Lillard is 6'3 190... It's not like he is a small PG. He also has a 40 inch vert and he has displayed how athletic he can be when he wants to be. Kind of like Roy was in that sense. Damon was 5'10 170... BIG body differences. He had a great rookie season but he was truly a "little" guy.
Love this post^^ Love this post^^ Yes. I wear Lillard T shirt and jersey a lot and I hear what people say around me. A few times, I've overheard "Lillard? Oh, like, remember Damon Stoudamire.." I've heard that a couple times. As if to say "is this guy for real? No."
What? No. It was not better than Lillards. Not by any stat metric that matters. And - Damon won Rookie of the Year, but he shouldn't have. He had competition. Joe Smith had a better rookie campaign. Lillard, ran away with the award.
if he shot .469 instead of .429 he would have had a PER in the 20s (random mathematical speculation) he needs to get that shooting % up this year, and he really WILL be elite
Heavy minutes makes that stroke short. Bringing in Williams will be a Godsend. Now we have another distributor that can score. We are gonna have one exciting season!
This. Damon ran away with the award. Had better stats than Lillard and Joe Smith. He also hit a bunch of game winning shots, had some triple doubles. Beat on a very good Chicago team.
I didn't say anything about age. I simply said having four years of collegiate level play gets you more ready for NBA level play, and a player with more years of college is more likely to be at their peak than they are to make a huge jump. I'm not saying he won't get better, I'm saying his PER isn't going to go from 16 to 24. It's far more likely that he tops out at 19 which would put him in the second tier conversation with John Wall and Kemba Walker, than he makes a jump to the Paul, Westbrook, Parker, and Irving level.
I respectfully disagree. John Stockton had 4 years of college and was considerably better after his rookie season. Clyde drexler was extremely better. I can name hundreds of players that came out after 4 years that improved drastically after their rookie season. I do agree that staying 4 years gets you more ready for the nba level; but it isn't even close of an indicator that you cannot make a jump from 16 to 24 per.
Damon had more points per game, rebounds per game, assists per game, triple doubles, and a better PER. What stats do you use?
In this case, I know you're wrong. Come on man. Remember Roy and how much better he became after his rookie season? He had 4 years too and if he didn't have shitty knees; he's be top 5 in the league at 2 guard.
If D-Wade is considered the best WARP SG right now, Roy would have him beat by a mile with good knees; same talent but way more efficient.
People forget just how good Damon was. In fact, he was one of the reasons why we played the lakers so tough. He was a knuckle head, but the kid had talent.
