Why Damian Lillard's early-season struggles are a good thing for the Trail Blazers

[SlyPokerDog]

http://www.csnnw.com/blazers/why-damian-lillards-early-season-struggles-are-good-thing-trail-blazers

 

[Nikolokolus]

I like Lillard's approach and his apparent thoughtfulness, but the best part of all these early struggles is that every early loss is one more that they don't have to put up later in Operation Tank®

 

[Rastapopoulos]

...by JASON QUICK. Don't forget that part.

 

[Trackjack]

It is good way that he doing that and we will find out who will stay and which will go at the end of the season.

 

[rasheedfan2005]

"See, after Saturday’s game, I told Lillard all of this: that he didn’t look comfortable, that he looked like he was deferring and feeling his way, that I wondered when he was going to say ‘to heck with this’ and take over a game."


Why I cant stand this ass holes "journalism" for $500 Alex.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

"See, after Saturday’s game, I told Lillard all of this: that he didn’t look comfortable, that he looked like he was deferring and feeling his way, that I wondered when he was going to say ‘to heck with this’ and take over a game."


Why I cant stand this ass holes "journalism" for $500 Alex.

Yes but Lillard's answer to all of that was interesting and made Quick's question worth it.



He nodded in silent agreement. Then he showed why he is more than just a scorer and a playmaker, and why the franchise invested so heavily in him.

He gave the perfect answer.

“It’s part of growth,’’ Lillard said of his early season approach. “I can’t go out there and say, ‘Check this out, this is what I do, you all need to just get on board.’ That’s not who I am. I care about my teammates coming along also.’’

So he’s willing to afford long stretches when he defers to a hot CJ McCollum. He’s willing to risk some turnovers to discover what kind of bounce passes he can make to Mason Plumlee inside. Willing to sacrifice a couple of fourth quarter opportunities to see if Al-Farouq Aminu can be a big-shot maker late in games.

“I mean, the thing is, for me it’s also a process,’’ Lillard said. “I went from being on a team with guys who I’ve played with to now having to learn how to make guys better and pick my spots when I need to attack and be more aggressive. It is a process and I’ve been able to get things done while feeling it out and playing.’’

 

[tlongII]

Garbage article. It's never a good thing when you're playing poorly. I'm confident he'll work his way out of this, but I'm sure he would rather be playing better now.

 

[rasheedfan2005]

No question lillard is a professional and a leader and understands the team sucks right now. It's great that he's willing to work with the team and not just getting his contract and laying around ala kobe.

But quick sucks

 

[Eastoff]

I enjoyed reading the article.

 

[BBert]

"See, after Saturday’s game, I told Lillard all of this: that he didn’t look comfortable, that he looked like he was deferring and feeling his way, that I wondered when he was going to say ‘to heck with this’ and take over a game."


Why I cant stand this ass holes "journalism" for $500 Alex.

Yep

 

[TBpup]

Garbage article. It's never a good thing when you're playing poorly. I'm confident he'll work his way out of this, but I'm sure he would rather be playing better now.

It was much more about his approach than how he was playing.

 

[BBert]

Yes but Lillard's answer to all of that was interesting and made Quick's question worth it.

OK. So Quick asked a question that elicited a quotable statement from Dame (not hard to do by the way).

But that's not the point.

First, if Quick said that, it's no wonder so many players can't stand him. I mean, who the fuck does he think he is? Maybe I should interview Stotts and act like I know more about basketball than he does?

But the larger problem with Quick is what he wrote in the article. And I re-quote:

"See, after Saturday’s game, I told Lillard all of this: ....

Yeah, Jason. You are so fucking knowledgeable. Your readers are in awe of your basketball acumen. You really schooled Damian. And of course you had to tell us about it, and make the story about you. Thanks for that.

It's not a matter of whether "Quick's question was worth it." He could have simply quoted Dame, without the self-aggrandizing; without making the story about Jason Quick.

Oh, wait. No he can't.

 

[TBpup]

Agreed. I think he is quite a good writer but does seem to have difficulty leaving himself out of the story.

 

[illmatic99]

Hold up, here.

Dame is deferring?

Where? to whom?

 

[MarAzul]

"turnovers, most of them either bounce passes in traffic to his bigs"
Stotts should have corrected this problem a couple years back. I don't know why he has not learned bounce passes to big guys on the move are not good.
Ha! I have posted this before only to draw the rath of posters on this board. Well they are still resulting in TOs. I can still remember a practice, doing a bounce
pass to the center once, coach Newell pulled me aside and explained for a full 5 minutes how ill advised it was.

 

[PCmor7]

I guess we can add Jason Quick to the list of people scapegoating Damian ...

 

[SlyPokerDog]

Steve Nash twice led the league in turnovers. Lillard is looking to pass more this season, that will lead to more turnovers.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

Looks like some of you long to have Nate McMuffin back, he would bench Lillard after the first turnover. That was such fun basketball.

 

[dviss1]

"See, after Saturday’s game, I told Lillard all of this: that he didn’t look comfortable, that he looked like he was deferring and feeling his way, that I wondered when he was going to say ‘to heck with this’ and take over a game."


Why I cant stand this ass holes "journalism" for $500 Alex.

Inserting himself in the story.... again...

 

[MarAzul]

Looks like some of you long to have Nate McMuffin back, he would bench Lillard after the first turnover. That was such fun basketball.

I was thinking more along the lines of Luke Walton.

 

[PCmor7]

I'm not critical of him passing more. It's his shot selection that concerns me.

 

[PCmor7]

I was thinking of posting "the other good thing to come out of Damian Lillard's early-season struggles is we found out which RipCityTwo mods were part of Dame's immediate family," but I decided against that ....

Edit: spelling

 

[SlyPokerDog]

I was thinking of posting "the other good thing to come out of Damian Lillard's early-season struggles is we found out which RipCityTwo mods were part of Dame's immediately family," but I decided against that ....

LOL!

 

[dviss1]

Looks like some of you long to have Nate McMuffin back, he would bench Lillard after the first turnover. That was such fun basketball.

No he wouldn't. Roy was never benched for turnovers. He would Iso the SHIT outta Dame and Dame would average 25+ PPG. As much a people hate on McMillian, his offense was perfect for Roy and we were successful with it.

 

[blue9]

Maybe I should interview Stotts and act like I know more about basketball than he does?

Who's to say you don't?