Dame Determined to Become MVP, Win NBA Title

Discussion in 'Portland Trail Blazers' started by ABM, Jul 16, 2019.

  1. ABM

    ABM Happily Married In Music City, USA!

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    https://clutchpoints.com/blazers-news-damian-lillard-determined-to-win-mvp-nba-title/

    Blazers star Damian Lillard determined to become MVP, win NBA title


    Lillard, the 29-year-old former Rookie of the Year, is filming a role in the LeBron James–led “Space Jam” sequel but his focus could not be more on the game of basketball.

    Asked by Jason Quick in The Athletic about what still “drives” Lillard, the four-time All-Star answered that it’s the desire to win an NBA title and MVP award.

    Because it’s just always something else. For me, I’ve had a lot of accomplishments – high school, college, and even in the NBA. But the ultimate goal is to win it all, to win the championship as a team. As an individual, you want to be MVP. So, I think that’s an easy question. I haven’t been either one of those – a champion or MVP – so there’s a lot I still have to play for, a lot to keep me going.

    The Blazers, led by the All-NBA guard Lillard, reached the Western Conference Finals in 2019 — the first time in franchise history since the back-to-back appearances in 1999-00. Portland was swept by Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors in four games however.

    Lillard also signed a four-year, $196 million supermax extension with Portland. The contract has a player option for the 2024-25 season.

    Portland has only achieved a single title in franchise history, in 1977 with Bill Walton, Maurice Lucas, and Jack Ramsay at the helm. Lillard desires winning at the highest level, and that means bringing an NBA championship back to the City of Roses.

    FROM ATHLETIC:

    Trail Blazers’ star Damian Lillard has a fresh look this summer – a shaved face – and a new excitement about the upcoming NBA season.

    Lillard on Tuesday met with Portland media at his youth basketball camp, where more than 300 boys and girls ages 6-to-16 take part in the week-long camp that Lillard attends every day. It was his second camp of the summer and the seventh year he has held the event in Portland, where he resides year round.

    Here is a Q&A with Lillard that touches on his motivation for the camp, his anticipation level for the upcoming season, his role in Space Jam, and how he is evolving his workouts as he gets older.

    What is your schedule like?

    Camp is from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., so by the time it is over I’m ready to go home and get off my feet. So I’ve been lifting at 6:30 a.m., do all my conditioning stuff, then I come here and workout at 8 and by the time I’m finishing, they are ready to start camp, so I would rather do that than workout after camp when I’m probably more exhausted.

    What do you hope the kids get out of your camp?

    Obviously, I want them to have fun. And you know, learn some things on the court, learn some moves and get comfortable doing certain things. Just foundation-type basketball stuff. But the most important thing is the lessons we try to teach them with each camp coach: Learning to follow instructions. Learning to be able to execute what someone is telling you. Just take the direction and instill those things in them … Meet a new friend. Treat people the right way. Be kind. Just stuff like that, that they can take back to school, and they can take home. We try to find ways to impact them that way just as much as we do with what we teach them on the court. But for me, some of them might not really like basketball, some of them might just want to come to camp and have a good time, so I think its even more important for us to do those other things. Just hold them accountable in those other areas because that’s something they will be able to use outside of sports. That’s what I really look forward to.

    Around town it feels like there’s a lot of anticipation for this upcoming season. Do you have that same anticipation more so than other years?

    For sure. I think probably more anticipation now than probably any other time. After my rookie year when we had a solid year and the next year we knew we were going to be good, I was really excited to get to that, and we ended up having a great season. Then after everybody left (in summer of 2015), coming back with a new group, I was excited … but this year, it’s like, it’s even bigger change it seems like. We are pretty much bringing in a whole new team, different types of people. You know, everybody has been ‘What about this guy? He’s this and he is that …’ So it will be interesting. You know, I’m excited to see what it’s going to be.

    How long do you think it will take for everybody to come together?

