Lillard, McCollum Feel Playing Together More Is a Good Thing

Terry Stotts and the Portland Trail Blazers have made it an early focus to play Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum together more. The backcourt is feeling good about the change. Lillard believes it’ll make them more efficient, he told Dwight Jaynes of NBC Sports Northwest:

“We did that the whole preseason and so far the first two games, just being out there together – even in practice we’ve been on the same teams a lot more than we have in the past.

“I think it’ll help make us both more efficient.”

And McCollum echoed the same sentiment:

“When we’re both on the court, there’s problems (for the defense),” McCollum said. “A lot of problems.

“If we’re taking advantage of spacing and opportunities to attack, if we’re being efficient in how we’re playing, we’ll be a very successful team.”

Past seasons have featured a staggering of the two, keeping one on the court at all times with lacking backcourt depth to replace them. But this year, with additions like Seth Curry and Nik Stauskas, Portland seems more confident in the bench unit to let the backourt rest when needed.

You can read more from Jaynes here.