What a selfless guy. You never hear stars say stuff like this. All they care about is themselves. Here's a quote from an article at The Athletic: “At this point in my career, bruh, I don’t expect no credit,” he said. “I don’t expect no love. Because I don’t do what I do for them to judge me a certain way. I have my own reasons for what I do. I have my own stuff I want to accomplish. I want my coach to keep his job. I want my teammates to be rewarded with good contracts. I want to be a winning player. I want my teammates to enjoy playing with me and feel like they’re a part of something special. All that stuff matters to me. Making sure I stay true to who I am as a person and being real about everything. That means something to me." “So, I mean, when it comes to everybody being like, ‘Who’s the best point guard and who’s the superstar and who’s not?’ I don’t really care about that shit. I can honestly say I don’t care. When somebody is just discrediting me or acting like I’m not doing something that I’m doing, I might say something. I’m not moved by it or nothing like that because I do what I do for me and by my own standards and not by the media or what the public thinks. Otherwise, I would’ve been tried to go team up or I would’ve been tried to start doing everything to draw attention on myself and try to make them look at me a certain way. But I don’t because I got my own stuff that I play by and that I play for.”
What a shocking turn of events. I expected Lillard, whenever asked, to complain about his coach, teammates, city, etc. This happy-talk may become the standard answer from all athletes, requiring many new threads.
You know I have a feeling that Dame's parents/family instilled in him some extraordinary values growing up.
Dames gas as much influence on this with respect to who stats and goes, as Bron does in LA. He wants Terry here, he's here.
Just let it be known that there will never be another Dame in our lifetime as blazer fans. Like they say, "Dude is different".
yall should read that article, one of the best ones on dame from a writer in Oakland https://theathletic.com/2005361/2020/08/18/thompson-why-damian-lillard-was-so-ready-to-bubble/
I've never seen a player say that he is playing for his coach to keep his job and for his teammates to get big contracts. Never heard that at all. This is special. It's usually about switching teams so that they can win a ring for themselves.
I am sure this will piss people off, but it needs saying. He is loyal to his coach and team-mates. He has his own goals. That's all fine and well - but I would feel a lot better about things if the FANS were also on his list. Dame wants his coach to keep his job. I would actually prefer a player who would gut his coach and festoon the Burnside bridge with his entrails to give the fans/team/city another banner in the rafters.
He's talked about it a lot actually. https://www.nbcsports.com/northwest/portland-trail-blazers/damians-daydream-parade-portland or here... https://theathletic.com/1272286/201...blazers-are-now-saying-the-quiet-part-loudly/
