A proper farewell
After nine years, Portland and CJ McCollum finally went their separate ways
Wednesday night was about closure for CJ McCollum, but it felt like the release of something that had hung over this franchise like a congregation of grey clouds in the Oregon sky. To understand how long the storm had been in the offing, we have to go back only three years, a pandemic, and several lifetimes ago.
The Blazers were struggling early in the 2019-20 season, failing to match the energy of their Western Conference Finals appearance only a few months before. A trade for Hassan Whiteside to fill the role of starting center and a decision to carry seemingly no good wing defenders left the Blazers in shambles defensively and on the glass. It was during that time I was talking to an agent who represented a few Blazers, as well as players across the league, about what they could do. Could they do anything to salvage this shit?
Nurkic was still rehabbing from a gruesome leg injury. One during which McCollum would head over to Nurkic’s to watch Bosnian television.
“It would have to be CJ,” the agent told me in the fall of 2019.
In that moment, there might not have been much difference between myself and Neil Olshey.
Trade CJ?! Less than a few months after Game 7???? FOH!
But that agent was right. Not because Dame and CJ could never work, far from it, we saw they were pretty damn good.
But due to Neil Olshey’s spending and trades around Dame and CJ, as well as the limitations of the NBA salary cap, CJ eventually had to be the one to go. He was the only player who could return any value for both now and the future, to maximize the window of Damian Lillard. The person who knew this most of all was CJ, who admitted he saw the writing on the wall about being on his way out when Neil Olshey was no longer running the show.
Sometimes the business of basketball is fucking bullshit. Actually, a lot of times it is. That’s how most businesses go. But what made tonight special was it wasn’t about any of that. It was about feelings. It was about memories. It was about recognizing how lucky we all were to see the kid from Canton get a reception that paled in comparison to Brandon Roy or LaMarcus Aldridge. CJ got the greatest reception I’ve ever seen for a former Blazer, something that was captured beautifully by Bruce Ely.
You never want a good trip to end. But then when you wake up the next day, you remember you got to do that. Hell, the Rose Garden even broke out a wave tonight and Dame joined in.
This season has sucked. The last few years have sucked beyond basketball. And having to see CJ put up numbers in another uniform is probably going to continue to suck for many Blazers fans. But in seeing CJ thrive in his new role and feeling the end of the season around the corner with the penultimate home game of the season, Wednesday felt like a new beginning for the Blazers too. Just ride the wave.