C.J. McCollum is entering his third season in the NBA with the Portland Trail Blazers after being selected 10th overall by them in the 2013 NBA Draft. McCollum hasn't had a big role with the Blazers in his first two seasons, but entering year three he is expected to play a huge part in what they do this season. In preparation for a bigger role this season McCollum reportedly worked out with Steve Nash this offseason to improve his point guard skills, according to Erik Gundersen of The Columbian.
When the Blazers drafted McCollum they thought he would be able to come in and provide scoring punch off the bench immediately. The Lehigh graduate only played in 38 games as a rookie though due to injuries so his career started off slowly. Last season McCollum was behind Wesley Matthews on the depth chart, and when he was lost for the season Arron Afflalo was ahead of him.
This coming season McCollum should play a huge role, as he is one of the few players on the roster that can score consistently. LaMarcus Aldridge, Matthews, Afflalo and Nicolas Batum are all gone, which is a lot of scoring production, so McCollum should see a huge minutes increase from just 15.7 per game last season.
McCollum is likely in the mix to start at shooting guard alongside Damien Lillard, but he may not get that spot as the Blazers brought in Gerald Henderson. McCollum is also expected to get minutes as the backup point guard as the Blazers don't exactly have a backup point guard behind Lillard, and that is where the training with the two-time NBA MVP comes in.
"Working with Steve Nash helped me slow down the game some more, helped me understand pick and rolls and how point guards think, having the ability to manipulate guys with your eyes, use your body to hold guys off and then just make the proper reads," said McCollum.
It is very reasonable to expect McCollum to be the Blazers' sixth man this year as they need him to be the backup point guard, but he should also see a lot of time alongside Lillard to give Portland two bona fide scorers on the court. So far, in 100 NBA games McCollum has averaged 6.3 points per game while making 43 percent of his field goals and 39 percent of his threes, but expect those numbers to get a huge bump this season.
