Blazers’ Damian Lillard ready to unveil his new weapon: the half-court shot By Jason Quick Dec 8, 2020 32 Fair warning to NBA defenses this season: Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard has a new weapon he is ready to unveil: shooting from half court. For real. The NBA’s biggest deep threat says he is ready to extend his range to half court, a claim that was given some credence last week when the Trail Blazers published a video of Lillard sinking jumpers from the half-court line. On Tuesday, after the Blazers’ first training camp practice, The Athletic asked Lillard how feasible it was for him to shoot from half court during a game. “Very possible,” Lillard said. Lillard, who led the NBA last season with 54 makes from 30 feet or longer, said he won’t be going wild with half-court shots, which are 47 feet from the basket. “Obviously, I’m not just going to be out here every game firing a shot from half court — or maybe not even every 20 games,” Lillard said. “It might be once or twice in the whole season that I feel like … F it.” But he did add that if he gets rolling, he might become more willing to give a half-court heat check. “If I get in a game and I hit three, four 3s in a row? That’s when you should have your eyes open because it might be going up from half court at that point,” Lillard said. Coach Terry Stotts said that last season Lillard told him he was ready to start shooting from half court. “I know it’s coming,” Stotts said. “You know, I just hope he makes it. … But you know, as I’ve said before, Dame has pushed out his range, and I think everybody realizes that his range is a threat, and I think he has been relatively judicious in his shots. But I think we all know it’s coming.” Lillard last season shot 41.9 percent (54 of 129) from 30 feet and beyond, and in his eight NBA seasons, nobody has made more shots from beyond 30 feet than Lillard, who has 95. Golden State’s Stephen Curry is second during that timespan, having made 67. Lillard began concentrating on extending his range three seasons ago, and his signature long-range moment came in Game 5 in the first round of the 2019 playoffs, when he hit a 3-pointer from 37 feet over the outstretched hand of Paul George to eliminate Oklahoma City. Taking shots from 30 feet or beyond was by design for Lillard, a way to counter defenses that were more aggressively trapping him farther and farther away from the basket, particularly in the playoffs. The more teams have to extend themselves to guard against his shot, the more it works to Lillard’s advantage. He says it affords him more space to gather a head of steam toward the rim, creates more ground the help defender has to cover to reach him and makes it easier for him to see the defense and plays develop. The most extreme example of a defense selling out to get the ball out of his hands occurred last season in the Orlando bubble, when Brooklyn sent two defenders to trap him as soon as he crossed the midline. The suffocating attention led Lillard to take advantage of a momentary lapse by the Nets defense by launching a pull-up 35-footer in the fourth quarter with the Blazers trailing by seven. The shot was true and ignited a 134-133 comeback victory during which Lillard hit eight 3s and finished with 42 points. “It started with how teams started to defend me,” Lillard said. “I was getting a lot of attention where I was getting trapped and blitzed. … It was like I had to start playing from further out to give myself more space. I really just wanted to become a more serious threat from further out.” About three years ago, he began implementing long-range shooting to his normal offseason workout plans. Then those shots became part of his regular post-practice routine. And many of those repetitions were witnessed by Stotts. “When I was younger and would shoot from deep, Coach would be like, ‘Dame! Why you taking these shots?’ … and our (assistant) coaches would be like, ‘Terry is not going to be accepting right away,'” Lillard said. “But I think once Terry started seeing me in the summer more often and he would see how often I would train at it … I think it’s grown on him,” Lillard said. “I think he accepts it.” In the past three seasons, Lillard is shooting 36.4 percent from beyond 30 feet, and his 78 makes are the most in the league, with Atlanta’s Trae Young second with 62. It’s why Lillard says it shouldn’t be considered crazy for him to pull up at half court and shoot. “I’ve done it a few times, and I was just barely inside half court,” Lillard said. But those were 35- or 37-footers. Shooting from 42 to 46 feet is a whole different deal. It’s why teammate and backcourt mate CJ McCollum offered a warning when Lillard started talking about taking half-court shots in a game. “I told him he do that shit, he better make it,” McCollum said. McCollum pointed to last season’s Brooklyn game in the bubble, when Lillard was on the edge of the NBA logo when he went up for the 35-footer that ignited the fourth-quarter comeback. “I mean, he has the range, he’s been close,” McCollum said. “He’s smart enough to know when to do something like that and when not to. I think in the Brooklyn game he shot it from damn near half court and it was draws — nothing but net. And it was a shot we needed.” Now, Lillard says that range will extend even farther, creating yet another piece of an arsenal that defenses have to consider. All the while, it has added some intrigue and spice to upcoming Blazers games. “I do it for the challenge,” Lillard said. “And for the fun, kind of, as well.” (Photo: Steve Dykes / Getty Images)
But he did add that if he gets rolling, he might become more willing to give a half-court heat check. I have absolutely no problems with this and I hope he takes at least 20 half court shots this season. If for nothing else than the basketball analytics. He’s not the only one who could be a half court heat check threat, I’d love to see that become a thing.
