[Holdahl] CJ McCollum: “I get my respect on the 1st and the 15th. I don’t need people to like my game, I don’t need people to say great things about me. I get great deposits, my teammates respect me, the staff respects me, the organization respects me and I think that’s what really matters…”

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So when McCollum says “I’m here,” it’s hard not to wonder if perhaps he’s speaking еxplicitly to those who chеer him on when he’s doing things like hitting back-to-back three-pointers to put away the defending Western Conference champs with a whole quarter to play, yet also throwing his name into every possible tradе sеenario once the final buzzer sounds. Or those who follow him on sоcial yet fill up his fеeds with suggestions that they’d rather he ply his tradе elsewhere. Or just the gardеn variеty hatеrs who simply need a foil in order to reach their goal of remaining as misеrable as possible. Perhaps.

“I don’t have to answer to anybody,” said McCollum. “I answer to my Lord and Savior, I don’t answer to nobody else. I’ve got nothing to prove to nobody.”

But while McCollum says he doesn’t require the validation of his detractors, he’s not above not-so-subtle suggestions that the aforementioned don’t necessarily have it all figured out either.

“I get my respect on the 1st and the 15th,” said McCollum. “I don’t need people to like my game, I don’t need people to say great things about me. I get great deposits, my teammates respect me, the staff respects me, the organization respects me and I think that’s what really matters. And those who know basketball, I think they respect me, too. I go hoop man. I heard what was said about me, I hear what’s said about me all the time. And I go do my job.”

After a so-so start to the season, the Trail Blazers look as though they’re making significant progress under Billups, with McCollum’s play being one of the primary reasons they’ve gotten off to a 3-2 start with wins versus the Suns, Grizzlies and Clippers. Portland is 6th in defensive rating and 8th in offensive rating, and considering McCollum has played more minutes thus far than anyone on the team, it’s fair to assume he’s one of the primary reasons for that early-season success. Now in his ninth season, McCollum knows who he is, what he wants and where he’s at, both professionally and personally (“I just bought 380 acres bro!” a reference to his recent purchase of a large plot of land outside of Carlton), and he doesn’t mind tell you about it.

“I read everything, I see everything, I hear what people say about me and all that stuff, and that’s a part of the game,” said McCollum. “But I’m going to go out there and hoop and do my job. People that don’t know will know. And the people that already know are the ones that pay me the big bucks.