PORTLAND, Ore. \u2014 If you are bummed about the state of the Trail Blazers these days \u2014 losers of four straight and six of seven while toting an injury list longer than Yang Hansen\u2019s wingspan \u2014 let me offer some perspective. Some hope. And some advice from Damian Lillard.<\/p>\n
This journey to your potential salvation began in the most random of places Wednesday morning. It was at the end of the Chicago Bulls shootaround at the Moda Center. The first bus, carrying head coach Billy Donovan and the majority of the Bulls players, had long chortled away back to the team hotel. A handful of players remained, including Zach Collins, who was celebrating his 28th birthday by going through a rehabilitation workout on the court.<\/p>\n
Collins, if you remember, played his first three seasons in Portland, and was there for the franchise\u2019s last shining moment \u2014 a playoff run to the 2019 Western Conference finals.<\/p>\n
As Collins went through a shooting drill around the perimeter, Bulls assistant L.D. Williams asked Collins where he was when Lillard hit the most famous shot in franchise history \u2014 a 37-foot bomb at the buzzer to eliminate the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round of the playoffs.<\/p>\n
It had been years since Collins had thought about the shot, and he twirled in a circle as he tried to get his bearings and remember the particulars. Eventually, he pointed back to the Blazers bench, where he stood in that moment with teammates Enes Kanter and Meyers Leonard.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere exactly did he shoot it from?\u201d another coach asked.<\/p>\n
As Collins pointed to the spot, Bulls players Coby White and Patrick Williams started recalling their memories, and they began theorizing on the physics of how Lillard was able to shoot such a long shot with such fluidity and ease.<\/p>\n
\u201cI definitely remember it, the impact of it, it was a series-clincher, right?\u201d White said later. \u201cWe just started talking about how guys like Dame, Steph (Curry) and Trae (Young) shoot from so deep.\u201d<\/p>\n
It struck me, that nearly seven years later, players and coaches around the league are still talking about that shot, still talking about that moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut what people don\u2019t realize,\u201d Collins said later, \u201cis that there was more meaning in that shot than just winning that game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hold that thought while I take you back to the summer of 2014.<\/p>\n
One of my lasting images of Lillard will always be a summer day in 2014, when I interviewed him at the Blazers practice facility while he signed a series of photographs.<\/p>\n
The photos were of what at that time stood as one of the more memorable shots in Blazers history \u2014 his series-winning 3-pointer to beat the Houston Rockets off an inbounds play that started with 0.9 seconds remaining.<\/p>\n
As he signed, he let out a groan and a sigh. He understood the benefit of memorializing the shot that provided the Blazers with their first playoff series victory in 14 years, but he hated the optics.<\/p>\n
I asked why autographing the photos bothered him. He noted it was a great moment, but he didn\u2019t like dwelling on it, he didn\u2019t like continually reliving it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have greater moments ahead,\u201d Lillard said.<\/p>\n
So after hearing Bulls players and coaches grill Collins about the 2019 shot, I couldn\u2019t help but wonder how Lillard viewed the 2019 shot.<\/p>\n
Later that night, when I saw Lillard in the back hallways of the Moda Center, I asked him whether he looked at the OKC shot through a different lens. Did he look at it with more nostalgia because he is 35? Does he use it as a carrot to chase as he rehabilitates from a ruptured Achilles?<\/p>\n
\u201cI look at it the same as I did back (in 2014),\u201d Lillard said. \u201cI still think I have better moments ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Blazers signed Lillard to a two-year contract for just that reason \u2014 to meet the big moments \u2014 even though they knew his recovering Achilles would not allow him to play this season. And already, Lillard says he is envisioning, picturing \u2026 almost sensing those moments coming.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything is happening in a weird way,\u201d Lillard said. \u201cWhat are the chances that I tear my Achilles and I get waived with two years left \u2026 and the first team I think of \u2014 and the first team that contacted me \u2014 is the Blazers? And me being back here \u2026 you know, I had to go away for this team to be assembled. And now it\u2019s a team that I would have wanted to play on for years. So now I have a year to connect with this team while building my body up to get ready to go.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s all setting up for that type of moment (like 2019),\u201d Lillard said.<\/p>\n
Now, back to that thought from Collins, the notion that Lillard\u2019s shot in 2019 meant more than just winning a game, and how it ties into the current state of the Blazers.<\/p>\n
See, before that playoff run to the conference finals was a year of anguish. The Blazers in 2018 were formidable, earning the No. 3 seed in the playoffs, but they were swept in embarrassing fashion by Jrue Holiday, Anthony Davis and the New Orleans Pelicans.<\/p>\n
It felt like that iteration of the Blazers had run its course. Change seemed inevitable, from a dismissal of head coach Terry Stotts to breaking up the dynamic but defensively challenged backcourt of Lillard and CJ McCollum.<\/p>\n
But owner Paul Allen and general manager Neil Olshey held strong. They endorsed Stotts, and brought back the core. Patience won over a purge.<\/p>\n
And it led to a great moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you were here during that time,\u201d Collins said, \u201cyou understood what went into (Dame\u2019s shot).\u201d<\/p>\n
Collins said the Blazers heard and felt all the turmoil, doubt and questions coming from the outside, but they bonded in their belief that they had the right people and they were doing the right things.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat team, we showed up every day, did our work, did the right thing, we just got swept,\u201d Lillard said. \u201cI didn\u2019t make shots, CJ didn\u2019t make shots, and (we) had a good game plan. But we just moved forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
And that brings us to today, and this Blazers team, and the message Lillard is trying to land from the sideline and from inside the locker room.<\/p>\n
For the first time in four seasons, the Blazers have hope. They aren\u2019t quite deep enough, or seasoned enough, but behind the All-Star-level play of Deni Avdija, the steadiness of Jrue Holiday, the resurgence of Jerami Grant, the scoring of Shaedon Sharpe and the promise of Donovan Clingan and Toumani Camara, the Blazers have at times looked special.<\/p>\n
Yes, they have key players injured, and can\u2019t seem to regain the magic that sparked early wins over the Thunder, Nuggets, Lakers and Warriors, but they appear to be onto something.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s on a different scale, but these Blazers need patience just like that 2018 team. Not just patience as far as keeping the roster together, but patience in knowing that true growth in the NBA comes with pains.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a good test, a good time to realize that you don\u2019t get ahead of nothing,\u201d Lillard said. \u201cYour time is your time.\u201d<\/p>\n
During this losing streak, Lillard said he has been planting seeds of wisdom, and offering perspective to keep the team pointed in the right direction.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told these dudes: this is the time when you find your true identity,\u201d Lillard said. \u201cIt\u2019s not when you win a couple games and everything feels good. It\u2019s in the moments when it would be easy to walk away \u2014 like now, we have some injuries, a rough patch, a tough schedule \u2014 but this is the time when you make a decision to march forward and up.\u201d<\/p>\n