When you think about the Portland Trail Blazers star point guard, defense is not the first word that comes to mind. You normally think about his amazing displays of offense and his incredibly long-range shooting ability.
The average fan will remember Damian Lillard for his heroics in the playoffs on the offensive end rather than anything he may have done on the defensive end. And I don’t blame anybody for doing that. The fact of the matter is, Lillard has hardly bothered to play defense for the first two seasons of his young career.
For whatever reason, that has finally changed this year.
Damian Lillard has been on fire to start the new NBA season. On offense, Lillard has been on point, making shots from just about everywhere and, at points, completely dominating the game. It’s no coincidence that he has a career high Player Efficiency Rating (PER) of 23.3, by far his highest mark.
Lillard’s offense is definitely enough for him to be valuable to his team. It’s the fact that he started to play defense that makes him a potential sleeper for the MVP award.
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And it doesn’t look like a mirage. Lillard is legitimately trying to play defense. He isn’t the best at it, far from it, but his effort is noticeable on the court. Gone are the easy forays to the rim by opposing point guards. Gone are the easy baskets for his man assignment. Gone are the pick and rolls that always seem to put Lillard in no man’s land.
In their place is some sort of resistance to his man assignment. The Blazers no longer have a glaring weak spot on defense and it has legitimately helped the team’s general defensive performance.
There’s a reason why the Trail Blazers’ defense is currently ranked fifth in the league, allowing only 94.6 points per game, and part of that reason is definitely the change in Lillard’s approach to defense.
It shows in his own defensive metrics. Lillard is averaging a career high in steals per game and defensive rebounds per game with 1.2 and 4.7, respectively. But that’s not all, because he is also going for his highest career Defensive Win Share (DWS) total. He currently sits at 0.7 through 13 games.
His career high Defensive Win Share total is only 1.8 for the whole season. At the pace he is going, he will absolutely shatter that with a 4.4 projected Defensive Win Share. Something has clearly changed for Damian Lillard and it’s been a treat to watch.
Of course, Lillard still has his problems on that end. His man-to-man defense could still use some work, though he will likely never come close to being a lock down defender. And that’s okay, because he is at least trying to play defense and it is making a huge difference.
It’s refreshing to see such a talented player trying to put it all together and develop himself the best he possibly can. The sky is the limit for a player as talented as Damian Lillard and how hard he works will dictate how high he will reach.
For the Blazers, it’s looking very good for Lillard to reach that full potential that eludes so many young players.