Raptors NBA Draft Thread: Damian Lillard (POR)

[MEDIC]

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.

The comparison comes from the type of stats they produced in College. Bayless as a freshman & Lillard as a senior.

Both got to the line at a high rate, shot a similar %, & had a piss poor assist to turnover ratio.

Lillard best assist average was his senior year, which was only 4 apg. The same assist average Bayless had as a freshman.

Also......you watch this kid, he's looking to score........tunnel vision. Just like Bayless at times.

[JamesNaismith]

I just wish I could have seen this kid against better competition.

I don't think his game is that far off of Bayless' but I do think that his handles seem a lot tighter and he seems to play under more control but again who knows?!? Definitely tough to want to draft a kid who has eerily similar stats/measurements to that of someone we already had.

[kmatrixg]

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.

The comparison comes from the type of stats they produced in College. Bayless as a freshman & Lillard as a senior.

Both got to the line at a high rate, shot a similar %, & had a piss poor assist to turnover ratio.

Lillard best assist average was his senior year, which was only 4 apg. The same assist average Bayless had as a freshman.

Also......you watch this kid, he's looking to score........tunnel vision. Just like Bayless at all times.

Fixed that for ya. I will **** if Bayless is deemed our "future PG", the guy just has no basketball sense. Ben Gordon with a streaky jumpshot. I've seen 1 of every 10 decisions Bayless has made be a good one. He chucks, he makes wild passes, and commits on a drive when the lane is full of defenders waiting to take the charge. I either want Casey to tie a rope around him and control his play, or have him gtfo, quick.

Lillard has the same demeanor. SCORE SCORE SCORE

[Suga2Panda]

After reading some stuff on the internet, I'm sold, let's draft this guy.

[kingz32]

We need to draft this guy! I drank the Kool-Aid!!

[kingz32]

swag.

[C_Money]

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.

The comparison comes from the type of stats they produced in College. Bayless as a freshman & Lillard as a senior.

Both got to the line at a high rate, shot a similar %, & had a piss poor assist to turnover ratio.

Lillard best assist average was his senior year, which was only 4 apg. The same assist average Bayless had as a freshman.

Also......you watch this kid, he's looking to score........tunnel vision. Just like Bayless at times.

We need offensive weapons man. If that comes from the PG position than so be it.

[ballislife]

I'm just not confident that this guy can make a difference at the nba level. There will be better talent to be had at #8. He's older than the other prospects and I'm not convinced he can be better than Kendall Marshall. Marshall is a specialist the same way that Rondo is... Marshal is the best true PG in this draft. He has a decent offensive (scoring) game that's shown improvement and has potential to grow.

The point I'm trying to make is that Marshall is an elite PG in the NBA. He's already as good as it gets when it comes to passing the ball... it's rare to see a guy do what he already can do. We need a good, young decision maker. And he's 100x better as a prospect at the same age versus Calderon (for those of you saying it's basically drafting the same guy for the future). Kendall Marshall will be a lot better than this Lillard character. If we're looking for PGs, look for Marshall.

[MEDIC]

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.

The comparison comes from the type of stats they produced in College. Bayless as a freshman & Lillard as a senior.

Both got to the line at a high rate, shot a similar %, & had a piss poor assist to turnover ratio.

Lillard best assist average was his senior year, which was only 4 apg. The same assist average Bayless had as a freshman.

Also......you watch this kid, he's looking to score........tunnel vision. Just like Bayless at times.

We need offensive weapons man. If that comes from the PG position than so be it.

I don't disagree with you. It's exactly why I wanted them to start Bayless over Calderon.

Casey seems insistant on playing a safe, poor defensive PG in his starting lineup. You think if Bayless couldn't get the starting role after the numbers he put up in in Calderon's absence that some offensive minded kid from Weber state is going to be given the role?

I don't think we should waste the 8th overall pick on a backup PG. Our management teams seems to want the offense run through our bigs.

