A Tale of Two Damians

[Stevenson]

I don't think it is a stretch to say that we have seen two Damians this year.

The first was that dynamic, Kobe-like, clutch player who killed the Rockets last year and had it going like that the first part of this year. The second is a player who seems to always be forcing things a bit, who misses that game-changing shot more than he hits it.

To me, he changed around the time of the all-star game when he started crying about not making the team and trying so hard to prove he should have. He has been pressing ever since IMO.

And don't call me a hater or a fair weather fan. I am just saying that Damian doesn't look like an all-star to me these days.

 

[EL PRESIDENTE]

I think he needs to be the franchise player he puports himself to be. He needs to be more selfish and want to destroy with a vengance.

 

[tester551]

I think he is more tired than he thinks. I would attribute a lot of his struggles on his shoe release & effort spent promoting it.

 

[jlprk]

I think he is more tired than he thinks. I would attribute a lot of his struggles on his shoe release & effort spent promoting it.

He always looks exhausted from playing defense, yet refuses to take a game off.

http://www.sportstwo.com/posts/3598959/

 

[S550]

He hasn’t been very clutch this season, even though he’s scored the most 4th quarter points in the league. A lot of that is because he doesn’t do anything in the first half, the Blazers are usually down, and he spends all his energy mounting comebacks in the 2nd half. If that’s gonna be his recipe for playing throughout his career, than Portland fans will have to settle for a good but not great team.

The shoes and commercials have been the difference I think. Too much time away from working on his game. His shot has been garbage for much of the season, but is a volume scorer so he gets his numbers. I thought at this stage of his career, based on what we saw early on, that he’d be a dead eye shooter consistently. Someone like Reggie Miller or Ray Allen. A guy you felt confident every time he hoisted one up. But it’s actually gone the other way. Still a huge fan, but his game often times is frustrating. I wish he’d come out on fire and set a dominant tone from the start. Perhaps then, the Blazers could learn how to play with a lead and finish teams off, instead of this constant cardiac kid comeback mode.

 

[BlazerDuckSeahawkFan94]

He needs to take a good portion of the summer away from basketball. Dude needs some R&R. Then after that resting right to the gym working on fighting through picks

 

[ChadWick]

IIRC, his first horrid game was the night he debuted his signature shoe at home against the Clippers. Cp3 destroyed him, and he's been poor ever since. I think that was December or January?

I think a lot has got to do with all the media and "promotion" BS he does, and all the commercials, the respect campaign, etc. All that is good and all, but at the end of the day he's paid to play and succeed in basketball, not promote.

He has a lot to work on this summer. A lot. He needs to become an at the very least AVERAGE Defender. That's not too much to ask for(Defensively), and idk how or when or why he lost it, but he needs that killer instinct back.

 

[Haakzilla]

...I think he would be wise to take a page out of LeBron's playbook the year he stopped reading the media and using social media in favor of reading books. Dame, I think, would do well from isolating himself from the outside world (aka social media and the like) and focus on nothing but basketball and winning a championship. Everything else should be secondary to that...and can wait until the off-season.

 

[Strenuus]

IIRC, his first horrid game was the night he debuted his signature shoe at home against the Clippers. Cp3 destroyed him, and he's been poor ever since. I think that was December or January?

I think a lot has got to do with all the media and "promotion" BS he does, and all the commercials, the respect campaign, etc. All that is good and all, but at the end of the day he's paid to play and succeed in basketball, not promote.

He has a lot to work on this summer. A lot. He needs to become an at the very least AVERAGE Defender. That's not too much to ask for(Defensively), and idk how or when or why he lost it, but he needs that killer instinct back.

So, that $100 mil is monopoly money?

 

[ChadWick]

So, that $100 mil is monopoly money?

I knew someone would bring that up. I get he wants to push his shoe...but he also needs to get back to playing at that all star level. That alone will make his shoe sell. Not like he doesn't have a Max contract coming soon anyways.

