After the Portland Trail Blazers made their longest playoff run since 2000 this past season, their cap space took a big hit, as they decided to sign star guard CJ McCollum to a 3-year, $100 extension that will kick in after the 2020-21 season.
Some are calling this extension risky, as it may not be a smart investment to pay an undersized shooting guard who has never made an all-star team nine figures over the next few seasons. Having McCollum's contract on the books combined with Damian Lillard's super max doesn't give the team much finanicial flexibility.
But in some ways, the contract had to be done, as the combination of Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum gives Portland one of the best scoring back courts in the league, and with the Trail Blazers winning more than a few playoff rounds in the last couple years, it proves that a core with these two guards makes for a formidable playoff contender, especially with as wide open as the NBA is these days.
Blazers fans should be happy to hear that with McCollum still in his prime, he is bound to have a career year should Portland continue to succeed. And from a fantasy aspect, team owners should look to draft him because that potential to burst onto the scene and make an elite leap is a high possibility.
CJ McCollum has been the model of consistency the past few years as a scorer: He averaged 20+ points per game for the last four seasons. McCollum is able to score in so many ways.
He can use his shiftiness and killer start-then-stop moves to blow by defenders for easy layups and open mid-range jumpers. In addition to this, McCollum has used his agility to not only get open to make 3-pointers (40 percent career three point shooter), but also force lazy defenders to foul him, where he can convert at the free throw line almost 84 percent of the time.
Despite this consistency at the combo-guard position, McCollum has been snubbed for a spot on the All-Star team more than a few times. This is mostly due to the fact that the Western Conference has been stacked with guard talent in recent years, with superstar guards Stephen Curry, James Harden, Russell Westbrook and Lillard taking up those spots that McCollum would have otherwise gained.
Being in the midst of his prime, it would make sense for McCollum to have a career year in the 2018-19 season. It helps him that the Trail Blazers kept the majority of their core this off-season, giving them a chemistry advantage over other talented rosters like the Los Angeles Lakers and the Los Angeles Clippers.
While Portland is far from the most talented team in the West, a solid core with good chemistry combined with the elite scoring of Lillard and McCollum could led to team success, which leads to more points, and thus, more success of fantasy owners with McCollum in their starting roster.
If Portland manages to earn a top-2 spot in the Western conference, it would partially be due to McCollum making a jump from borderline All-Star to bonafide All-Star. The man has a solid work ethic, and has appeared to take a bigger role in the offense every season he has been in the league.
McCollum making that elite jump could certainly swing hundreds of fantasy leagues all over the nation. Being that a team could probably draft him in the third or fourth round, he should be considered a steal in the fantasy basketball world, as he has some of the best odds in the league to make the jump to elite status.
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