Canzano: Damian Lillard's return is a complicated bag

Trail Blazers could have been so much more with Lillard.

Damian Lillard will return to Portland on Wednesday night. He’ll be in a Milwaukee Bucks uniform. And the visit comes with a bag of mixed feelings.

On one hand, he was an All-Star who led an era of basketball that often felt hopeful and exciting. On the other, Portland basketball in the Lillard era should have been so much more.

Years ago, in Lillard’s second season, I was faced with a dilemma. My oldest daughter, then just 10, wanted a Trail Blazers jersey for Christmas. Her childhood was spent with the roster in a blender — from Jarrett Jack to Martell Webster to Brandon Roy to Greg Oden.