 

[Strenuus]

I knew someone would bring that up. I get he wants to push his shoe...but he also needs to get back to playing at that all star level. That alone will make his shoe sell. Not like he doesn't have a Max contract coming soon anyways.

Wes had a major payday coming up, too.

Also, it's not that he -wants- to, it's that he's contractually obligated.

 

[PDXFonz]

I think he is more tired than he thinks. I would attribute a lot of his struggles on his shoe release & effort spent promoting it.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand we are back to blaming the shoes.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

LOL!

Some of you guys are so funny. So what if he promotes his shoes.

He's not going out.
He's not partying.
No Hoop Families.
He's very connected to the local community.
His parents and brother live here now.
He has gotten more than one HUGE national promotional deal while playing for a small market team.
He donates more time to charities and fans in the Portland area than any other player on the team. He does not do these things to promote his shoes.

He conducts himself, his personal and professional life beyond what anyone should expect or could have ever dreamed.

Every year he has worked hard and improved his game. The focus this last off season was defense, conditioning and nutrition. Season before last was finishing around the basket.

Complaints about him are all over the map,

He doesn't shoot enough.
He shoots too much.
He relies on the 3pt shot too much.
He doesn't hit 3pt shots enough.
He's not clutch as much as he has been.
He doesn't try hard enough.
He refuses to sit out games to rest up.

But more importantly, you don't think he cares? You don't think he's not disappointed? That he doesn't have a drive to do more and better?

Scoring ave up.
Assists up over last season.
Steals up.
Rebounding up.
Defense better.

http://espn.go.com/nba/player/stats/_/id/6606/damian-lillard

Look at the stats yourself.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

...I think he would be wise to take a page out of LeBron's playbook the year he stopped reading the media and using social media in favor of reading books. Dame, I think, would do well from isolating himself from the outside world (aka social media and the like) and focus on nothing but basketball and winning a championship. Everything else should be secondary to that...and can wait until the off-season.

How many hours a day do you think he should be spending on basketball that he isn't now?

 

[jlprk]

How about stats comparing him this season to his rookie season for game-ending clutch long bombs.

 

[H.C.]

I feel like this thread is a troll thread. Designed to bait someone.
Thank god it was sly and not me.. Although I don't really think he got baited.

Ty sly.

 

[jlprk]

I've posted this before: They shouldn't make him play defense so hard. He's little, and it exhausts him. Let him focus on what he's good at, shooting. The plus of his offense will exceed the minus of his defense. I hope. He'll be great again, like his rookie year.

 

[MickZagger]

I've posted this before: They shouldn't make him play defense so hard. He's little, and it exhausts him. Let him focus on what he's good at, shooting. The plus of his offense will exceed the minus of his defense. I hope. He'll be great again, like his rookie year.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

How Damian Lillard Became One of the Best Finishers in the League

http://www.blazersedge.com/2015/4/13/8394245/portland-trail-blazers-damian-lillard-elite-finisher

 

[Stevenson]

No one is trying to bait anyone. It's OK to make an honest observation. And, Sly, while his stats may be up, I'm not talking about stats. I'm talking about that swagger, the mojo, the magic. You know something is missing there. And that was the funnest part of his game.

 

[S550]

Nobody is saying the dude is a bad guy. We know that but simple observation just from a basketball standpoint will tell you something is off. Just because a guy falls off and you simply state that doesn't mean we think he's a bad guy off the court. He's an awesome dude no doubt. But any logical person can see Lillard has regressed..

 

[Haakzilla]

How many hours a day do you think he should be spending on basketball that he isn't now?

...that is a loaded question

 

[SlyPokerDog]

But any logical person can see Lillard has regressed..

Stats say otherwise. Some areas of his game are down this season but more have improved.

