Raptors NBA Draft Thread: Damian Lillard (POR)

[raptor jesus]

To be a good point guard in the NBA you need gears. That is to say, have the ability to shift speeds off the dribble. Bayless doesn't have that. He plays at one speed; break neck, which is even too fast for him. Lillard has gears. He can take a pick, burst into the lane, hesitate and probe, then burst again. Bayless can bolt off a pick, burst straight to the rim and chuck from his hip with his itty bitty arms.

[DG88]

Wow, you compare Lillard's Senior season numbers to Jerryd Bayless Freshman numbers & they are eerily similar.

Both got to the line a ton, shot similar %'s & had terrible assist/ turnover ratio's.

Jerryd did it in a tougher conference & was much younger though.

Lillard is only 2 years younger than Bayless. You put Bayless on that Weber State squad, play him 35 MPG & see what happens.

What would Jonny Flynn do on that Weber State team after 4 years?

I agree, its ridiculous how these Bayless haters are hoping on the Lillard Bandwagon.

Just like everyone else are DeRozan haters because they want Jeremy Lamb or Bradley Beal. Seriously though people here want a talented prospect and no one on our team right now should influence who we draft. If people in this thread believe that Lillard is the BPA then so be it.

[Double Helix]

I am a Bayless fan. I started the first Bayless tracking thread with all of his adjust numbers and comparisons to other combo guards in the league. I am the opposite of a Bayless hater and I actually still think that he could be the PG we all so desperately want. He has looked the part at times, that's for sure.

That said, it's in the best interest of the Raptors to take a player with the best chance of becoming an impact player. Bayless is now an impact player. His PER this year was nice. His adjusted FTAs/game were top 12 for NBA PGs (directly behind Dragic, if I'm not mistaken). I am not saying Lillard's my favorite pick at 8 but because I see a lot of reasons to think he'll become an impact PG I wouldn't be opposed if BC pulled a Khan and took him if he felt he was BPA. I'm just getting mentally prepared for what might happen.

I truthfully like both Lamb and Sullinger (as far as players that might be there at 8) more than Lillard at 8 and I know that again people will bring up our glut of PFs but Sullinger has better moves in the post than any of our bigs and he's still very young. He has the ability to score a bucket when one is desperately needed at a high % clip. I like Ed and Amir but they're more opportunists and high energy contributors with above average defence than reliable scoring threats. If Sullinger could become a prime boozer or Zach Randolph type and Valanciunas develops into a Noah player, well, that's a very formidable front line and foundation to build upon, especially if good perimeter players could be had for any of other PFs. I have to think that Bargs could command an intriguing perimeter player in a trade. Next thing you know we have 3 complimentary starters all coming up together.

[Garmfay]

Wow, you compare Lillard's Senior season numbers to Jerryd Bayless Freshman numbers & they are eerily similar.

Both got to the line a ton, shot similar %'s & had terrible assist/ turnover ratio's.

Jerryd did it in a tougher conference & was much younger though.

Lillard is only 2 years younger than Bayless. You put Bayless on that Weber State squad, play him 35 MPG & see what happens.

What would Jonny Flynn do on that Weber State team after 4 years?

I agree, its ridiculous how these Bayless haters are hoping on the Lillard Bandwagon.

Just like everyone else are DeRozan haters because they want Jeremy Lamb or Bradley Beal. Seriously though people here want a talented prospect and no one on our team right now should influence who we draft. If people in this thread believe that Lillard is the BPA then so be it.

I'm not saying Lillard isn't talented, all I'm saying is that Lillard and Bayless have very similar skill sets yet the same people harping on Bayless are wanting Lillard..

[cdel00]

Lillard has better play making ability than Bayless. Lillard has better handles in traffic than Bayless. Lillard is longer than Bayless. Lillard has a better attitude than Bayless and more leadership skills.

Lillard is also far cheaper than Bayless for the next 4 years.

Lillard rebounds extremely well (start the break).

He is a terror in transition and in the halfcourt. He has Demar's body control, Jose's dribble, Jose's accuracy, and is more of a game changer than either.

At worst he's a 6th man of the year, at best an Allstar.

[tdotrep2]

Lillard has better play making ability than Bayless. Lillard has better handles in traffic than Bayless. Lillard is longer than Bayless. Lillard has a better attitude than Bayless and more leadership skills.

Lillard is also far cheaper than Bayless for the next 4 years.

Lillard rebounds extremely well (start the break).

He is a terror in transition and in the halfcourt. He has Demar's body control, Jose's dribble, Jose's accuracy, and is more of a game changer than either.

At worst he's a 6th man of the year, at best an Allstar.

Slow down.

[Dr Positivity]

Bayless and Lillard are not mutually inexclusive. If Bayless ends up being a 17 PER player full time (30mpg) Lillard is not a bad fit for him playing at SG. Lillard could help him out with playmaking duties and would space the floor for his drives. Lillard would be the poor man's Manu to Bayless' poor man's Parker

[niQ]

Bayless and Lillard are not mutually inexclusive. If Bayless ends up being a 17 PER player full time (30mpg) Lillard is not a bad fit for him playing at SG. Lillard could help him out with playmaking duties and would space the floor for his drives. Lillard would be the poor man's Manu to Bayless' poor man's Parker

and hence, we would have a poor man team.