    You never know. We always reach out to guys and try to get them into town early, early September, so we can at least start training together, get to know each other better. Playing pickup, learning each other, being on the floor, being in the weight room, being around. Then when camp starts, it’s not brand new. We know each other, we know what to call people, you are not calling them by their full name, you know what they like to be called – stuff like that. And then from there, it just happens. You can’t force it, you just have to let it happen.

    Why do you want to stay in Portland the rest of your career?

    It’s been a huge investment. Not just on the floor, but everything I do off the court. A lot of people I’ve met have kind of gone up this path with a lot of time spent (with me), so I’m committed to that. Same thing with the team. There has been a lot of time invested, a lot of hard work, a lot of losses, just a lot of stuff I’ve been a part of and I want to finish the job. I want to be here for my career so I can make sure I finish the things I’ve started.

    After playing basketball your whole life, what is it about the game that still drives you?

    Because it’s just always something else. For me, I’ve had a lot of accomplishments – high school, college, and even in the NBA. But the ultimate goal is to win it all, to win the championship as a team. As an individual, you want to be MVP. So, I think that’s an easy question. I haven’t been either one of those – a champion or MVP – so there’s a lot I still have to play for, a lot to keep me going.

    You talked about a busy summer, so how has Space Jam shooting going?

    Um, that was different. When we did that I was like … y’all know I’ve always had a baby face, so this season I grew a beard out and it took me like six months to grow it, I show up on the set and they make me shave it off for the animation. That’s why I look like this now. So it was bare faced for the animation. Fifteen hour days – showing up on the set at 6 a.m., leaving at 9 p.m., so it was long. I’m not going to say it was fun, eventually it was fun, but now I’m happy I did it, knowing I was part of something like that. I think it’s going to be great.

    So you are done with the shooting?

    I might have to go back one more time, but I’m pretty much done. I was there for a week, 15 hour days so it was a lot of filming. No breaks.

    Can you give us an idea of what your role is?

    Can’t really say. It’s significant. It’s not a cameo, I can tell you that.

    How do you feel in general about the roster and the depth?

    I feel pretty good. I think myself, CJ, Nurk will be healthy at some point this season, Hassan, Bazemore, bringing Hood back … Zach (Collins) I’m excited about … Zach and Ant (Anfernee Simons) these guys have a huge summers in front of them. If they can have big summers and come back they can really have an impact on our team, they can really be what can make us take that next step, especially with what we’ve added. I think even though we lost a lot of guys, we’ve picked up some really good talent, guys who can do things that we haven’t had, so I’m excited about it.

    What did you think about Westbrook going to Houston?

    I mean, Paul George was traded, then I think Grant got traded to Denver … once I started seeing real pieces of the team starting to get moved around, I figured either he was next and they were starting over or he was going to tell them, you know, I don’t want to be a part of a complete rebuild. So I’m not going to say I was surprised, but I didn’t expect him to go to Houston.

    Did you think about your role in that?

    My role? Hey man (smiling) … I just do my job … and go home. Nothing to do with that.

    Do you feel the West is as wide open as it has been in years?

    I’ve heard a few people say that because you know, KD left and Klay suffered a tough injury, so people know they won’t be the same team so they think it’s wide open, but the West is still super competitive. Everybody has firepower. At first, everybody was calling the Clippers a tough team, they played hard, and now they’ve got Paul George and Kawhi Leonard. And now Anthony Davis plays for the Lakers and New Orleans has all this young talent that is going to be able to compete. You know, I don’t think people give them enough credit. And then Utah picked up all these guys. So it might look more balanced but it probably got tougher to win in the West because every team is good now. Sacramento is a year older, Phoenix is a year older, I mean all these teams, they are coming. Like I said, everybody sees it as wide open, but it’s definitely not. There’s a lot of good teams.

    You just celebrated a birthday (he turned 29 on Monday), as you get older how do your workouts and your outlook in the offseason change?

