C.J. McCollum Joined Some Very Exclusive Company With His 37-Point Season Opener

One game does not make a season, but there’s still ample reason to believe C.J. McCollum could become a fixture of the Portland Trail Blazers’ present and future following his incendiary 2015-16 debut.

The third-year guard scored 37 points and grabbed six rebounds in his team’s 112-94 win over the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday night, becoming just the seventh player in the last decade to reach that statistical threshold. The prior six are a who’s-who of NBA royalty.

It’s safest to hedge against McCollum reaching the level of those luminaries. The preexisting members of that group will eventually be inducted to the Hall of Fame barring massive, unforeseen collapses; the former Lehigh product, on the other hand, started just the fourth game of his career last night.

While All-NBA candidacy and more might be a stretch for McCollum’s future, what’s not is assuming he’ll establish himself as a long-time Blazer opposite Damian Lillard. He came on strong down the stretch in 2014-15 as Portland dealt with injuries on the perimeter, then exploded for 77 points on 60.9 percent shooting during the final three games of his team’s first-round playoff series against the Memphis Grizzlies. Scoring talent has never been the issue for McCollum; he’s capable of producing points at a near-elite clip.

But questions remain about the 24-year-old’s potential regardless. Can he stay healthy? Just how viable is an undersized backcourt comprised of he and Lillard? And will he make the necessary strides as a finisher to offset the effects of defenders playing him tight for jumpers?

That all remains to be seen. What doesn’t, however, is that McCollum has already given Blazers fans reason for major excitement in what many assumed would be a lost season.

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