Damian Lillard will go down as one of the most gifted guards of this generation. Despite not having an extensive playoff resume, Lillard is already a top 75 player of all time because of his absolutely mercurial ability to score and put his team in positions they weren’t expected to be.
After an injury-riddled season last year, Dame will be coming back with a head full of steam in 2022-23 to help the Portland Trail Blazers reach playoff contention again. For that to happen, Lillard will need to have a strong relationship with his coach Chauncey Billups.
Billups has revealed that he and Dame have a strong relationship, as Lillard looks towards Billups for guidance and mentorship. The former Finals MVP and now coach of Portland described Lillard as a great student of the game and revealed that Dame will sometimes text him in the middle of the night with basketball-related questions.
"He's hungry for all the knowledge that he can get."@trailblazers Head Coach Chauncey Billups (@1MrBigShot) tells @talkhoops & @DarthAmin why Damian Lillard is such a student of the game. pic.twitter.com/KpYW3CPFxR
— SiriusXM NBA Radio (@SiriusXMNBA) July 17, 2022
“Basketball-wise, as great as Dame is, I have been able to really help him see the game differently. From a standpoint of just being able to manipulate defense, seeing things a little ahead. He has just been so gifted as a scorer and a player because he hasn’t had to see that ahead of time, he could see it in the moment and still get it done.”
“I think good players as they age, they continue to be efficient and effective because it all goes from the neck up. Those are the type of conversations I always have with Dame and he’s such a great student man. He is hungry for all the knowledge he can get. He hits me up late at night asking me all kinds of basketball questions.”
Lillard is signed up to be a Portland Trail Blazer for the foreseeable future and will be one of the highest-paid players in the league. The money is going to set his family up for generations but he will hope that the team can build a championship contending team around him.
Additions of Jerami Grant and Shaedon Sharpe are important for the team’s future but they need more moves around the roster to genuinely catapult this team towards the top of the West as it has become way more competitive over the last two seasons. The Blazers have a climb ahead of them but Lillard and Billups are the perfect pairing to help lead the team to their goals.
