Portland Trail Blazers: Damian Lillard is better defensively, and he wants you to know it

Damian Lillard has been touted for his offense throughout his career, but he has quietly improved on defense along the way.

While few can poke holes in his offensive game, Damian Lillard’s defensive ability is less airtight.  However, in the Portland Trail Blazers’ recent blowout win over the Chicago Bulls, the superstar sent a message to Zach LaVine, who attempted to isolate him early in the first quarter. From the looks of it, Lillard wants to be taken more seriously as a defender.

The Athletic’s Jason Quick noticed Lillard’s tenacity in this instance and caught up with him following the game to discuss it and his improvement defensively throughout the last couple years (subscription required).

After Lillard forced LaVine into a travel, he had some choice words for the explosive scoring guard. Quick quotes:

"“I said, ‘Don’t try that s— with me. That’s dead. That’s not happening,”"

If one thing becomes clear throughout Quick’s story it’s the fact Lillard feels he deserves more attention for the leaps he’s made on the less glamorous side of the ball – or, if not more attention, a respect from offenses to not try that isolation *crap* with him.

In October of last season, Quick wrote an article for NBC Sports Northwest about how Lillard may have turned a corner defensively. The club had just defeated the Phoenix Suns, a win in which Dame had hounded ball handlers and gotten multiple deflections. After the game, Lillard mentioned how his defense was “easy to pick apart,” but that he felt he was getting better at understanding the teams he faced and quickly improving because of it:

"“I’m more familiar with what guys like to do. I’m more familiar with what plays teams like to run, like tonight, they called plays and I could position myself to where I don’t have to work as hard, I could anticipate what’s coming…“I think I have made strides on the defensive end, partially because of that.”"

And he did make strides. Last year, he ended with the second-most steals per game (1.1) and second-best defensive box plus-minus of his career (-1.0). For someone who is so dynamic offensively, any work to get his defensive numbers closer to zero, or even positive, makes him all the more effective.

Still, the perception of Lillard’s defense from fans and media alike may be tied to louder headlines from the past. For example, in March of 2017, Bleacher Report published an article titled “The Five Worst Defenders at Every Position” and listed Damian Lillard as the fifth-worst defender at the point guard position.

The article credits Lillard’s drive to close out on shooters but criticizes his inability to get around screens:

"“Some players can fight through picks. Others are adept at ducking under them and quickly recovering to contest shots. Then there’s a third category: those who run right into the opposition’s screener and get stopped like they made contact with a brick wall.Take a wild guess which grouping Lillard falls into.”"

However, players within the league may have not viewed Lillard as the weak defender he’s been perceived to be throughout much of his career.

From Quick’s Athletic story, LaVine says:

"“What, is there some people trying to challenge his defensive effort? I used to be in the West and I never used to think he was a shabby defender or anything like that. We used to play him four times a year and I never thought he was a guy who you could attack.”"

And now, this perspective may become more widespread, especially if Lillard wants to make it a point. He is not a lockdown guy by any means, but he is a offensive juggernaut who can hold is own defensively, both in isolation and in the passing lanes.

Lillard currently holds a -1.2 defensive box plus-minus and ranks second on the team in deflections per game – behind only Al-Farouq Aminu – with 1.9. There’s definitely something to what LaVine’s saying about Dame’s quick hands.

As he continues to get better at working through picks, standing tall against isolations, and using his hands to disrupt ball-handlers and passes, he will undoubtedly have a great shot at achieving All-NBA honors for the second time in a row.

His offense will be there. His defense, it seems, is getting there too.