Damian Lillard is in the news a lot currently. The 32-year-old guard is getting set for his 12th season in the NBA, all of which have been in Portland to this point. This summer, his future feels as much in question as at any point in his career, as the Blazers have reached a fork in the road in terms of picking an organizational path.
Portland enters Thursday’s NBA Draft with the No. 3 overall pick and a chance to land a potential young star. However, developing a young star doesn’t fit with Lillard’s timeline to compete right now, leading to plenty of discussion about moving that pick and some of their younger players for veterans to load up for another run with Dame at the helm. How Thursday goes for Portland will tell us a lot about what path their picking, and if it’s making that pick, some around the league have wondered aloud if it changes Lillard’s continued loyalty to the organization.
For his part, Lillard has continued to say he wants to stay in Portland, but has also made it clear he isn’t interested in a rebuild. Last Thursday, we got a chance to talk with Lillard on behalf of Modelo, and he didn’t want to dive too much into the team-building world in our conversation. That said, he did offer some insight into his takeaway from the Nuggets championship run, given Portland and Denver had a minor rivalry in recent years as they met multiple times in the postseason. We also discussed how he learned to manipulate the game and how he uses a mental edge to tilt the floor in his favor, which allowed him to score a career-high 32.2 points per game this past season, and what he’s focused on this offseason in his own game while waiting to see how everything shakes out around him.
I asked you this a few years ago and I think this is maybe one of my favorite quotes I’ve ever gotten from anybody. I asked you about when you get to that All-NBA caliber how you continue to try to get better. You talked about everybody has a scouting report on you and you’re always trying to take things off that list. What are the things this summer that are on the top of your to do list that you know you’re trying to take off that scouting report for next year?
At this point in my career, I don’t think it’s like a game thing. Like, I think I’ve reached a point in my career where I can manipulate situations well enough to get to where I want to get on the floor or get to whatever shot. Like, I know how to call a game in a way where I can have my way. It’s gonna come down to whether I’m missing or making shots, or a team just might defend me well that night and they just might be there that night. But for the most part, you know, this year I averaged 32 points and you don’t do that just because you make those shots every night. You got to be able to think and manipulate the situations and people to get to the spot on the floor you want to, and to get to what shots you want to, and to get which defender [you want] to throw the defenders off and create spaces and lanes that you want to get certain shots. And I think I reached that point in my career. So it’s not … obviously the scouting report. it’s always gonna be the scouting report; send him this way, make him shoot this shot, he passes better like this, this shot is low percentage shot for him, whatever.
I think the thing for me that I’m focused on the most this summer is conditioning, because I know that I’m at, regardless of what the other team is doing, as long as I’m top level condition, which I’m always in great shape, but I know that I could be in in better shape. I know that I could go up a level or two conditioning-wise and how my body feels and how my body functions. I can go up a level or two in that, and if I do that, it only makes everything else that I do that much harder to deal with and it’ll make me that much better.
Definitely. You mentioned getting to that point where you feel like you can manipulate the game. What are the checkpoints you have to get to along your career to get to that point? And what are the things that you learn as you go along that allow you to, you know, turn defenses in the way that you want them to, and shape how defenders are coming at you, and understand how to read and react, but also how to force them to read and react in the ways you want them to?
I think the number one thing is you got to get experience, like you got to be on the floor. The more you playin’, the more you’re in a game, the more you’re seeing things. You learn, “Oh, okay,” you know, they rotate this guy every time. If I attack, they rotate, this man has to help every time from the weakside corner. The low man is the help every time. And then you see the coverage and how they’re guarding, and then you look at that and then you start to put the players that you want in those positions. So, if it’s a defender, that’s a defender that falls asleep, I might put him on the wing because I know that the guy from the opposite corner is going to pull over if I get around my man and the guy guarding the wing, he’s going to be the defender that I know he falls asleep, so he’s not going to sink to help the guy that’s helping out the corner. And now I’m hitting the shooter and a corner three.
So like, you get to the point where you’re thinking that far ahead of what everybody else is probably thinking. And I think the way that you get to that is, like I said, from being on the floor and playing, and then also being a student of the game. Like, you got to watch a lot of film. You got to watch a lot of other teams. Sometimes you got to watch the games. You can’t just watch a breakdown of clips or this or that, you got to watch games, you got to see oh, he’s tired or he’s missing shots, and now he’s not doing, you know what I mean? You got to see what’s making certain things happen that is time consuming. But I mean, you definitely feel the results from that when you get on the floor. I think that’s when you see guys who, they say the game slows down and it’s like you’re not trying to use your actual speed and your athleticism to do any of these things. You can almost be like, just skipping and going real slow and manipulating them with your eyes and where you look and how you move your body and stuff like that. And, you know, that’s what it comes down to, that’s how you get to that point.
