Lillard's year 2 improvement: More impressive than Roy's?

It's hard to say, because Roy didn't have a legitimate MVP candidate to take pressure off of him in his second year. Brandon, to me, was a true franchise player, and never really had a choice in becoming that player. Lillard, at times, is able to let LMA take the ball, or even have Mo Williams set up the offense. I look at the players around Roy in his second year, and how that team performed, and it's amazing to me.

In other words, it's hard to compare the two, because Lillard is, by consensus opinion, the second-fiddle on this team right now, while Roy literally was the only real option his second season. I can see where you think Lillard's is more impressive being #2, but that also means that defenses are more concerned with #1, and #2 gets more room to make mistakes and learn from them.

 

I also think that Lillard embracing the #2 position has been crucial to the jump this team has taken. I'd still like to see him get in a real defensive stance once in a while, but if Mo Williams is around to defend the other PGs for stretches, it doesn't really matter, since Lillard is such an asset on the offensive end of the court.

 

James Harden had a huge jump from year one to year two, and even more so in Year 3. So did Russell Westbrook. How many players are asked to be the focal point for their team from their first game, and how many take that team to the playoffs in their 3rd year while still being the primary option on offense?

 

Well I think the question, IMO would be could Roy make those improvements as a second fiddle?

 

Your question isn't really answerable, is it? We'd have to look at franchise players as rookies, and their improvement, versus #2 players as rookies, and their improvement. The problem is that it appears at first glance that there are very few franchise players from Day One of their careers. Derrick Rose comes to mind, and looking at his stats compared to Roy, it appears that the big jump in PER, at least, came in year 3 as compared to year 2.

 

...ding, ding, ding! Roy had a poor attitude (despite the way he tried to fool the media), even the average fan could start to see it during his final couple of seasons. Lillard will always put the team first...he is light-years ahead of Roy for this very reason, he understands the concept of team basketball and how crucial that is for winning. As a side note, I think that they are both equally as clutch at the end of games. However, I envision Lillard reigning supreme here as well.

 

I think it could be argued that yes if the other team is focusing it's defense on someone else a superior player like Roy or Lillard might achieve a more significant jump in production.

Is it my imagination or were other teams primarily focused on stopping Lillard at the beginning of the season, often double teaming him, sometimes fairly successfully, and that LaMarcus has since forced teams with his play to make him the defensive focus most nights?

Don't want to derail your thread but wondering if you think this is an accurate perception as it pertains to the OP?

 

Roy was more impressive to me because he single handily carried the team on his back up and out of irrelevance. Right or wrong Dame's improvement has impressed me less because my expectations for him are sky high.

PS, Terry Stotts deserves some credit (mentioning) as well.

 

Yes good point, but with Roy knowing the majority of plays are being run for him he had an advantage of pure volume of plays. Just my opinion, Roy was great at what he did for us but I don't think he would've thrived as a back seat driver and we probably have to wait awhile to see if Lillard could be an alpha for a season.

 

I don't even know how to answer this. You're comparing a franchise player versus a #2 player as rookies. I offered Derrick Rose as a similar player to Roy? What were you looking for in this thread? To me, you aren't comparing similar players, at least in terms of the situations as a team they walked into.

 

So you did have a bias when you created this thread. Thanks. Seemed obvious from the get-go that you had your opinion, and were seeking validation for it.

 

For me it's hard to say.

I think Dame was a more NBA ready player in his first year than Roy. Therefore his "improvement" from rookie season to his second is is more intangible ways than Roy's. So in that sense they are about equal.

 

Could be. I think Roy did more than he's given credit for, though, and he didn't have a LMA, or even the current Batum.

 

So you think that Lillard's jump as a #2 is more impressive than Roy's as a #1. Great. What do we do with this opinion?