Player Name: Damian Lillard (Portland Trail Blazers)
Position: Guard
Height/Weight: 6-foot-3/195 pounds
Why you need to watch him on NBA League Pass: The offseason makeover in Portland — LaMarcus Aldridge, Wesley Matthews, Robin Lopez and Nicolas Batum are all gone — leaves one man standing from the Trail Blazers’ one-time core. How Lillard reacts to life without his veteran crew this season will be one of the most intriguing stories to follow throughout the league. An iron man throughout his NBA career, he’s played started all 82 games in each of his first three seasons. The Blazers will need Lillard to continue that grind and push himself even more with nearly 50 points of scoring punch playing elsewhere this season.
Lillard has been up to every challenge from the moment he took the league by storm with his Kia Rookie of the Year season in 2012-13. Finding the right balance between scorer and facilitator with Aldridge, Matthews and Batum on the roster was always a challenge, but one that he managed. He won’t have to worry about it anymore. This is his team and he has to put his stamp on the game every night.
Lillard’s scoring average has increased modestly from his rookie campaign (from 19.0 points, to 20.7 his sophomore season to 21.0 last season). That won’t cut it this season if Blazers coach Terry Stotts’ team has hopes of hanging with the big boys in the Western Conference. Lillard will have to take more to make more, which means he’ll push it in ways this season that will redefine his game and make him even more dynamic than what we’ve already seen. That speaks volumes for a guy with his stellar body of work to date.
— Sekou Smith, NBA.com
