THE OFFICIAL: Portland Trail Blazers vs. Atlanta Hawks (Thursday, July 19 at 3 p.m.)

[BBert]

Re: THE OFFICIAL: Portland Trail Blazers vs. Atlanta Hawks (Thursday, July 19 at 3 p.

Watching Leonard.... Some nights, they'll be very long for him and us fans his rookie year. Others, we'll be floored. I still remember O'Neal as a rook - it was up and down. But I remember him tearing it up against Kemp during Kemp's prime. You knew the kid was just dripping with potential. I have a feeling ML will be the same.

For now, I'm just happy that he sets good picks. Actual picks. Then he rolls. To the basket. It's a thing of beauty. And he runs the floor. And he's athletic. And coordinated. And he can shoot. A post player who draws fouls and makes his free throws. I'm extremely happy with Lillard-Leonard-Barton I have to say. I'm perfectly happy watching the ups and downs of their wonder years.

 

[STOMP]

It's not necessarily what he's doing in the measly Summer League. Its how he's doing it. Playing around like it just another day. His pick & roll with Aldridge should be filthy. That's always something that you have to look at with Lillard, how much better he can be when he actually has real talent around him.

I'm going to join the pig-pile here one on one players like Bayless & Woods dominate summer league because they are so much better then their opponent physically. But come the regular season their athletic edge is largely lost among the other elite talents of the league. They can no longer just blow by their man & take it to the hole at will... very few guards/wings can. Neither Jerryd or Qyntel proved reliable enough from the outside to keep the defense honest... they just laid back in the lane and dared them to shoot. Basically they were players with scorer's mentality who ultimately couldn't score, which earned them their spot at the end of the bench. Having short arms limited their potential on D too

Lillard has the same top shelf athleticism and he certainly isn't afraid to shoot, but I don't sense the tunnel vision/me-first scorer's mentality of Jerryd. He's shown he can/will create for others plus his offensive game is more diverse & complimentary. Definitely more of a PG and definitely more of a threat from the outside both spot up and off the dribble. That should translate to the real games making defenders fight over picks and pay him extra attention. The D won't be sagging into the paint... driving lanes should be more open for everyone. As several have pointed out, a P&R pairing with LA should be the main cog of the offense. Very excited to see that develop... LA is excited too

http://www.nba.com/blazers/tbtv/video.html?videoID=3862

STOMP