Damian Lillard draws comparisons to Allen Iverson, Kobe Bryant with recent play

In reaction to Damian Lillard and his recent play, The Ringer’s Bill Simmons and Raja Bell took to wondering what NBA legend he’s most similar to. Their answers: Allen Iverson and Kobe Bryant.

Hall of Fame caliber performances, as Damian Lillard is likely finding out, quickly lead to Hall of Fame caliber comparisons. Mere nights after joining Wilt Chamberlain as the only players with at least three 60-point games in a single season, Lillard’s celebration train stopped to put his greatness side-by-side with two of arguably the NBA’s three greatest shooting guards to ever play.

On last night’s podcast, which can be found here, The Ringer’s Bill Simmons was joined by former 3-and-D guard Raja Bell to attempt to put Lillard’s recent run and mentality into perspective. They offered some interesting thoughts on the subject.

"“Knowing Kobe the way I did, and having played against him as much as I did, you know, I see a lot of the same personality traits in Dame when he’s on the court. He carries himself with an edge at all times, and even if Kobe was your friend, there was an edge. There was a ‘don’t get too close to me tonight, like we can talk when this game is over type of attitude’, right? And I see that oozing out of Dame’s pores.I think it comes to Dame a little bit more organically, though, than it came to Kobe, because Kobe was Kobe from high school. Dame, you know … Weber State, and missed a bunch of All-Star (Games) that he should’ve made. So, he’s got it a little more organically. But, there are a lot of parallels in terms of their mindset, the way they approach it. The way they will create that perceived slight, even if it’s not there.”"

Bell’s point is intriguing on a lot of different levels. That sort of edge and competitiveness aren’t parameters you can stick to a formula, or measure on a spreadsheet. But the players who’ve been able to create those artificial stories to fire themselves up — he mentioned Michael Jordan in The Last Dance, too — are more often than not, the best players in the Association.

And, as Simmons mentioned, it was a breath of fresh air to not see a pigeonholed comparison, such as only comparing guards to guards, or forwards to forwards. Damian Lillard may not operate through post play and defend 6-foot-6 guards like Kobe Bryant did, but heart can’t be quantified.

Moments later, Simmons and Bell went into discussing the similarities between Damian Lillard and 12-time All-Star Allen Iverson. Last night’s game made Lillard the newest entrant into the 30 PPG club, something Iverson did four different times throughout his career. But the ways in which they did it — Iverson in a defensive-minded, big-driven era with lesser prioritizing of efficiency and spacing, and the Portland Trail Blazers star through otherworldly range and better percentages — are a bit different.

"“Their ability at that size to navigate in the paint, like Dame shoots with a lot more range than A.I. did, but he still navigates that paint really, really well, and finishes at a super high level. It kind of sounds like you would expect every guard that’s really good to finish well in the paint, but that’s not always true. Like Kyrie (Irving) is an elite finisher at his size. Dame is as well. Allen was able to finish amongst the trees.I think if I was comparing them, Dame: more range. A.I.: more ‘wow’ kind of abandon at the rim. I think Dame manages the hits a lot better than Chuck (Iverson’s nickname is “Bubba Chuck”) did. Chuck wound up with a lot of more bumps and bruises, I think the mileage started to catch up.A lot of the same mentality. You talked about the parallels between Kobe and Dame, you saw Allen up close too. Those guys never believed they couldn’t get a bucket.”"

Along with that, Iverson and Lillard have never quite seemed to get the credit they deserved for how available they were for their teams.

Lillard led the NBA in minutes played this year, and finished among the top-10 in each of the last four seasons. Iverson also finished No. 1 in minutes played seven times in his career. As evidenced by the 45.1 minutes per game played in the postseason, commercial breaks were about the only time he saw a break in-game. And as for Bryant, only six players in NBA history have logged more minutes.

In a way, it makes each of the three’s late-game brilliance all the more remarkable. They’ve each at one point or another shared the throne as of if, if not the most feared late game assassin in the NBA. Iverson doesn’t quite get his due as an elite, efficient, clutch Playoff performer from the average fan, but as seen here from both Simmons and Bell, it hasn’t quite gone all unnoticed.

Given what we know about Lillard, the comparisons of this caliber are far from finished, too. A chance to add to his Playoff résumé is there for the taking in the next few days. And with that, the comparisons, just like his range, have no limit.