A panel of six NBA experts from ESPN has ranked who will perform well in the NBA bubble in Orlando, listing Portland Trail Blazers CJ McCollum at 27th and Damian Lillard at 11th. Tim Bontemps, Kirk Goldsberry, Tim MacMahon, Kevin Pelton, Jorge Sedano and Andre Snellings created independent lists, which were collated into the overall set of 50 players. Kirk Goldsberry says of McCollum at 27 that he needs to bring the hot hand to Orlando.
When Portland played its biggest game of the year last season, McCollum was the best player on the court — scoring 37 points, putting on a midrange clinic and propelling the Blazers past the Nuggets in a huge Game 7 road win.