Portland Trail Blazers: 5 goals for Damian Lillard in 2017-18
2. Finish among the top three in the NBA in scoring
Damian Lillard averaged 27.0 points per game in 2016-17. That was tops on the team and sixth-best in the NBA. He also placed sixth in 2015-16, averaging 25.1 points per game. This season, Lillard should work towards being a top-three NBA scorer.
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Lillard is capable of putting up points. He has scored single digits only 12 times in his career, and just twice over the past two seasons. Lillard got particularly hot this past March and April. He averaged 29.4 points per game in those final 21 games.
He scored 30 or more points in 10 games over that span, including a 49-point game in a win over the Miami Heat. He also had a career-high 59 points in his final regular season game, a win over the Utah Jazz.
Lillard’s climb into the top three wouldn’t even be that steep. Isaiah Thomas was third in scoring in 2016-17, averaging 28.9 points per game. In 2015-16, it was Kevin Durant, putting up 28.2 points per game. Reaching that goal would require him to only put up an additional field goal per game throughout the season.