While I'm wishing here, I'd like Dame to put up big first half numbers, 25pts 12 assists for example and bury teams so the bench can finish more games with a cushion and not have to have clutch winners at the buzzer for a change.
I would like to see Dame add a nice floater into his game and to really get a good grasp on when to get his teammates involved and when to just take over a game. When we go through stretches of not scoring for awhile sometimes he can get to caught up in trying to spread the ball around and will pass up open shot attempts to try and get teammates going. I think the biggest and most obvious is his D, which I think he will improve on. He expends a lot of energy and does try on that side of the ball he is just bad at it.
Lol I know I know.... Nash is a HOFer. I think the thing Nash doesn't have is the killer instinct. The thing Magic, Jordan, bird, Barkley, Malone, Kobe and others have. I think it's more valuable than assists or points. An example of the killer instinct was something I remembered when Portland met the bulls in the finals. There was a production piece made by NBC about what Jordan vs Drexler had. Drexler said "I can hit the threes" over Jordan. Game one, Jordan hit like 6 3s in the first half. The famous "I dunno" arm raise after. This is what I think Dame has. The drive to be "the best player on the court". I believe is more valuable than any stat.
honest answer: Hopefully, the bench will be better and Lillard will be able to use more of his energy on the defensive end. stupid answer: Finals MVP.
Nice little article here from Basketball Insiders: http://www.basketballinsiders.com/a-visual-guide-to-damian-lillard/ A number of people here have mentioned that they would like to see Lillard improve his floater. I'm not a big fan of the floater. I'd prefer to see him develop a more consistent mid-range pull up jumper and/or finishing at the rim. He only shot 44.7% from 2pt range last year. Not terrible, but certainly an area I think he could improve. Comparing his 2pt% to some of the top point guards in the league last year: - Goran Dragic, 54.2% - Eric Bledsoe, 51.7% - Stephen Curry, 50.9% - Tony Parker, 50.9% - Deron Williams, 50.0% - Chris Paul, 49.8% - Mike Conley, 48.4% - Russell Westbrook, 48.2% - Jrue Holiday, 45.9% - John Wall, 45.8% - Kyrie Irving, 45.8% - Damian Lillard, 44.7% - Rajon Rondo, 44.2% Granted Damian's deadly 3 pt shooting helps his true shooting percentage, but I think if he's going to take it to the next level, improving his 2 pt shooting percentage is where his focus should be.
yup. Improving his pull up J on drives & in the Pick n Roll would do wonders for his effectiveness. I'd love to see him try to emulate Tony Parker's surgical offensive approach & feel comfortable taking those open looks STOMP
If you go back and watch highlights from the playoffs, Dame didn't really do a terrible job on defense. I re-watched game six the other day, and he had like three steals and got his hands on at least three or four more balls over the course of the game. I honestly think the biggest issue is that he's fucking exhausted. Our starters play so damn much that his defense suffers. Same thing for Batum. He's a great defender when he wants to be, but he takes a lot of plays off. I think if we see Dame and LA play closer to 34 minutes, and get the rest of our starts closer to 30 minutes, we'll see a lot of improvements.
I agree, but there were a lot of occasions where Stotts tried to play the bench more and things just fell apart. It would be nice if Blake and Kaman made that less true this year. It would also be nice if Claver could get more time because I think he would help the bench defense (and mean that we don't have to play Batum basically the entire game - I think Blake should help with this too, because he's a player who looks to move the ball more than Mo did, so you don't have to have Batum in there essentially playing point so Mo can shoot a lot).
No doubt. We just didn't have anyone who could really contribute outside of Mo. Not only them, but TRob and CJ. If they can each give a solid 15-20 minutes of productive, mostly error free play, I think we can give the starters the break they need. As for Claver, I've been high on him for years. Great fundamentals, size, instincts, and pretty darn good athleticism. All he needs is a passable jumper (34% from deep?) and he'll be set. Fingers crossed.
Well MVP would be ideal but if he just gets considered for MVP I will give him a nod for that to but to lead his team to WCF is a must I think.
Completely agree with this. I think Blazers should be ready to have games put in jeopardy or even lose if it means less minutes for starters. Many say that Spurs are the model fro the Blazers, spurs don't hesitate limiting minutes and even sitting players to keep them fresh throughout the season and particularly for playoffs. It means Blake, CJ and Barton will be getting minutes because got to factor in Lillard putting in so many minutes while Mo was getting about 20-25 minutes a game. There may be growing pains and we might find out bench can't be relied on in playoffs. But would rather see Lillard getting the big minutes in the playoffs than in the regular season. Problem is going to be the west is so tough, can you limit the minutes of the starters and still guarantee a playoff spot?
I really think we'll be okay. For one, Kaman is a very solid scorer off the bench, which was our biggest problem last year. As a back up last season, he averaged 6 points more than Mo per 36 minutes, and did so with 3% higher TS%. Then we have known entities like Blake that perfectly compliment Kaman's post game. Between them and the rest of the kids, I think we can put something together that resembles a pretty solid bench. I'm especially excited about TRob. Dude looked waaaay better in summer league. Improved jumper, somehow developed solid court vision, and he consistently played within himself. No more out of control drives to the basket.
Hey DrTom! A huge welcome to RipCityTwo! Look forward to reading more from you. Also, there are a few around here that like to give forum rookies a bad time. They're harmless and that's just their way of welcoming you.
Sly! Long time, buddy. How you been? Thanks! Glad to be on board. Thanks for the heads up. Although, after the years I put in over at OLive, I think I can handle whatever this place has in store.
Great posts DrTom. Listening to Stotts on some interviews he talked about needing more minutes from the bench and defense being the two biggest keys for next season. I've been very impressed with Stotts.
I think saying WCF may be a bit of a stretch this year. Next year? Sure. And, for the record, I think Lillard already is the leader of this team.