[Double Helix]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJX5SI24ACg&feature=relmfu[/youtube]

Good Lillard video that showcases his work ethic, dribbling abilities, and the fact that he clearly wants to be the best passer he can be. It's too bad we didn't get to see him play with better teammates.

[JamesNaismith]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJX5SI24ACg&feature=relmfu[/youtube]

Good Lillard video that showcases his work ethic, dribbling abilities, and the fact that he clearly wants to be the best passer he can be. It's too bad we didn't get to see him play with better teammates.

I posted this exact same video back on pg 5....I was surprised how tight his handles look but I also didn't realize in watching one of his earlier episodes that he also had a bad injury.

[C_Money]

I'm just waiting to see what his combine measurments end up being. He looks like he's about 5'11. If he's undersized he better have a hell of a jump shot. That could mean the difference between Ty Lawson or Jonny Flynn.

[DG88]

I'm just waiting to see what his combine measurments end up being. He looks like he's about 5'11. If he's undersized he better have a hell of a jump shot. That could mean the difference between Ty Lawson or Jonny Flynn.

He looks a bit over 6 feet to me. He's got a very good jumpshot, he shot 51.7% from 2 and 41% from 3 and shot 89% from the free throw line. Shooting won't be a problem with this kid.

[shortmikeshortt]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgMj1MLEvAY[/youtube]

Some footage I haven't seen only recently posted from his sophmore year.

[shortmikeshortt]

Just a note - there are some clip duplications going on after the 2:20 mark but it doesn't last long. Definitely worth a look though...I'm sure it will sell a lot of people.

[Snowcrash]

Great job to put together the scoring highlights. Some random thoughts:

He's got ridiculous range out to 35 feet.

Got a slight jack knife form to his jumper. Doesn't go up straight even when open.

If you didn't see him shoot, based only on his drives, you'd think he's a lefty.

Very good athleticism shown on breakaway dunks. Not two feet above the rim athleticism but still quite impressive.

Nice hesitation and change of direction moves to throw defenders off. Check out 8.31 and the next play.

Only saw a couple of dishes in the video: 4:47 and 5:07. Would be great if someone can put together a similar video on just his playmaking.

At the next level, for the PnR game, nobody's ever going to go under a screen because it's going to be an automatic jumper. I can see PnR's out to the 3-point line and if he's able to drive, it's going to give tons of options on the offensive end.

[OAKLEY_2]

Not sure an offensive project point guard is what they have in mind for the type of progress they are expecting to make next year. He looks like a good shooter and not many around here watched Weber State games. I think we are looking at Barnes/Lamb/Sullinger at 8. When we pass on him watch him go 14th.

[DarrylFlicking]

Thanks for the vids.
People have been saying he just put it together this year, but we can see that the skillset has been developed for a while, with the long ball at NBA range over two years ago, and great body control.

This video doesn't really strengthen any argument that he's a PG at the next level, but we need scoring and shooting here, and he most definitely brings that.

[MainEvent]

He's got ridiculous range out to 35 feet.

easy now bud!

[Edwardo]

I'm just not confident that this guy can make a difference at the nba level. There will be better talent to be had at #8. He's older than the other prospects and I'm not convinced he can be better than Kendall Marshall. Marshall is a specialist the same way that Rondo is... Marshal is the best true PG in this draft. He has a decent offensive (scoring) game that's shown improvement and has potential to grow.

The point I'm trying to make is that Marshall is an elite PG in the NBA. He's already as good as it gets when it comes to passing the ball... it's rare to see a guy do what he already can do. We need a good, young decision maker. And he's 100x better as a prospect at the same age versus Calderon (for those of you saying it's basically drafting the same guy for the future). Kendall Marshall will be a lot better than this Lillard character. If we're looking for PGs, look for Marshall.

Really? What team does he play for? Has the NBA expanded again to include the Tarheels?

Slow down there.