McCollum expects strong NBA season from Portland

Contrary to the popular complaint, the NBA isn’t allergic to parity. Look at how bunched-up the league is this season. The standings resemble a traffic jam. In the Western Conference, just eight games separate the first-place Denver Nuggets (yes, the Nuggets) and the 14th-place New Orleans Pelicans

When Collin Sexton learned that the NBA – and not a pandemic – had prematurely ended his second season, the Cavaliers guard had a guttural reaction. The league’s decision to invite only 22 teams to resume play at Disney World in Florida next month and a season interrupted by COVID-19 was a body blow for players on the omitted squads – the Delete 8. Perhaps no team feels the sting of being denied a chance to complete the season more than the Cavs, who went through a midseason coaching change – John Beilein stepped down at the All-Star break – and were playing their best ball when the outbreak brought everything to a halt.