Damian Lillard met with Blazers owner about team’s direction
By Tre LyDay
In today’s episode of ominous news for Portland Trail Blazers fans, point guard Damian Lillard requested a meeting with the team’s owner.
The Portland Trail Blazers are currently 25-22, and hold the seven spot in the Western Conference. If the playoffs started today they would be facing the Houston Rockets, and if we’re being completely honest with ourselves they would probably get swept. Damian Lillard is a smart guy, and probably knows that barely sneaking into the playoffs and then getting swept or losing the series 4-1 isn’t a lot of fun.
The team has two All-Star caliber guards in Lillard and CJ McCollum. You would think that would be enough for this team to be better than they actually are. The problem is they have a bunch of bad contracts, and not only are the contracts bad, but they are for players that just aren’t good enough. Outside of Lillard, McCollum and Jusuf Nurkic, those guys don’t have a lot of help.
That could be the reason that Lillard decided to have a meeting with the Blazers owner Paul Allen to discuss the team’s direction. The meeting was reportedly held without the knowledge of anyone else in the organization, and in the few weeks leading up to the meeting, Allen apparently feared Lillard might request a trade.
Lillard will turn 28 this July, and the proverbial clock is ticking on his title chances. If the Blazers front office can’t supply him with the players needed to bring a title to Portland, then he might have to look elsewhere to get that ring.
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The team needs help, and a lot of it if they wish to not only dethrone the Warriors but to even hold their own against teams like the Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder, who have built own “super teams.” Maybe the Trail Blazers could explore the possibility of trading McCollum to bring in other guys that can fill more roles.
Right now, this team is only good enough to sneak into the playoffs, and you can’t expect a deep postseason run from them. Hopefully, the team looks to improve in some way before the trade deadline, otherwise, Lillard might actually request that trade.