If everything is healthy, the Trail Blazers have definitely been a very scary team in these years. Oden, Roy, and Aldridge, just these three people are enough to make the league tremble! But the script of the story is like this. The Rose Garden seems to be cursed. Injuries continue to occur. They lost Oden and Roy. Fortunately, they welcomed Lillard after losing these.
Lillard is an older rookie. He completed four years of college before deciding to enter the NBA. This type of player is generally labeled as having no potential. His talent has been fully developed, and Lillard has not. Exception, but even so, he was still selected with the sixth overall pick - this was the first time in Lillard's career that he was underestimated!
The five rookies ahead of Lillard are Anthony Davis, McGee, Bradley Beal, Waiters and Thomas Robinson. Lillard fell to the sixth pick. A large part of the reason is because the teams with the top five picks each get what they need. Needless to say, the Hornets, Wizards and Cavaliers all have Kemba Walker, Wall and Irving respectively. The Kings also had Thomas Jr. at the time, and Although the Trail Blazers also had Felton and Flynn, neither of them showed their worth, so Lillard put on a black and red jersey!
In his rookie season, due to his thick eyebrows, his condition has been unstable. Lillard almost won the Rookie of the Year with an absolute advantage. 2012 is considered a big year for the draft. In addition to the top 6 picks we introduced , as well as players such as Harrison Barnes, Terrence Lens, "Drummond" Drummond, Jr. Rivers and the Warriors' Green.
Lillard averaged 19.0 points and 6.5 assists per game in his rookie year. His scoring and assists were the highest among all rookies. He won all Rookie of the Month awards in the Western Conference and scored 185 three-pointers. Breaking Curry's rookie three-point record, the Trail Blazers scored 11.5 more points per 100 possessions with him on the court! However, even so, Lillard was still looked down upon after winning the Rookie of the Year award!
The biggest reason is age. Lillard is already 23 years old. Paul George of the same age has played for three seasons and was selected to the All-Star for the first time. However, it must be admitted that age is indeed a factor. Very big factors, such as thick eyebrows. He has just celebrated his 24th birthday this season, but the evaluation of Lillard is unfair. People always feel that he will not become a superstar, even if he is the fourth in NBA history. A unanimous vote for Rookie of the Year!
In the second season, Lillard’s scoring average increased to 20 points per game. Although the improvement was not particularly great, people began to know him this year. He is big-hearted, cold-blooded, and dares to attack at critical moments. He dared to play suddenly. He defeated the Pistons and Cavaliers back to back in the regular season. But he became famous in the playoffs against the Rockets. He defeated the Rockets at the last buzzer in Game 6 of the first round of the playoffs. Fans Starting to compare him with Roy, it is obvious that Lillard's lore is more precious. After all, Roy's lore was in the regular season, but many people still feel that Lillard is not as good as Roy.
A decisive victory, leading the team in the second round. At this time, Lillard is only in his second year! What more can you ask a second-year rookie to do!
The real underestimation lies in the All-Stars! Lillard participated in five events in the 2014 All-Star Game, including the All-Star Rookie Game, Skills Challenge, Three-Point Contest, Slam Dunk Contest and All-Star Game. Lillard also became the first player in NBA history to participate in the same year. Pentathlon players!
But no one could have imagined that this would be Lillard’s last “normal” All-Star selection. In 2015, Lillard’s third season, he averaged 21.8 points per game before the All-Star Game. Points, 6.2 assists, and 4.6 rebounds are quite gorgeous data. However, because of the too "crowded" backcourt in the Western Conference, Lillard was not selected for the All-Star Game.
In fact, the Western Conference's backcourt is indeed very scary! CP3, Curry, Westbrook, and the two first shooting guard contenders at the time, Harden and Thompson, these five players stood in the All-Star almost at the same time, and the five positions in the backcourt were divided up in this way. Poor Lee Ladd became the biggest legacy of the All-Stars.
Actually, the same thing goes forward. If Westbrook was not affected by injuries in 2014, Lillard might not be selected for the All-Stars! It's just that this time in 2015, "Damian, I am not an All-Star Lillard" began to become a topic!
The final result was that because Griffin was unable to play due to injury, Silver announced that Lillard would replace Griffin in the 2015 All-Star Game. There was even a farce here. Before Fin, Kobe Bryant was also absent due to injury, but the first person to replace him was Cousins. In other words, Lillard was a substitute among the substitutes. 2015 was his second and last All-Star appearance.
In the 2015-16 season, the Trail Blazers made it to the playoffs despite starting 5 and leaving 4. Lillard averaged 25.0 points per game, but he still failed. Selected as an All-Star. After the All-Star Game, Lillard scored 51 points against the Warriors and defeated their opponents. The 32-point difference was the worst loss the Warriors suffered in their nine losses last year!
This year, Lillard had the best season of his career. Before the All-Star Game, he averaged 26.2 points, 4.8 rebounds and 5.9 assists per game. However, because he was in the West, Lillard once again lost his entire career. Qualifications of a star! In other words, if it were not for the injuries of other players, Lillard might not have even been an All-Star.
Of course, Lillard's shortcomings are also obvious. His ability to handle the ball on the court still has a lot of room for improvement. As an offensive point guard, his shot selection is not particularly good. Fortunately, the Trail Blazers also have CJ McCollum. This similarly underrated young man has a very mature ability to handle the ball. The two complementary backcourts are also the biggest driving force for the Trail Blazers to move forward.
All in all, Lillard is still improving, but his name still rarely appears when people mention the best point guards of this era. Just like the All-Stars, everyone knows Lillard. It's a shame, but I'll still vote for someone else when I vote. Maybe it's because he was born in the wrong era. The only thing to blame is that the point guards of this era are really cruel.