Portland Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard went a little sentimental on Twitter recently, when a fan asked the 27-year-old leader of the Blazers who among his former teammates he misses playing together with the most. To that, Lillard had two players in mind.
Loved that whole team… but LA and Nico https://t.co/9W6TCMKrvb
— Damian Lillard (@Dame_Lillard) January 3, 2018
It was not that long ago when the Blazers were among the best teams in the Western Conference. While they remain a playoff contender these days, they were more than just that when guys like Nicolas Batum, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Wesley Matthews were on the team along with Lillard. The Blazers then were a legitimate threat to win the NBA title.
After the Blazers got eliminated in the first round of the 2015 NBA playoffs, the team sort of hit the reset button by letting Aldridge and Matthews leave via free agency while trading Batum to the Charlotte Hornets. That same offseason, the Blazers also saw Robin Lopez dive into the free agent market without making any effort to keep him.
That left Lillard as the only core Blazers player then, but he found a new running mate right away when CJ McCollum rapidly blossomed into one of the best backcourt pieces in the NBA. With Lillard and McCollum leading the way, Portland is looking to surpass whatever the previous group of Blazers reached.
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