first-year head coach Chauncey Billups.
The chaos seems to be taking a toll on C.J. McCollum. The star guard recently offered some insight into what it’s like to be in his shoes this season.
“This is different than anything I’ve ever experienced because of the circumstances,” McCollum told Jason Quick of The Athletic. “This is the first year of my career where we lost our whole coaching staff, brought in a new coach, a new staff, the GM gets fired in the middle of the season … all of that affects you on the court. But there is no excuses. I didn’t come here to tell you ‘There’s a lot of s— going on’ … but yeah, there is. There’s s— going on — every day. And I’m a f—— human being. But look, at the end of the day, my job is to play basketball. So I go play basketball.”
Amid the odd circumstances, McCollum is putting a solid season together. He is averaging 20.6 points, 4.1 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game while shooting 42.4 percent from the field and 39.3 percent from beyond the arc.
His future with Portland seems like somewhat of a mystery, but that’s largely beyond his control. It remains to be seen if he will find himself wearing a Blazers uniform when the season ends.
The 30-year-old is still trying to win his first NBA title. He and Lillard haven’t been able to get over the hump with the Blazers.