 

[OneLifeToLive]

I've posted this before: They shouldn't make him play defense so hard. He's little, and it exhausts him. Let him focus on what he's good at, shooting. The plus of his offense will exceed the minus of his defense. I hope. He'll be great again, like his rookie year.

Interesting. You see this too. It almost seems like it takes everything out of him to be great and he just can't maintain. Maybe it's conditioning. Maybe it's his new diet. Perhaps it is partying too much. I don't know. But he started the season off slow. Go onto a roll and couldn't maintain. It very well could be trying to play both ends. But op is right. Tale of two different Dames.

 

[Rhal]

Lillards 3p shot being off is probably in part due to having his two fingers hurt on his shooting hand and having to change his shot to shoot with splints on then getting used to shooting with them off after having them on for months. Couple that with how fatigued he has to be and that could be why its been off.
Every other aspect of his game has improved and his D still sucks but he puts effort in on that side of the ball and half of NBA D is all about effort.
If Lillard stopped working on improving his game and settled with how he is now then id be very worried about tying this franchises hopes to Lillard but thats something I dont see happening.

 

[jlprk]

But he started the season off slow. Got onto a roll and couldn't maintain.

I noticed it (and have been posting it) from the start of his 2nd year, not his 3rd. His clutch shooting got much less frequent in the 2nd year, and disappeared in the 3rd. In his 2nd year, posters thought I was weird, but fortunately, everyone now acknowledges my heroic solitary fight against homers.

In the summer after the rookie year, we read that the coaches were showing him tapes of his embarrassing rookie year defense. Early in his 2nd year, I started speculating that there was a connection between his efforts on defense and offense.

It's still a conspiracy theory (i.e. I have no evidence), but it's the theory that makes the most sense. Nice to see all you followers join my bandwagon. Welcome! Have a seat in the back, the straw is soft.

 

[Boise Blazer]

Do you know what my favorite part of this thread is? No matter who is right or wrong here its the fact that I am 100% confident that Lillard will just keep getting better and that we will continue to see his game evolve and grow. Because thats just who he is.

If his ability to finish at the rim hadnt drastically improved this year then there may some cause for concern about his 3 point shooting. But the fact that is has gotten better (great even) is a sign that his game is evolving and growing. And coupled with the fact that he IS likely exhausted and a break this summer could do wonders, I again have no doubt that we will see Lillard v4.0 next year and v 5.0 the year after that. He is growing as a player likely EVERY SINGLE successful player in the history has done and those changes do not happen overnight. As one part of his game grows another may temporarily regress until he can adjust and evolve again. Coaches and defenses are not stupid.

In the end he is 10 times better than anyone we could have hoped to have as our starting PG 3 years ago. It is so unfair to say that he isnt the player that he was last year or the year before. I hope he isnt but you have to look the big picture. And Im not saying that just because you are critical or pick at his game you arent a fan but you have to let the process happen because it is a process. We have been spoiled with Lillard. This early success is not normal. Look at LMA's progression since year three.

 

[S550]

Some keep mentioning his fingers and the splint but he actually maintained his percentages for a good month or so after that happened. I don't know why that's used as an example

 

[Rastapopoulos]

He has seemed a bit subdued recently. And we are getting KILLED by every half-decent PG. Although, to be fair, it's not always him guarding them. And Batum is not helping by just not shooting anything except threes any more.

(On that point: more Gee, please - he seems pretty good at bothering opposing PGs.)

 

[UKRAINEFAN]

I

I've posted this before: They shouldn't make him play defense so hard. He's little, and it exhausts him. Let him focus on what he's good at, shooting. The plus of his offense will exceed the minus of his defense. I hope. He'll be great again, like his rookie year.

I assume you are not 100% serious but sometimes as I watch him playing defense in the second half of the season, I wonder if he has this idea in the back of his head that it was trying to play defense in the first half of the season that has caused a decline in his offense. Because his defense has definitely fallen down; he is not much interested in following his man, be it over or be it under the pick.