[S.W.A.N]

Bayless and Lillard are not mutually inexclusive. If Bayless ends up being a 17 PER player full time (30mpg) Lillard is not a bad fit for him playing at SG. Lillard could help him out with playmaking duties and would space the floor for his drives. Lillard would be the poor man's Manu to Bayless' poor man's Parker

and hence, we would have a poor man team.

works good with a poor man's dirk on our team already.... Add a poor man Rasho and we look'n good

[Double Helix]

Toronto is the poor man's Chicago as a city.

[peja drobnjak]

Bayless and Lillard are not mutually inexclusive. If Bayless ends up being a 17 PER player full time (30mpg) Lillard is not a bad fit for him playing at SG. Lillard could help him out with playmaking duties and would space the floor for his drives. Lillard would be the poor man's Manu to Bayless' poor man's Parker

haha no

categorically no to a 6' 2" shooting guard starting on the raptors

[Pooh_Jeter]

I've seen nothing of Lillard during the season and heard a lot more about Wroten and Marshall prior to the lottery.

It's a bit disconcerting seeing him compared to Jeff Teague and Bayless though. It's not as though those guys don't have value/positives as players, but if he is going to be the Raptors starting PG I'd hope for more than that.

From what I can gather he is a scoring PG with solid size for the position and potentially underrated PG skills. I don't want to overstate his ceiling, but what kind of player does he project to if he hits his stride in the NBA? A Tony Parker type? Stephon Marbury? Less athletic Westbrook?

Seems like he has good, but not elite athleticism. But, seems like he should be able to score at the next level. I guess the main concern is if his poing guard skills develop/translate?

[Dr Positivity]

The footage I've seen of him is limited but Jason Terry looked like a solid comparison for his upside

[Double Helix]

The most optmistic projection I could offer up in order to get you psyched is a poor man's version of Kyrie Irving with less floor general skills. I realize how silly that sentence sounds but hear me out for a moment here while I attempt to explain.

Like Irving, we're talking about a guy who shoots it at a high percentage from deep, from mid-range, and from the free throw line while getting there a lot. Irving is defined by this attribute as much as anything. He had a .70 TS% at Duke and has a 0.56% now in the NBA. Nobody yet knows how good Lillard will look passing the ball if playing with better teammates. He claims he's a much better passer than he was able to showcase (and he seems pretty humble otherwise) and I have seen him throw some interesting bounce passes and kick outs that lead me to believe that he might be better here than advertised.

If you want to get pysched about him though try to look at him as a poor man's Irving. But keep in mind that he's a year older than Irving right now and he still isn't as good as him. Still, the similarities include: Good size for the PG spot. Good shooter from everywhere. Good at getting to the net and to the line. Good at finishing at the rim. Not a freakish athlete but solid. Good head on his shoulders. Irving is all of these things in better ways with better passing and that's why he went #1.

[Pooh_Jeter]

Thanks for the heads up. It seems like he would be an ideal late lottery or mid round pick as opposed to someone who should be off the board at 8. Marshall seems to be the safest bet at PG and Wroten would be ideal if you're looking to swing for the fences. Definitely not enamoured with any of the PG options in this draft.

[MEDIC]

Lillard has better play making ability than Bayless. Lillard has better handles in traffic than Bayless. Lillard is longer than Bayless. Lillard has a better attitude than Bayless and more leadership skills.

Lillard is also far cheaper than Bayless for the next 4 years.

Lillard rebounds extremely well (start the break).

He is a terror in transition and in the halfcourt. He has Demar's body control, Jose's dribble, Jose's accuracy, and is more of a game changer than either.

At worst he's a 6th man of the year, at best an Allstar.

He seems to have some nice range......that's all I see......

His ability to get to the line.......I'm not sure how much of that translates to the NBA because he's going to be playing against much, much better athletes. He's not an elite athlete himself.

I don't think Lillard goes top 10, but we'll see. 15 sounds about right to me.

I'm not sure how serious you are being with your NBA projections of him, but it sounds like he should be a top 5 pick.....

[TheToothFairy]

He sounds like a moe Williams type of PG

[God Squad]

Bayless and Lillard are not mutually inexclusive. If Bayless ends up being a 17 PER player full time (30mpg) Lillard is not a bad fit for him playing at SG. Lillard could help him out with playmaking duties and would space the floor for his drives. Lillard would be the poor man's Manu to Bayless' poor man's Parker

and hence, we would have a poor man team.

LOL

[RaptorReloaded]

Bayless and Lillard are not mutually inexclusive. If Bayless ends up being a 17 PER player full time (30mpg) Lillard is not a bad fit for him playing at SG. Lillard could help him out with playmaking duties and would space the floor for his drives. Lillard would be the poor man's Manu to Bayless' poor man's Parker

and hence, we would have a poor man team.

LOL

He plays noting like Bayless.. Wheres that comparison coming from? Boys got some meat on him with great length, shot, handles and passing. His crossover is pretty nice too along with his step back jumper. He's seems very natural with the ball also. Thats why I don't care that he comes from a weak division. He's got game. You can see it.

[Crazy-Canuck]

Id rather keep Bayless at a reasonable contract.