Brandon Roy vs Damian Lillard... Who is better?

Dame has a lot to do with why the team has been as talented as they are.

At the beginning of the season, not a single person on the board would have compared the talent level of that team to this one. Dame has elevated everyone around him.

You also have ability to look back and see "where are they now". You can't do that with this team. In 8 years, lets see how many of these guys are still in the league. There is a reason guys like Outlaw, Frye, and other went on to get paid. At the time they were perceived to be very talented, just like you are perceiving this current roster with talent.

Finally. LMA was anything but a decent 2nd option. He was a year away from carrying the team to 50 plus wins himself and entering the "best PF in the league" discussion after Roy started to decline and miss games.

 

Plus Roy was a dick, but that won't show up in any stat sheet.

 

NO, you look at everything in context if that is the question.. but it wasn't. It wasn't who is the better player who had the better/worse team. I mean we can look at their youth then for context as well. Did one of them have a rougher childhood? This will make him a harder nosed defender in his later years.... come on now... you have to draw the line somewhere, and I'm drawing it at two players... try to put aside the tangible X factors of rosters and coaching and just look at the two players.

Umm yes.. and Nate's post above Proves it with numbers...

 

I'll give Rudy a push but Outlaw and Blake NEVER averaged double digits again after playing with Roy, nor did they ever put up the same stats. If that isn't unequivocal evidence that Roy had a bigger impact on his teammates then I don't know what is.

 

Dame had Aldridge, Lopez, Matthews and Batum prior to this year. That is by far better than any team Roy ever had and also a better supporting cast than Dame had this year.

1. My argument is that Roy had a bigger impact on his team. Leading a similarly talented team to more wins = bigger impact. That definitely factors into the argument.

2. 08-09 Roy had better advanced stats than Lillard anyways. So if you're going to put aside any other factors what argument does Lillard have?

 

I just think your encompassing way more into this than is needed, while at the same time trying to use a single season bench mark as the requisite to who is better.

I get what your saying, but am trying to get you to isolate your judgment a bit more than leaving it all encompassing tangibles that may/may not actually be a factor, but more opinion based.

Its your OPINION that Roy had a bigger impact because you don't know what the coach told the team to do in every instance.

Im sure your able to put aside these tangibles and just compare the two side by side, no?

I would also question Mathews, Batum and Rolo being any better than what Roy had. That is very debatable. Those guys were elevated by the team and their stats on other teams are now showing that. Another reason id like you to try to put teammates aside and focus strictly on the player themselves.

 

Again. I am only arguing for 08-09 Roy. If you want to toss 07-08 or injured Roy into the discussion I would agree with you. But I am ONLY talking about 08-09 Roy, because we are talking about a player that is no longer in the league, and whether a player we currently have has matched him.

If you're looking at careers, I think Dame already has a better argument, but he hasn't matched Roy's best.

Just for the sake of argument, Batum, Aldridge and Lopez are at or above their career numbers. Only Matthews hasn't been as good this year, but he's coming off a potentially career altering injury.

 

In Roy's best season he was a bit better. Problem is he got injured a week before the playoffs and was never the same. The year prior in the Houston series he wasn't quite at his peak yet. His career was tragically cut short so Dame will surpass him as a player.

Roy was better able to get to the rim or free throw line when we needed a bucket.

Dame is a much better leader and teammate. Not that Roy was bad; he was good at it. Dame is one of the best leaders ever.

 

OKayyyyy... but the question wasn't who had the better season... I think this is why your meeting so many walls/ butting heads. Your trying to grasp onto something that wasn't in the question. Who is the better player. Not who had the better supporting cast, or who had the better single season... or even who was more injury prone.
Do you think a single season is the benchmark of one's career?

Put all that crap aside Imagine if Roy had good knees... or the Roy prior to injury. Compare the two and how you see their careers going. Who do you think is better?

Ill have to revisit the others guys stats for this year, but earlier on, they were but a fraction of last year. I must admit, its been a while since I looked at their numbers or season thus far... but again... its moot, because it wasn't a qualifying factor in the question

 

Dick smick. I don't care as long as there winning.

 

I don't care to delve into that question, because then you're just looking at hypotheticals more than anything. If that's what you want to argue then consider me bowing out.

 

C.J. has a degree in journalism.

 

We weren't winning. We never got out of the first round.

 

Oh god... really? If you cant answer the way YOU want, then your out? geez...

Secondly, you dont think taking Roys injury into account is hypothetical?

This is ALL hypothetical, im just trying to reign in the borders a bit. Sorry you cant be corralled and continue the discussion, but what you are arguing about are also hypotheticals. We dont truly KNOW if Roy made Blake better or worse. We dont really KNOW whether LMA and Dame made Wesley better... those are all tangibles that are opinion based because we werent in the huddles, at the practices, or sleeping with the coach to know who was truly calling all the shots(plays) for who in every instance.

 

I think you're taking this a bit too seriously.

 

<BANGS HEAD ON DESK>

 

HAHA... on the contrary, your the one who said he quit if he couldn't answer the way he wanted...

There is nothing too serious about this.. its just a comparison of players, but some people (like yourself) are trying to envelope ever little thing possible, including rosters and single season outputs. I'm trying to get us on the same path of discussion is all. The two players... nothing more nothing less.

Its all good, and I actually have a point to this thread and discussion that I will reveal once most have expressed their view.

 

I will admit though, I am piss poor at reading sarcasm and/or jokes vs seriousness on here. I suck at it. I take most things literally.. a fault of mine.