Portland Trail Blazers: 2017-18 player grades for Damian Lillard

Weaknesses

Damian Lillard showed that he is an All-NBA caliber player in 2017-18. However, he still has his share of flaws, as no player is perfect.

For one, Lillard is no one’s defensive stopper. His defense did improve mightily in 2018, with his 103.5 defensive rating being a 5.4-point improvement from 2016-17. However, that still doesn’t put him among the ranks of an elite defender.

Specifically, Lillard allowed 0.89 points per possession in isolation situations in 2017-18, which put him in the 51st percentile. The 0.83 points per possession he concedes in pick-and-roll ball-handler situations puts him in the 54th percentile.

Additionally, as dynamic a scorer as Lillard is, he struggled to attack the rim efficiently. Lillard shot 53.8 percent in the restricted area, well below the league average of 63.1 percent. His ability to draw fouls slightly mitigated those struggles. Lillard pulled in a career-high .380 free throw rate in 2017-18.