Over the past ten games, although Lillard is of course scoring more than CJ (and getting more assists and rebounds), CJ is shooting better from everywhere. And, in a surprising reversal from earlier this season, Lillard is a net minus of 4.9 per game, while CJ is our only major rotation player in the positive (0.8). Thoughts? (Of course I wouldn't say that this means we should shop Lillard and keep CJ or anything like that, I just think it's odd. Is it a sign that Lillard is being overworked? That defenses are loading up on him and making life easier on CJ? Part of the reason CJ had a bad +/- earlier in the season I attributed to him playing PG for our awful bench, so what's changed?)
Dame is a nice player. He's better in the eye test this year as well. But I also think Dame is overrated. You give Cj his own team he's just as good or better than Dame. Cj is super efficient and that's my favorite part about his game
Opposing defenses focus on Lillard first and most. Lillard can beat a team, CJ can do well against a team.
All I know is that it's nice to have two players that good on the Blazers' roster. I'd love to find a third one to put into the debate.
Well last time I checked CJ doesmg have the best defenders of the opposing team on him on some nights. Clipppers always play moute on dame. Last night, ariza covered dame most of the night with a mix of Patrick Beverley and Brewer. I get what you're saying numbers wise but you also have to take into account who they are being guarded by. Love cj but I also have seen him in garbage time look for his own shots so much as opposed to find an open man or set up somebody. Cj is one of the best shooting guards in the game and might have some better percentages than dame but overall dame takes this. I can't believe we are even back to discussing this. When dame comes out of games we lose leads, he was carrying us hard when cj was cold for the first 5 or 6 games. Hasn't been as hot since but still is a bigger impact and averaging 28 last time I checked
Its a toss up night in night out in my opinion. I LOVE CJ his game is magnificent and efficient (Clyde Frazier voice). He's less predictable than dame on offense I will give him that.
I'd beg to differ... you almost never know when (or where) Dame is going to shoot from... his hesitations and quick first steps often fool the first man and he can take it to the rack or shoot it from 40 feet... I'd say that's unpredictable.
Yeah but when he does that stutter dribble past 25 feet you KNOW what he's going to do just not much you can do about it he's gunna pull up or blow past you with the quickness. It's the difference between having a couple go-to (essentially) unstoppable moves and a myriad of really really good moves. Dame just doesnt have the repertoire of moves or ball handling ability CJ does. Dame is more athletic/quicker CJ is more crafty/better shooter Thats the only difference between them far as I can tell
Nothing quiet about it. I've been saying CJ is better than Dame which is why I don't want to trade or bench CJ.
He wasn't this bad with Wes/Nic/Rolo behind him. It's hard to hide Dame's bad defense in this lineup. That's part of the reason why people bring up CJ trades.
No offense to the OP, because the topic is somewhat interesting. But at the same time I absolutely hate every time this subject comes up. Their individual competitiveness is enough to make them both want to get better, but to hear about it or read about the comparisons could eventually cause issues between the two. And you know the debates get back to them. Not necessarily from this forum, but when you include radio, TV, internet....... Personally I don't care who is playing better at a specific time. I like them both on this team, and we need them both.
Even Turner is making CJ better of late as he is setting him up and running the PG instead of CJ. This is helping now and will get better going forward IMO. Evans defense also is covering for CJ woefull defense.
