[Star] McCollum vs Spurs Highlights
On this day of Valentine's Day, the basketball world was brushed by a "breakup" letter, which wrote a parting, but also carried a touch, which was a nostalgia and treasure of the past years, facing the cold reality, blooming warm sunshine.
The letter, from CJ-McCollum.
"This business alliance can be crazy and cold at times."
After being traded to the Pelicans by the Blazers, McCollum wrote a handwritten farewell, "crazy and cold," a phrase that appears at the beginning of the letter.
McCollum said very solidly, professional sports leagues, loyalty has increasingly become a moral kidnapping, in the business of business is the essence, here is rare eternity, more is in line with the interests of the team's choices.
As a 9-year veteran of the NBA and president of the players' union, McCollum is well aware of the truth about the league, but he still has a heartfelt, simple love.
"You can't live in one place for 9 years without being deeply affected by it, I'm not talking about basketball, but your mind." McCollum wrote.
McCollum and his partner Lillard, along with their team Blazers, have a heart-to-heart collision, they are not proud of the sky with their own aura, but they have repeatedly become the target of questioning and even ridicule, especially McCollum.
When he entered high school, he was only one meter 57 tall, and the most he heard at that time was "basketball is not suitable for a short man like you." From such a starting point, to the NBA Lotto show, behind it is his overtime to the late night effort, such efforts to support the dream, and the realization of the dream needs opportunity, the Blazers is the team that gave him this opportunity, let him take root in Portland, thrive.
"It's not just a jersey for me, a team, it's my home, I'm getting married and having kids here, starting my own business, and a part of me is here forever." McCollum wrote.
McCollum's NBA career didn't start well, he could only play as a substitute for the first two years, which confused and confused him, and it was the help of his teammates that brought him out of self-doubt.
"I distinctly remember one day I said to Damian (Lillard), 'Bro, I'm never going to start here, why did they choose me?' I don't understand. Damian looked at me with a 'are you crazy' look and he said, 'What are you talking about?' Brother, we're going to be the backcourt combination that's going to be in control of the game, and we're going to be here for a long time, and let the change happen, and you'll see. McCollum recalled in his farewell letter.
In his third year in the league, McCollum became the Blazers' starter, and the role promotion was set in the team's first five-four departure, which was almost a sign of reconstruction, when the Blazers were thought to be on the road to a mess, but the actual story was that they broke into the playoffs for six consecutive years after a big change in the lineup.
McCollum is the Blazers' basketball boat that swims against the current, maintaining an offensive output of 20+ per game from the starters, both from his efforts and the mutual support of his teammates.
"My thoughts at this moment are my teammates, not those who have made or breaks," McCollum wrote, "and I will remember that summer in Las Vegas, damian and I got up at six in the morning to go to training, and Slept only four hours a day." I miss the perfect cover that Nurkic brought me, and it was these little things that kept popping up in my mind. ”
McCollum and his teammates, with the sweat of struggle, shattered the words of doubt. Just in 2018, journalist Jennifer Williams spoke with McCollum on Twitter.
"Let's win the playoffs first." Jennifer wrote.
"I'll give it a try, Jennifer." McCollum responded.
A year after that conversation, the Blazers had their peak season in the Lillard era, and Lillard was still talked about in the first round of watching the Thunder, but who remembers that he was stuck in the shooting quagmire when he was in the second round against the Nuggets, that series was seven games, Lillard shot only 3 of 17, but the winner was the Blazers, because of McCollum, he contributed 37 points to escort the team to the Western Conference Finals.
"McCollum showed why he and Lillard are known as the top backcourt combination in the NBA today," Nuggets head coach Mike Malone said, "and he carries the team on his shoulders and settles the fight with one key goal after another." ”
In that year's Western Conference Finals, the Blazers were swept by the Warriors, such an ending is not good, but hope has been created, the Western Conference Finals have arrived, will the championship be far away? Isn't the change That Lillard expects happening?
"Back in Portland after the Western Conference Finals were swept by the Warriors, I don't know what kind of atmosphere the city will have. As a result, countless people came along and their reaction was like, 'Thank you, this journey is amazing, we love you guys.' I mean, we were swept away, but people are so grateful that we turned the team around and that summer we didn't have to pay for dinner in Portland, which represented a good atmosphere. That's the beauty of Portland, they don't just see me as a basketball player, they see me as part of the community. ”
The 2019 Western Conference Finals were a peak, and unfortunately McCollum failed to get back there with the Blazers, and while they still maintained the rhythm of entering the playoffs, they also helplessly found that they had touched the upper limit of this lineup, there was no room for further breakthroughs, and from Stotts' dismissal, the change had been started and leaving was inevitable.
McCollum calmly accepted the deal, the Blazers didn't hide it from him, and everything went on in an open and sincere atmosphere until the phone rang when the deal was reached. When McCollum got the news, returned to the Trail Blazers and took his gear, he saw that the name tag had been taken from the locker, and his belongings had been sorted out by the equipment manager, which was the reality of professional sports, but there was always warmth in reality.
McCollum left a jersey for each of his teammates to commemorate the days they walked hand in hand, and when he called to tell Nurkic, he got an unexpected response.
"I already have one." Nurkic said.
"What?" McCollum was surprised.
"Yes, I secretly took one from the equipment room as a souvenir after your last game." Nurkic said.
On this farewell night, bits and pieces of the past will rush in, buy snacks for Ader, go shopping malls with Lillard, watch Bosnian soap operas with Nurkic, those simple pleasures, those pure friendships, beyond winning and losing, inscribed in the story of McCollum and the Blazers.
"To every one of portland, my teammates, our team, the fans, the community, I thank you from the bottom of my heart, thank you very much, I will continue to follow you in another place. Our bond transcends language and competition, and it was nine years of bittersweet and bittersweet, it was all I had. As the day that comes to an end, I look back on it all and will always be proud of it. Maybe we haven't reached the ultimate goal we aspire to, but that's basketball, that's life, but if we haven't tried, how do we know it won't work? Yes, Jennifer. Love you guys, CJ. ”
Four years later, McCollum still remembers that conversation with Jennifer, which is perhaps the best summary of his Blazer years, not complete, but fully committed.
This, perhaps, is enough.
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