I do not think we ever saw Roy completely healthy. This is really not a fair comparison - talent wise - Roy was amazing, he had the equivalent of Lillard's athletic ability with a better version of CJ's skill and ability to stop on a dime, change directions and slither anywhere he wanted. He just never had the health, system and team-support that Lillard had. I would argue that talent wise Roy was a smidge better, we just never got to experience it on a fully healthy version of Roy.
Wha???? The entire McMillan offense was built around Roy, and in terms of talent, the Roy teams were much more talented.
I agree with you on the one on one overall I think, but the team support is way off. Remember ROy had Aldridge and Oden(laughable), a much better bench in my opinion (until this year) and a coach that ran ISO for him all the time. He had all the support form both coaches and players... at least as much as Dame has, especially up until this year
Dame didn't retire one day worried about walking with his kids and end the season a Timberwolve either....Roy could create his own shot as well as any Blazer ever.
Seriously. Nate started Blake for how long, just because Roy didn't "mesh" well with Dre. I'm not quite sure how much more a system could be centered around one guy.
You can't be serious? The main reason I still hold Roy's 08-09 season in higher regard is because he led that group of nothings to 54 wins and homecourt advantage. Seriously, which supporting cast is better: Roy's: Aldridge - Decent 2nd option Oden - Couldn't even stay out of foul trouble, injured half the time Przy - Pretty good Rudy - Out of the league Batum - Rookie token starter Blake - lol Outlaw - Out of the league Frye - Didn't even have a 3 point shot Sergio - Out of the league Bayless - Barely played Vs: Dame's: CJ - Decent 2nd option Plumlee - Pretty good Davis - Pretty good Crabbe - Pretty good Hendo - Pretty good Aminu - Eh Harkless - Eh Leonard - Eh Vonleh - Token rookie starter You can't honestly tell me the first team is more talented as the second one? At worst they're even in talent, the difference is Roy's team won 54 and Dame's is on pace to win 42-43.
I think people like to look back fondly on the Roy years and build him up into more than he was because he turned the franchise around. As good as Roy was, there are things that Lillard has done this year that put him in rare air. How many factoids have the Blazers put out about him? How many accomplishments has he achieved that haven't been done since Petrie in the 70s? Our entire offense was built around Roy and he never dominated in the same way that Dame has been. People will always have that "what if" attitude about Roy and his health, but in an era where point guards dominate the league, Dame is still finding a way to stand out among the rest.
Agreed. Dame has yet to reach the peak that BRoy did in 08-09. 24+ PER with far better defense. He was close to top 5 player in the league, while Dame is closer now to top 10. Then again, if the argument for longest sustained success, the winner is obviously Dame.
Scoring records and arbitrary statline cutoffs are pretty pointless if they aren't leading to wins, imo.
That's not an argument and you clearly know why. Seriously, give me an argument why that first team is more talented than the second. The Rockets series exposed how talentless the Roy team actually was. We played 1.5 v 5 that entire series.
Serisouly? That wasn't Dames support for his first full 3 seasons. To use this years roster as comparison is as big a joke as you think the opposite is...
Dude... again.. .your using THIS YEARS roster... Not the one Dame played 82 games for three seasons with. come on now... play fair...
I'm comparing Roy's best season to Dame's best season, since we are comparing peaks. I'm obviously not arguing for Roy's longitivity. But even if you want to go that route, Dame's support in the last two seasons is more than Roy ever had, and they still didn't win more than 54.
This wasnt a team concept though. This is ROy vs Lillard. What they have done and what they could have/will do. Not how good they are if they were on a better team or worse team IMO.
Again. I think your bringing in too many tangibles. Team support, wins during a season, etc. Just compare the two players.. Wins have alot to do with surrounding personnel and coaching. Leave that stuff out and just look at the two players. Dame had little support last season compared to this year, and little support compared to ROy's in my opinion ( not including this year)
You look at everything in context. I see Roy leading a similarly talented team to more wins, while maintaining better advanced stats. I am not looking at what Dame could do. I am confident Dame will surpass Roy eventually, but he hasn't yet.
Because you're underselling what Rudy did prior to that cheapshot by Ariza. You're chalking him up as some scrub. The guy broke the rookie record for three pointers that year. He was a SOLID contributor off the bench. He and Hendo are at least a push. Let's go to the numbers! The 08-09 team had FIVE players averaging double figures.... the current team has THREE. Rudy and Travis, who you so eloquently pointed out are no longer in the league, were averaging 10 and 12 ppg respectively.