PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Chauncey Billups wasted no time succinctly summing up his thoughts on this season during the first question of his exit interview press conference on Sunday.
“I’m glad it’s over, and I hope that I’m never in this position again,” reflected Billups.
It’s safe to say that’s how all Blazers fans feel about this season.
As for the future?
The Blazers, and Damian Lillard, are in win-now mode. The point guard said he will not stick around if the team decides to build via the draft.
“I just ain’t interested in that, to be honest,” said Lillard. “This is not a secret. I want a chance to go for it, and if the route is to do that, then that’s not my route.”
It seems that the other two personnel decision-makers around the team, Joe Cronin and Chauncey Billups, definitely agree with Lillard.
“We’ve done the tweak thing a few times. We’ve got to be more aggressive than that,” said Billups. “That’s just my opinion. If we want to actually do right by the best player in the history of this organization, we have to be aggressive.”
“We don’t want to go through this anymore. It’s time for us to start winning basketball games,” said Cronin. “We want to put that pressure on ourselves. We want to go into the offseason with that mentality and mindset. Not just for him, but for all of us. We don’t want to have another year like this year.”
An encouraging sign for this team is it seems as though Jerami Grant is leaning toward returning to the squad. He’s a free agent this off-season.
A place where change could be coming is at the shooting guard position, as Shaedon Sharpe has emerged over the last few weeks as a viable option. Both he and Anfernee Simons play the 2-guard spot, and even management acknowledged they may have a decision on their hands there.
Is it likely the Blazers will finally land that blue chip veteran they’ve pined for for decades?
We’ll let Lillard answer that question.
“I know there’s guys that want to do it,” said Lillard. “I know there’s guys that really move the needle that I want to do it, but knowing that and then actually making something happen to make that reality is a completely separate thing.”