With all the great talent throughout the Western Conference, many players get overlooked. In many people’s opinion none more than CJ McCollum of the Portland Trail Blazers. CJ has been with the team since he was drafted in the first round of the 2013 draft class. Since that point, the Blazers have made the playoff every year to date. CJ McCollum claimed a starting spot his third season in the league where he started in 80 of the 80 games played. In that same season, C.J averaged 20.8 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 4.3 assists. He is a dynamic scorer with incredible handles, a shifty style of play and an underrated defender. In 2015 C.J McCollum won the Kia Most Improved Player award.
This Season C.J missed 12 games this season due to injury but was still able to average 21 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists. He wasn’t voted in as an all-star, C.j isn’t even being considered for first or second-team honors. However, we all know that true greatness is obtained during the postseason. So how does CJ stand up?
This postseason C.J Mccollum has dominated the competition. Averaging 25.3 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 3.8 assists and proving he can be a reliable second option to Damian Lillard. With the motivation of a disappointing end to the previous season, the Portland Trail Blazers came out against the Oklahoma City Thunder and proved their dominance. Crushing the Thunder in a 4-1 series and moving on to the Nuggets who they are certainly in a 2-2 series tie with at the moment. The Denver Nuggets haven’t been able to find an answer for C.J McCollum either. In an amazing quadruple overtime performance, CJ put up 41 points 8 rebounds and 4 assists to help secure a powerful win by hitting big shot after big shot.
Although there are a number of great players in this year’s playoff that don’t get the credit they deserve like Jamal Murray or Jimmy Bulter; C.J McCollum carries more of a workload for his team and has been the most consistent underrated player in these playoffs. C.J McCollum and the TrailBlazer will take on the Denver Nuggets tonight at 10:30 PM ET. Tune into TNT in order to catch this eastern conference second round slugfest.
