On paper, the Portland Trail Blazers aren’t very impressive. Besides Damian Lillard and Jerami Grant, the team doesn’t really have the to-level talent most fans would associate with a team built for the postseason.
But in the eyes of Damian Lillard, the Blazers are more than just a middle-of-the-pack group. As he explained in a recent interview with HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto, he believes he can go all the way with this team when fully healthy.
“I think we can be a championship team,” Lillard said. “We’ve got a good mix of veterans with experience and young talented guys. Right now in the league, that’s who you’re seeing are the most successful teams. It’s no longer look at this super team over here. It’s who’s got the talent, who can get up and down and score, who’s fearless, who defends, who has experience and leadership? It’s all of those things that give you a shot to be one of those final teams. You’re seeing it across the league, and I think we fall into that category. We’ve got to be healthy. I’ve played a lot of games, but I’ve been in and out of the lineup with little nagging things with my calf. We haven’t gotten Gary Payton II out there yet. There are other layers to this team. We’ve got guys that are still getting up to speed. Nassir (Little) was out for a long time. He’s still trying to find his footing. I think once we put all of those things together and you can really see us, that’s when you’ll see that level up.”
Is The Era Of Superteams Really Over?
Just a few years ago, the meta for teams across the league was to just stack as much talent as possible. And while that method brings strong results, we are seeing a different trend this season. Teams like the Celtics, Bucks, and Suns have been thriving despite only having a single “tier-A” superstar on their roster.
What this means for Portland is still unknown, especially given their up-and-down year, but Dame has had high expectations from the very beginning.
“I’m coming out here to win,” Lillard said. “And everybody gotta be on that. We coming out here to win. Now, are we gonna lose some games? Everybody’s gonna lose some games. As we gonna go 70-12? No, we’re not going 70-12. But, we represent winning. Since I’ve been here we haven’t won a championship but we win a lot of games and that mentality is no different. It’s just that people don’t expect it from us. And that’s a great place to be where they’re not expecting it.”
As one of the last truly loyal stars in the NBA, Dame has gotten some flack for not jumping ship and pursuing a championship somewhere else. But as he explained in the interview with Scotto, the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.
This season, we’re going to find out just how serious Lillard is about winning and how far he can take a Blazers team that he has deemed to be a title contender.
We sincerely appreciate and respect you as a reader of our site. It would help us a lot if you follow us on Google News because of the latest update.
Thanks for following us. We really appreciate your support.
