2013 NBA Draft Results: Portland Trail Blazers Live Draft Grade
By Ben Beecken
Draft Grade: A-
he Portland Trail Blazers selected C.J. McCollum with the tenth overall pick in the draft. He’s eerily similar to Damian Lillard, albeit a better shooter and not quite as good as a ball-handler or in initiating the offense. Where as Lillard is much more of a true point guard, McCollum specializes as a spot-up shooter.
Therein lies the problem with McCollum, as he’s essentially an undersized shooting guard. He’s a highly intelligent player that will be able to do pretty much whatever Portland asks him to. It will be very intriguing to see how Portland uses him, and what they do with Lamarcus Aldridge, who supposedly wants out.
They may go after big men like Tiago Splitter and Nikola Pekovic in free agency, but they still need significant help on the wings. Of course, drafting McCollum doesn’t help the wings a ton, as they still don’t have the size to guard the majority of the wings and sharpshooters in the league today.
The selection of McCollum means that Carter-Williams will probably be picked by the Philadelphia 76ers, who apparently just shipped Jrue Holiday to New Orleans for the recently-drafted Nerlens Noel. Go ahead and start the tanking talk for Philly and Andrew Wiggins in 2014…