https://hoopshype.com/2018/07/29/nb...point-guards-stephen-curry-russell-westbrook/ 4. DAMIAN LILLARD, PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS Despite an ugly end to his season, Damian Lillard still put up one of the best years of his career in 2017-18, receiving 1st Team All-NBA honors to prove it. Last season was Lillard’s best according to both VORP and BPM, he came up clutch time and time again… …and without him, the Trail Blazers likely wouldn’t even be a playoff team. Instead, they won 49 games and were the stacked Western Conference’s No. 3 seed heading into the playoffs. And then… came the playoffs, where it all fell apart for both the superstar floor general and his team. Lillard shot just 35.2 percent from the floor in the postseason, averaging a mediocre 18.5 points along the way, in what amounted to a four-game sweep at the hands of Holiday and the Pelicans. Lillard did have the excuse of there being a newborn baby waiting for him back at home when the playoffs rolled around, but even he would admit his game wasn’t up to par in those four outings. Nevertheless, all things considered, only one other floor general makes the same offensive impact on a nightly basis as Lillard, and we expect him to bounce back and return even stronger in 2018-19.
Dudes going to end up the best Blazer ever and probably my favorite too. I so hope NO and Stotts put around him the system and team to compete for championships...
Seriously, why do you post this shit. If the author of this obviously-biased-against-the-lakers article read s2, he'd know that if Lillard is #4, then Lonzo Ball should be #3.....
Strongly? I don't know. I'll tell you one thing, all things equal, I'm guessing 29 other teams would rather build around Kyrie than Dame. (Although I don't think the same thing would apply to Westbrook.)
I think Dame gets a slight edge, just for his leadership. Kyrie plays a little less and his per 36 stats are about equal yet hes slightly more efficient.
Here's a list of players last year that scored more than 20 pt/gm and more than 4.5 ast/gm, sorted by Win-Share: I think Dame easily deserves that top 4 ranking, and is worthy of discussion of a spot or two higher.
You might be right. Maybe! Out of the top five, Paul is the only one playing like a PG. His A/M for the season is 1.06 Westbrook is .882 Curry is .711 Lillard is .606 Irving is .553 But Curry and Irving's shooting percentage is so high, it negates the low A/M. Lillard's low A/M and shooting percentage says, double team him! It begs the opposing coach to do it! See if he can find the open man. He has the ball so much, the double team will stuff the Portland offense even if he does find an occasional open shooter. We see this in play every year during the playoffs.
1.) How are those guys not "playing like a PG"? Maybe not like a traditional PG, but the NBA has changed, offensively, there's score-first and pass first PGs, with some having a steady balance in between. The term "PG" shouldn't be a limiting box. 2.) Do you know what TS% is? It measures overall efficiency accounting for all shots and they're relative production (including FTs). The acreage is around 54%. Dame shoot a 59.4%, Kyrie shoots 61%, so to suggest Kyrie as being much more efficient is extremely shirt-sighted. Due to Dames aggression, he gets to the line more, and in average, FTs are the most productive outcome of any possession. They have the same AST%, and Kyrie is barely more efficient than Dame but has better teammates, so your take is skewed. If you're gonna stray over here, be more prepared.
I suppose you're right. There has to be another reason we get blown out every playoff with the double team on Lillard.
Because we dont adjust and put Dame in a more optimal position. Anthony Davis and Jrue Holiday are the equivilant of a brick wall. No PG is going to succeed when we're running halfcourt screens with the screen being oriented in a way for Dame to go to the halfcourt corner. We didn't adjust and run side pick n rolls (which are harder to effectively trap) nor did we use Dame more as a cutter/mover off the ball. Many other teams would've done this and neutralized the trapping defense. We didn't. Its not Dames fault.
No. Kyrie has injury concerns. They're pretty equal statistically, with Dame being in a tougher spot. Dames a better leader. "50/50" is being generous to Kyrie.
Oh! I agree in not laying the fault on Dame. I can not believe we have a coach that never sees the game. Never understands what it happening, let alone what is going to happen.