Week 22 Player Rankings: Point Guards Rule
20. Damian Lillard
Twentieth? Yes, 20th. This is not to slight Dame in any way; there are just better options out there. Lillard has enjoyed a stellar sophomore season and he’s still only 23 years old! Lillard is averaging 21 points per contest with 5.5 assists while displaying a true shooting percentage (a metric that evaluates 2-point, 3-point and free throw field goals) of 56.7 percent — league average is 53.9. Considering how much Lillard is relied upon in this Portland offense that’s an amazing number for his shooting.
The next step in Lillard’s maturation will be how well he handles the playoff spotlight. In his rookie campaign with Portland they only won 33 games and didn’t sniff the playoffs. They took poised to nab a spot somewhere from fifth and eighth, which means they won’t have home court, but can still make some noise.