I don't think it is a stretch to say that we have seen two Damians this year. The first was that dynamic, Kobe-like, clutch player who killed the Rockets last year and had it going like that the first part of this year. The second is a player who seems to always be forcing things a bit, who misses that game-changing shot more than he hits it. To me, he changed around the time of the all-star game when he started crying about not making the team and trying so hard to prove he should have. He has been pressing ever since IMO. And don't call me a hater or a fair weather fan. I am just saying that Damian doesn't look like an all-star to me these days.
I think he needs to be the franchise player he puports himself to be. He needs to be more selfish and want to destroy with a vengance.
I think he is more tired than he thinks. I would attribute a lot of his struggles on his shoe release & effort spent promoting it.
He always looks exhausted from playing defense, yet refuses to take a game off. http://www.sportstwo.com/posts/3598959/
He hasn’t been very clutch this season, even though he’s scored the most 4th quarter points in the league. A lot of that is because he doesn’t do anything in the first half, the Blazers are usually down, and he spends all his energy mounting comebacks in the 2nd half. If that’s gonna be his recipe for playing throughout his career, than Portland fans will have to settle for a good but not great team. The shoes and commercials have been the difference I think. Too much time away from working on his game. His shot has been garbage for much of the season, but is a volume scorer so he gets his numbers. I thought at this stage of his career, based on what we saw early on, that he’d be a dead eye shooter consistently. Someone like Reggie Miller or Ray Allen. A guy you felt confident every time he hoisted one up. But it’s actually gone the other way. Still a huge fan, but his game often times is frustrating. I wish he’d come out on fire and set a dominant tone from the start. Perhaps then, the Blazers could learn how to play with a lead and finish teams off, instead of this constant cardiac kid comeback mode.
He needs to take a good portion of the summer away from basketball. Dude needs some R&R. Then after that resting right to the gym working on fighting through picks
IIRC, his first horrid game was the night he debuted his signature shoe at home against the Clippers. Cp3 destroyed him, and he's been poor ever since. I think that was December or January? I think a lot has got to do with all the media and "promotion" BS he does, and all the commercials, the respect campaign, etc. All that is good and all, but at the end of the day he's paid to play and succeed in basketball, not promote. He has a lot to work on this summer. A lot. He needs to become an at the very least AVERAGE Defender. That's not too much to ask for(Defensively), and idk how or when or why he lost it, but he needs that killer instinct back.
...I think he would be wise to take a page out of LeBron's playbook the year he stopped reading the media and using social media in favor of reading books. Dame, I think, would do well from isolating himself from the outside world (aka social media and the like) and focus on nothing but basketball and winning a championship. Everything else should be secondary to that...and can wait until the off-season.
I knew someone would bring that up. I get he wants to push his shoe...but he also needs to get back to playing at that all star level. That alone will make his shoe sell. Not like he doesn't have a Max contract coming soon anyways.
Wes had a major payday coming up, too. Also, it's not that he -wants- to, it's that he's contractually obligated.
LOL! Some of you guys are so funny. So what if he promotes his shoes. He's not going out. He's not partying. No Hoop Families. He's very connected to the local community. His parents and brother live here now. He has gotten more than one HUGE national promotional deal while playing for a small market team. He donates more time to charities and fans in the Portland area than any other player on the team. He does not do these things to promote his shoes. He conducts himself, his personal and professional life beyond what anyone should expect or could have ever dreamed. Every year he has worked hard and improved his game. The focus this last off season was defense, conditioning and nutrition. Season before last was finishing around the basket. Complaints about him are all over the map, He doesn't shoot enough. He shoots too much. He relies on the 3pt shot too much. He doesn't hit 3pt shots enough. He's not clutch as much as he has been. He doesn't try hard enough. He refuses to sit out games to rest up. But more importantly, you don't think he cares? You don't think he's not disappointed? That he doesn't have a drive to do more and better? Scoring ave up. Assists up over last season. Steals up. Rebounding up. Defense better. http://espn.go.com/nba/player/stats/_/id/6606/damian-lillard Look at the stats yourself.
I feel like this thread is a troll thread. Designed to bait someone. Thank god it was sly and not me.. Although I don't really think he got baited. Ty sly.
I've posted this before: They shouldn't make him play defense so hard. He's little, and it exhausts him. Let him focus on what he's good at, shooting. The plus of his offense will exceed the minus of his defense. I hope. He'll be great again, like his rookie year.
How Damian Lillard Became One of the Best Finishers in the League http://www.blazersedge.com/2015/4/13/8394245/portland-trail-blazers-damian-lillard-elite-finisher
No one is trying to bait anyone. It's OK to make an honest observation. And, Sly, while his stats may be up, I'm not talking about stats. I'm talking about that swagger, the mojo, the magic. You know something is missing there. And that was the funnest part of his game.
