The Blazers made a dramatic change of direction by moving CJ McCollum to the Pelicans, beginning a rebuilding cycle in which the Simons-Hart-Nurkic trio showed some skill in the last four games before the All Star break.
Except that the turn of events does not please everyone, especially Clyde Drexler who does not appreciate seeing big talents leave even if the team seemed to be on the decline in this configuration.
“When teams drop great players like that, you wonder what they’re thinking”said Clyde Drexler. “He is at the top of his game, he is a guy who has been very productive for your franchise and we let him go like that. As a fan and as a guy who still knows a little basketball, I don’t understand these moves because the more good players you have, the more chances you have to win.
For Clyde Drexler, the Blazers opened the wrong door, the one that will inevitably lead to the departure of the franchise player: Damian Lillard. A position that defends itself, even if in the short term, the results rather proved the front office of the Oregon franchise right.
“I’m sure Lillard must be thinking he has to go somewhere to fight for a title, unless he just wants to stay there and finish his career. But if he’s competitive, I’m sure he’s looking to go somewhere to win.”he said. “As a player you have to adapt and make that decision very quickly: do I want to stay here and be loved knowing that I won’t win a title? It was not enough for me”.
History repeating itself
The end of Clyde Drexler’s story does indeed resemble what Damian Lillard’s exit might look like, with a view to winning a title, as “The Glide” did by winning his only title of champion with the Rockets in 1995 after leaving Portland at 32, the age of Damian Lillard.
Already at the time, he had felt pushed towards the exit, and believed that it was a mistake on the part of his leaders.
“We were fighting for a title when I was younger and when I got older, around 31 or 32, they started thinking maybe the team needed to rebuild, which was premature. . Utah had kept their team four or five years after that and we were ahead of them, we had gone to the Finals twice. They had prematurely broken this team”.