    Work smarter, not harder. I mean, I always try to just go-go-go – I work out two times and then I would be ready to do more stuff, because I always tell myself you have to put your body through it, you have to be ready, you have to do all these things. But what I’ve learned so far this summer – I trained for like two weeks, I was doing a bunch of conditioning, I was on the court a lot – and then I was like in Mexico for five days, then I came to Vegas, then I went to L.A. to do some stuff .. and it was 10 days and I hadn’t trained at all. Then last Monday I started working out here again and I felt great. So I was like, I need to start giving myself a break more often than I do because I felt better after 10 days of nothing and hanging out with my cousins and stuff – and I felt better. I think that’s the stuff I’m picking up more now, is like, the older I get the more rest I need to give my body and I actually felt better when I did it. So making sure I stay on top of the right kind of training, doing the smart. When I do it, do it hard, and make sure I’m treating my body right, but make sure I get that rest in.

    What did you think about your NBA2K rating – 92?

    It’s fine. I never really cared. I don’t understand why people get mad about what their rating is. I mean, a lot of people who came up with the game, they probably can’t even shoot.
     
    riverman, illmatic99, B-Roy and 4 others like this.
  2. e_blazer

    e_blazer Rip City Fan

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    More power to him. A motivated Dame is a dangerous Dame.
     
  3. Wizard Mentor

    Wizard Mentor Wizard Mentor

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    Wait, is he talking to Whiteside or the campers? :)
     
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  4. Propagandist

    Propagandist Well-Known Member

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    Wtf.
     
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  5. The Professional Fan

    The Professional Fan Big League Scrub

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    He’s gonna need to be MVP for us to win a title

    That GS series still sitting with me horribly

    Question: can Baze or Whiteside stop Draymond from shoving his fist down our throat over and over and over and over? I think Whiteside could have dropped that fucker in Nurk’s absence.
     
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  6. e_blazer

    e_blazer Rip City Fan

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    What’s your objection?
     
  7. CupWizier

    CupWizier Well-Known Member

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    He is a former rookie of the year?
     
  8. Dougnsalem

    Dougnsalem not barf

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    I agree. Two Legos up.

    Edit: Wait. Thumbs???
     
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  9. illmatic99

    illmatic99 formerly yuyuza1

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    Think you're gonna be sorely disappointed in Hassan. He routinely has been destroyed by ever above average big he's faced.
     
  10. Propagandist

    Propagandist Well-Known Member

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    It doesn't strike you as odd that of all his accomplishments, 4 All-NBA selections, 4 All-Star selection, Playoff success, etc, the author talks about the oldest and most meaningless of them all?
     
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  11. HailBlazers

    HailBlazers RipCity

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    Well it is the only 'individual' award of the bunch.
     
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  12. riverman

    riverman Writing Team

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    The weird thing is....I truly believe he'll accomplish both of those things....man are we lucky to have him as the face of the franchise
     
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  13. kjironman1

    kjironman1 Well-Known Member

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    Hope so.
     
  14. e_blazer

    e_blazer Rip City Fan

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    He did mention the four All-Star selections, but yeah, crappy writing. What were you expecting from Clutchpoints?

    Edit: Stupid autocorrect.
     
    Last edited: Jul 16, 2019
  15. SIeepwalker

    SIeepwalker The lone sane poster

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    He might fall short of MVP but he'll bring us a title. book it
     
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  16. Phatguysrule

    Phatguysrule Well-Known Member

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    I know he wants it and is willing to do everything he can to make it happen. That's enough for me.
     
  17. Reep

    Reep Well-Known Member

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    Every time I think he is topped out, he comes back the next season and proves me wrong.
     
  18. Further

    Further Guy

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    He’s too unselfish to win MVP
     
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  19. Phatguysrule

    Phatguysrule Well-Known Member

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    Less selfish than Steve Nash?
     

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