The things people used to say about Roy's personality...... his humility, wise-beyond-his-years, his never-say-die attitude, his calm demeanor...... Those were his strengths. Yet, Lillard takes all of those things to a new level. I think so much of what makes this team work is based not only upon Lillard's abilities on the court, but off of it as well. You think it's coincidence that the "always feeling slighted" LA is playing his best ball next to Lillard? Despite the attention Lillard gets, he continues to defer to LA, call it LA's team, raise him up, as well as the rest of his teammates. Some guys think they need to be boisterous and draw attention to draw the sponsorship deals. But Lillard has figured out that if he lets his gave do his talking, and he continues to pump up his teammates by deferring to them, giving them the credit, he's really only making himself more marketable, and he's building his teammates self-esteem and confidence, which helps them perform better (which helps the team, and again, makes Lillard look better).
I just can't recall another time where I've seen a budding superstar has had so much humility and sense in team as Lillard. For a shooting PG, he's as unselfish as they come. He really is. I know it seems like an oxymoron, but the guy is just so unselfish on and off the court. I get the Roy comparisons, as we all wanted Roy to do what Lillard is now doing. But Lillard is all that and a bag of chips. And as many similarities are there are, there are a lot of differences between the types of ball these two play.
Before Friday's game, my dad and I spent a lot of time discussing Dame, what he means to the city, the Blazers, how he plays the game both on and off the court. We both feel like we're witnessing something great with Dame. Perhaps a HOF career. Perhaps even more. We're eager to find out, but at the same time, we want to enjoy enjoy moment of what we're witnessing. And then the shot happens.........