When Sean Deveney of The Sportings News ranked Damian Lillard as the fourth-best point guard in the NBA going into the 2016-17 season, you kind of figured he'd be the highest ranked Trail Blazer on the team. After all, he's typically considered as the best player on the team and is the only player on the roster who has been named to an All-NBA team and made an All-Star game.
But when Deveney released his rankings of NBA shooting guards, it was CJ McCollum, the NBA's Most Improved Player last season, beating out his backcourt partner for the best ranking among those at his position, coming in at No. 3 on the list behind only Houston's James Harden and Golden State's Klay Thompson...
While the competition at shooting guard isn't what it once was, coming in at No. 3 is quite the accomplishment for McCollum, who really only has one full year of NBA basketball under his belt thanks to his first two seasons being stunted by injuries. He had an opportunity to shine last season when Portland's previous starting two guard, Wesley Matthews, signing as a free agent with the Dallas Mavericks, and would use that opportunity to average 20.8 points on 45 percent shooting from the field and 42 percent shooting from three, 4.3 assists, 2.7 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game while also serving as Portland's backup point guard. His reward? A contract extension worth a reported $106 million over four years, which sounds about right for the third-best shooting guard in the NBA.
McCollum finished ahead of Toronto's DeMar DeRozan at No. 4, his old teammate Nicolas Batum at No. 5, new Bull Dwyane Wade at No. 6, new... Thunder Victor Oladipo at No. 7, Los Angeles' J.J. Redick, who McCollum has fashioned part of his game after, at No. 8, Washington's Bradley Beal at No. 9 and San Antonio's Danny Green at No. 10.