8. Portland Trail Blazers: Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum
Portland‘s backcourt tandem of Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum has long been one of the league’s premier player duos, but well-documented postseason struggles and questions about the ceiling of this pairing prevent them from being ranked higher.
Lillard is without question one of the league’s elite point guards. He can score almost at will and can take over games in a way that few others can. Lillard was simply remarkable in this postseason’s first-round series against the Thunder, outperforming Russell Westbrook on a consistent basis and carrying much of the scoring load when other players struggled.
In Game 5, with the opportunity to advance, Lillard showed the entire world that it was “Dame Time,” hitting an absurd buzzer-beater to send the Blazers to the second round and force the Thunder into a full rebuild:
https://twitter.com/trailblazers/status/1120917372599029760
However, Lillard struggled for much of the rest of the playoffs, as has often been the case during his tenure. This year was just the second time that a Lillard-led team escaped the first round. However, this year, CJ McCollum performed admirably in the later rounds, leading Portland to a seven-game victory over the Nuggets before the Blazers were swept by Golden State in the Western Conference Finals.
McCollum can be almost as dominant as Lillard when he catches fire. He is an efficient scorer with a precise shooting touch from the perimeter, complementing Lillard much like Klay Thompson complements Stephen Curry.
However, it is fair to question the postseason ceiling of Portland’s backcourt tandem. Both players are undeniably talented, but after years of falling flat in the postseason, will this duo ever truly contend? The answer will likely be revealed by 2021, when McCollum becomes a free agent and will likely be owed a max contract alongside Lillard’s supermax.