Interesting Article on Damian Lillard, plus my own thoughts on Lillard

The Special Resonance of Damian Lillard's Discipline
https://basketball.realgm.com/analysis/261898/The-Special-Resonance-Of-Damian-Lillards-Discipline

Excerpt:

My own (related) thoughts about Lillard and the Blazers:
As some of you have known, I have long professed that the Blazers will not, can not, win a championship - EVER. The only small market teams (since before 1980) to win a championship had Lebron James or Tim Duncan - guys who are in the top 5 all time at their positions. And I still believe that no small market team will ever win a chip without a top 5er. However, it is no longer obvious to me that Lillard will not become a top 5er. In this year's all star game, Lillard and Curry showed the world something we've never seen before. They both hit multiple half court shots at a greater that 50% clip. Lillard just showed Chicago and New Orleans outrageous things. Personally, I turned off both games at the end, assuming it was another Blazer loss. Lillard was amazing. Putting aside concerns about the coach, personnel, and injuries, I have a new found optimism - Maaaaaybe, the Blazers aren't ruled out of winning a championship after all.

That being said, until the Blazers start playing good defense, I'll still be in the skeptic's camp. However, the Blazers truly have A New Hope.

Can he become, or is currently, a top5 PG all time?
What do you think of the article, or my thoughts on Lillard?

 

The NBA will never allow us to win another championship.

If we made it to the Finals, nobody would watch.

 

I feel like Dame is more of a traditional point guard than Iverson ever was. Iverson playing shooting guard next to taller point guards like Eric Snow. Curry is also more of a hybrid point guard/shooting guard player. The amount he runs off screens is completely outside of the traditional point guard mold. But Dame fits that mold. He has the ball in his hands all the time. He sets up the offense. He puts up decent assist numbers (as proven by that recent stat about him hitting points/assists).

 

Not for the rest of the league. Remember how bad the viewership was for the Spurs/Nets? Why would it be different for us?

 

It's interesting, Iverson averaged 31 ppg but only 4.5 - 5 assists per game during that time. He was also listed as a shooting guard.

Also, Iverson played a TON of minutes. It's amazing he played as long as he did. He was averaging 41 mpg FOR HIS CAREER. Dame is insanely more efficient than Iverson. His highest PER in his career was 26 and that was only 1 time.

 

The Blazers can win a chip with Dame as the No. 1 option, the team just needs to find him a legit No. 2 and the rest will fall in place. He's that good. Top 5 in the NBA right now, and I don't think there's a real debate about it either.

 

Will the refs allow him to win one?

 

Paul George is 6'7. I'm in favor of Portland replacing CJ with a 6'10 Paul George

j/k

 

Just put CJ on this!

 

Duncan had Parker and Manu. Curry had Green, Iggy, Klay. It takes a lot more than just being a top-fiver unless you are Lebron and he still had Kyrie and then AD. You either need other stars or immense depth of non-star but well above average players. Like Dallas had.

We are not even close. Nurk would have to return to form and then some. CJ would need to play at his “all star” level. Little would need to blossom big time. Our defense would need drastic improvement.

 

No argument. My point is that having a top5er is a prerequisite - it's necessary, but not sufficient.

 

It's because of all the practice. I hear he loved to practice.

 

The best time to take a nap.

 

maybe that's the real reason he had a broken foot

 

for a championship, a teams needs to consistently have a top-10 defense. The Dame/CJ teams have only been there once, on a fluke, and that was when the pair were being paid 30 million less than they will be over the next 3 seasons

Olshey doesn't prioritize defense. If he did, the roster would look a lot different