Obviously, that's a cream the cream of the crop list. One thing that should be said, however, is that Lillard is a purer shooter, especially from deep, than either Magic or Isiah. But I do think that a sample size of more than a game or two would be helpful before we crown him as a top-4 PG in NBA history.
Maybe I'm remembering Isiah differently than you are, but he was an insane scorer. He could pretty much score at will. Edit - I guess you are right. He was a terrible three point shooter. Career 29% shooter from deep.
This is my thinking. The league is going to adjust and he will face tougher competition. I like what I see so far though.
I think too much is being made about Lillard having to adjust to defenses... he is used to teams game planning entirely around him. The difference is, he realizes when the defense is keying on him so he tries to get his teammates involved. That's why you will often see him start out slow because he's working on finding his teammates, like Aldridge or Batum or Wes. Later on in the game he'll call his own number and put up some points.
I think his main problem is going to be physical and mental fatigue this season. He definitely looked worn out by the end of the game last night. He's going to have to figure out how to pace himself.
Do you feel the same after last nights game? I think DL will be fine, but it is different when Chico St. runs a scheme and a Pro team.
I think it was pretty obvious that Dallas schemed specifically for Lillard last night and I think it affected his decision making and his rhythm. Despite that it wasn't like he was shooting hotly contested threes, they just were't falling for him and that kind of snowballed. Hopefully he, along with Stotts, can come up with some effective counters for those double teams on the high pick and roll.
It's on Lillard's teammates to adjust too, so he doesn't get stranded because some power forward decided to just roll after the pick. So, institutionally, Stotts and team will help Lillard perform at his best by adjusting to that sort of swarming defense he's sure to get now. Maybe run Lillard off the ball a bit too.
That's a pretty big compliment when a teams defense is focused on a rookie in his 4th game when you've got an All Star on the floor with him. He talked about watching a lot of tape and learning from it in college. Adjustments are nothing new to him and I think the earlier he starts experiencing these defensive pressures the earlier he'll learn to beat them. I'm not worried about a slump or problem with his confidence. I say take the heat now and learn faster!
I expect a dozen or so games of struggling and steadily improving against the defensive schemes...and the better his teammates react, the sooner it'll be over.
I don't know that it's a compliment so much as it is noticing a guy going off his first three games and then planning accordingly. I'm not particularly worried about how it went down last night, but the Dallas plan to jump him as soon as he crossed mid-court worked pretty well.
Dallas brilliantly took the ball out of lillards hands and made wes dribble to much. We really dont have a great ball handler other then lillard. Batum should look at games like the Dallas one to showcase why he handles the ball so much for France when Parker isnt there. Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2
Even though they lost, I was glad to see Lillard tested like this. You just know he is going to watch this game over and over and along with Stotts find a way to work through this.
I can't believe how wrong I was about Lillard. Even when he's having an off night; you can see it in his eyes that he gets it. He has a winner mentality. I remembered seeing another player that had that same look in his eye. His name was Brandon Roy. The swagger is uncanny between the two. The only difference is I believe Lillard can play both iso and team ball. Love Roy, but if Lillard can keep this up; we maybe saying "Roy who?"
Yes, you can certainly tell he's good at playing basketball by looking deep into his big brown eyes ...
So..... I've seen your mention of Roy. It's not the first time that people have compared Lillard to Roy. But we've had 4 games now. 3 games, Lillard looked great. The 4th, Lillard was a bit off, but he still was confident, still was making some things happen. It just got me really thinking.... Has Lillard now done enough to earn his Blazers jersey hanging from the rafters?
Awesome. Now the next looming question.... Will he grant himself the rights to continue wearing #0, or will he force himself to change his number?
He'll go in for microfracture Friday, and on Tuesday he's scheduled to join the Timberwolves. However, by next Thursday he'll be doing bad color commentary for the Rockets, pretending that he always played there.
