Ranking the five best Portland Trail Blazers players of the last decade
2012-2019. 23.5 PTS, 70.3 Win Shares. 1. player. 34. Scouting Report. Pick Analysis. damian lillard
Who else could be the Portland Trail Blazers’ number one player in the last ten years besides Big Game Dame? Who else lights up other teams like Logo Lillard? Who else drops dimes all day but goes by the name Dolla Dame?
As I’m sure you already know (and if you haven’t, hopefully I just made it abundantly clear), Damian Lillard has as many facets to his game as he does amazing nicknames. Portland has been proud to be home to one of the NBA’s finest players for the last seven years.
During that time, Lillard has collected a plethora of accolades and awards, defying all expectations. As a four-year player in college, many doubted how much upside he had left to show. Yet, he continues to improve by the year. After taking the league by storm in 2012-13 and earning Rookie of the Year honors, Lillard has continued to rise among the ranks of the league’s elite players.
Averaging an electric 23.5 points and 6.3 assists over the course of his career, earning four All-NBA nominations and another four All-Star Game selections. However, Dame sets himself apart from the pack by being the only Blazer to earn an All-NBA First Team nomination.
The only thing holding him back from joining the discussion for best of the best was arguably Lillard’s lack of postseason success. Try as he might, Lillard had previously never exceeded the second round of the playoffs.
Well, as fate would have it, Dame absolutely obliterated that narrative this postseason with series wins over the Oklahoma City Thunder and Denver Nuggets. Insert this rendition of the Portland Trail Blazers into any era prior to the Golden State dynasty, there’s a strong chance Lillard would be playing in his first ever NBA Finals.
Thanks to Damian Lillard, it’s fun to be a Portland Trail Blazers fan again. After the implosion of the 2015 roster, Portland seemed dead set on entering a rebuild. Lillard has single-handedly dragged the team back into relevance and will continue to for years to come with his supermax extension in the works.
Next. Lillard, McCollum invited to play for Team USA. dark
If Lillard were to retire tomorrow, he’d already be worthy of entering the pantheon of Portland Trail Blazers’ greats. His accomplishments are well worthy of being mentioned next to greats such as Clyde Drexler, Terry Porter and Rasheed Wallace. Alas, Lillard is still only 28 years old. When it’s all said and done, he may sit at the top of Portland’s Mount Rushmore of NBA legends.