I know this has been a noisy offseason, which seems kind of the norm for you at this point. But just generally when you’re looking at what teams are successful right now, and you look at what it’s going to take to get to that point. What do you look at as the things that you need around you to get back to that point where you’re on a playoff contender, and the things that you need around you so that you can — like you said — move the pieces around and work it in the way that you need to?
I mean, I don’t really want to get into all of those things because at the end of the day what I can control is myself and my attitude. And you know, I think the way that I’ve gone about my career, and I’ve gone about everything has been with a fighter spirit. And I continue to do that. I think that’s the best way to to handle any of these things is to keep just being a warrior. You know, keep doing what I do, keep making sure that I’m prepared, and I think the truth of the matter is that you just never know when it’s gonna happen or how. You never know who’s gonna turn the corner. You never know what’s gonna happen with the team or when it’s going to click.
And I think Denver is a perfect example of that. You know, obviously you look at the team and they got a talented roster. They got Jokic, Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon — like, they got a lot of talent, but you know, they’ve been bounced in the first, second round. And coming into the season, nobody was looking at them saying this is our favorite to win it. It just happened. So I mean, you just, it’s hard to say because you just never know when it’s gonna just happen. So you’ve almost got to just keep pressing forward and keep doing that with true faith. And you just never know when it’s gonna click and the team is gonna take off and it’s gonna happen. So that’s kind of my approach.
Absolutely. You’ve got this partnership with Modelo for this Summer Bucket List. How did this kind of idea come about for a way to get fans involved and do something with them this summer?
Well, I think it came about because of how I feel about the summer and how they feel about the summer. You know, it’s connected with, one season ends and you go into another one. It’s not to relax or to take a step back and just chill. It’s one of those things where I come into the summer and everything that I’m not doing during the basketball season that I care about that I’m passionate about, that’s when I turn up in those things. Whether that’s my music, whether that’s the things that I’m doing in the community, getting with my partners to try to have an impact someplace, getting in a boxing ring — I love boxing and training, you know, self defense and getting some work in when I’m not on the court.
So, things like that. I think that’s how this came about, and also getting fans and getting people involved with these challenges to create some type of community. To create or to connect with the fans, that’s typical me. I’m always looking for those types of opportunities. So I think that’s really what this is about, you know, we got some prizes, June, July, August, each month I’m gonna upload a challenge for people to do on Instagram and we’re gonna have some fun with it.
You mentioned boxing and working on your conditioning. What was it that drew you to boxing as a way to kind of change it up and kind of challenge yourself in a different way?
I mean, I didn’t do it — I wasn’t doing it like “Oh, I need a different workout.” Like I wanted to keep tightening up my ability to fight. Self defense purposes. And I love the sport of boxing. I love to watch boxing, I always have, and I’ve trained in it for a long time. So it’s like I want to keep it sharp, you know what I’m saying. And it’s a good workout it’s a good sweat, it works your legs it works your shoulders from having to keep your hands up, balance. You know, I think boxing is one of those things that it helps your mentality because you wear down, you get tired, you got to keep moving your legs, you got to keep your hands up, you gotta stay aware, you got to keep your eyes open. And it works your nervous system. So like, you know, that’s a different type of training. So I’ve also enjoyed that as well.
Yeah, I was gonna say the mental side’s interesting, cause like when you’re in the ring, I mean, you gotta stay sharp. You mentioned the things slowing down and boxing is the same way. It’s like once you can start to feel things and see things before they happen, it’s kind of similar to that that feeling of on the basketball court.
That’s when you start feeling like, man, a true fighter, you know? Like, you see things coming. You start to see where somebody’s — the angle that they punching from, you’re like, oh, he bout to throw a hook, or that’s a jab. Like, you can see where their arm is, the angle that they throw in from, and you know how to move, you know your next punch that you’re gonna throw back. You can see the distance, you know what I mean? So like, the more you in it, the more you’re able to be a step or two ahead.
Definitely. Last thing on that. It’s been a big year boxing. Who you like in Crawford-Spence?
I think it’s a 50-50 fight. Like it’s a real 50-50 Either way, it wouldn’t surprise me.
It’s gonna be a good one.
I think Bud [Crawford] — it’s something about Bud, like I just don’t know. Something about him.
Yeah, I know what you’re saying. like, he’s just, there’s an energy when he’s in the ring that’s crazy.
Mmhmm. Something different about him.