Could you imagine? Make it like 90% of the time. Would suck to play that team you’d be like “they got that dude who hits 90% of his full court shots”
Now I’m laughing legitimately imagining that is what basketball comes to. Whoever rebounds it shoots it from wherever it’s rebounded from; always, like all the time... No more passing, no more dribbling, just rebounding and shooting. Player takes a dribble, coach calls time out and benches them.
> Coach Terry Stotts said that last season Lillard told him he was ready to start shooting from half court. “I know it’s coming,”Stotts said. “You know, I just hope he makes it. … What a great quote from the “coach.” Lillard should be improving his ball handling so he can easily switch to Steve Nash mode when defenses aggressively trap him. Curry and Kyrie are light years ahead of Lillard in dribbling...
It's extremely rare that an entire offense can know the exact moment a three pointer is going up (while the other team doesn't). Seems to me the coach ought to design a play. First, you watch Dame take these shots in practice and get a feel for where they rebound on misses. I suspect they mostly carom long or short but not as much side to side, but I don't know. That's why you watch. On the in-bound after a made shot, Dame shouts "half" or whatever to teammates to let them know he's taking it. All our guys get in rebound position the second he crosses half court. Just knowing it's coming has got to significantly increase our chances of rebounding a miss.
You don't need to dribble to beat a trap. Its basic high school basketball, pass to the open teammate. It very much concerns me Lillard seems to focus on the spectacular skills instead of a basic one. Its been 6 years of the teams trapping Lillard in the postseason and Lillard hasn't been able to beat it. Dame needs to understand how to make the basic quick pass instead of trying to make half court shots or split double teams, etc. CJ easily beat traps in game 5 last year, he made the basic pass and let teammates such as Melo get going. Maybe your teammates fail, maybe they succeed, but not passing it ensures you will fail! At some point we can stop blaming teammates and coaches, etc. The only player having this much trouble with a trap in NBA history is Dame.
True. But sometimes it’s hard to get a pass out of a trap and ball handling is extremely helpful in that situation. Curry and Kyrie dribble out of double teams often with no problem - even if it’s just to open a passing lane. Lillard can’t do that. He gets trapped and is forced to immediately pick up his dribble and pass out even if he doesn’t have a lane to do so. Usually he tries jumping over the defender and it doesn’t work. but yeah you’re right his problems are way deeper. He’s fundamentally a flashy player who cares more about looking good personally and “having fun” than doing what it takes to win. He doesn’t hustle unless he has the ball. He tries way too many “heat checks” instead of playing smart and being efficient. tbh he has become arrogant in the last few years. Unless he starts playing with the team and stops acting like he’s so above them that he can disregard the offense and throw up shots from half court - we will not go anywhere. I don’t even care what % he shoots, this is just stupid and disrespects his team. It’s sad Stotts is such a jellyfish that he allows talent to be wasted like this.
Here it is... just like with Roy. I can't believe this shit. So Dame's game lacks substance huh? Am I getting that straight? He's all flash and not about winning. OK. That's total bullshit. Everyone on this team could use some accountability from the coaching staff but Dame is the last person on that list in my opinion.
Back in the day I had a Dreamcast. I played my friend all the time and I would shoot a 3 full court at the end of the game with Shaq and win. Seconds left, he thought he was going to win, and swish every time. It pissed him the fuck off
Even if Dame shoots 25% from half court, but it forces the defense to defend another 5ft further than last year, that's a huge win!
What I am hoping to see is teams run two players at Dame as he crosses half court, he then passes to Nurk, who lobs to Jones cutting to the rim.
I could find 100 good things to say about Lillard. But his weakest area today is his ego, which has grown exponentially in recent years, and used to be one of his strongest points. he’s still pretty humble as far as superstars go. But he has developed the “superstar” attitude within the last couple of years (IMO it was when he got that insane $$$$$$$ bonus for making NBA first team). The same guy 2 years back woulda never talked about shooting from half court in NBA games. He doesn’t even seem to understand how this is disrespectful to players like CJ who are on the trade block dying for touches and who grind to get the shots they get. It doesn’t have to be from half court, when he just pulls up with 20 seconds left in the clock and misses a deep 3 it demoralizes the whole team and kills the flow of the offense. Not trying to make to big of a deal out of this headline. But this story kind of symbolizes Dame’s newest weak areas. He’s a PG practicing half court 3s when he isn’t even a top 10 ball handler...
I'd love to know here you get your information from about Dame and his teammate's relationships. I believe you are wrong about them.
