Dear Portland,
You know how I know it’s been real?
I didn’t get Woj bombed. I didn’t get Sham’d. I didn’t wake up to 100 text messages from my friends and family freaking out. There was no drama. I actually knew this was coming.
As crazy and cold-hearted as this business can be sometimes, in this ca everything was truly transparent and honest. That's how strong my bond with the Blazers organization is. We knew that this chapter, as beautiful as it’s been, was coming to an end.
And shoutout to my guy Chris Haynes, but I have to tell the inside story of this thing mylf. This is so personal to me that it’s only right.
DATELINE: PORTLAND
It's actually funny becau the night before the trade went down, I was in the locker room with Dame, and we were just cracking jokes and talking, and right as I was about to go into
the steam room, my phone rang. And if you know me, then you know I always have it on Do Not Disturb. Except with everything going on around the deadline, I put my agent in Favorites so his calls would go through no matter what.
So when the phone rang, it was like that horror movie kind of ring. Everybody stopped. I looked down at my phone, and I saw that it was him.
凯南连招And Dame was just looking at me like, “Oh damn, is this it? Is it really happening?”
We had been talking about the trade rumors for so long that it was almost like a joke to us, you know? It was like we’d talk around it, becau it was just too much. It wouldn’t sink in.
I’m like, “Hold on, lemme e what’s going on. I might be right back.”
I went out into the hallway, and my agent told me that things were coming together with New Orleans, but that it wasn’t a done deal yet. He told me to hold tight. So I walked back in the locker room like, “Not yet I’m still here, bro!!”腐乳空心菜
Wolf of Wall Street style, you know? LEO. “I’m not f***in’ leavin’ The show goes on”
We were laughing, becau what el can you do? 复合地板保养
Obviously, when I left the building that night, I knew that might be the last time we were all together. But it was cool to be able to leave on my own terms and not get The Call in front of everybody or have somebody come pull me out of practice. No, the way everything went down was perfect. We have a one-month-old at home, so we can count the REM sleep on one hand at the moment. The next morning at me and my wife got up to feed Little Man. And it was kind of fitting, and kind of poetic honestly, becau we’re sitting there in the hou that we built, in this city that we love so much, and the sun’s not even up yet, and I’m half asleep and holding my son in my arms. All the dads out there know why this moment is hard to put into words.
Right then, my phone rings.
打篮球的日记At , you already know who it is.
I pick up and it’s my agent, and he tells me that the deal is finally done. I’m going to New Orleans, for real. The news would probably break in a few minutes, so get ready.
And I remember just sitting there with my wife, and Little Man is all quiet, and everything in the hou is peaceful, and my phone isn’t blowing up yet, and we’re just looking at eachother like: Wow. O.K. What now
狗怕什么动物
This is not just business. Portland is home党课记录模板. You don’t spend nine years in a place like this without it having a deep impact on you. I’m not talking about basketball. I’m talking about your soul. I wasn’t even sure how to say goodbye to everybody. That night after the trade went down, I went to our practice facility to get all my shoes and my orthotics and everything from my locker, and none of the guys were there. It was kind of surreal, becau I wasn’t sure how quickly they’d have anything wrapped up, but when I walked in, they already had my nametag taken down from my locker and everything. Our equipment managers already had my stuff laid out and folded perfectly for me in front of my stall. (Thanks Eric and Cory, I’ll miss you guys).
微微的微笑
You don’t spend nine years in a place like this without it having a deep impact on you. I’m not talking about basketball. I’m talking about your soul.
- CJ McCollum
My plan was to leave a signed jery on everybody’s chair in front of their locker, but by the time I got done with the curity guards and the staff and everybody who made every day in Portland so special, I literally had no more jerys left for my young guys on the team and I had to nd out I.O.U. texts. You know it’s been real when you got so many homies in the organization that you run out of jerys and you gotta place an order for more. (Shout out to my guy Todd Forcier, the best strength coach in the NBA — when I come e you again on March 30th I’m bringing you a jery and a 30-PIECE MCNUGGET, don’t worry)
In a way, I’m really happy that nobody was around, and I got to look at my locker one last time and take it all in, becau I feel like if I saw my teammates, then I’d have probably lost it. It’s so funny, when Dame finally came in and he saw the jery on his chair, he text
ed me like, “Damn bro, you really gon make me cry!”
