CJ McCollum Reflects On Patience As He Returns To Form

After being out for several weeks with a broken foot, fans wondered what Portland Trail Blazers shooting guard CJ McCollum would look like when he finally returned to the court. This week, McCollum answered, and while it took him a couple of games to regain his rhythm, he was in his bag versus the Dallas Mavericks. Jamie Hudson of NBC Sports Northwest reports that McCollum knew he had to be patient.

“That was my ninth time playing basketball since Jan. 16, so it takes time to find your rhythm especially in this type of season, so I just had to be patient.”

However, he notes that he had to advocate to get minutes with Head Coach Terry Stotts against the Mavericks due to the injury.

“I honestly wasn’t supposed to play a back-to-back, but… I talked him off a ledge and convinced him that I could bite the bullet on the 20 minutes and then they said they would see how I felt and then I talked them into more than 25 minutes tonight.”

Stotts noted that McCollum was still on a minutes restriction, and McCollum could have done more damage to the Mavs.

“He looked like CJ… We had him on a minutes restriction, otherwise who knows what he could’ve done.”

Meanwhile, McCollum will head back to the lab and prepare for the Trail Blazers’ next matchup versus the Mavericks on Sunday.