At 30-years-old, Damian Lillard is nearing a huge turning point in his career.
After 8 years in the league, and plenty of mileage on his body, it’s likely that he has already played through more than half of his NBA tenure.
Despite that, the Blazers haven’t really gotten any closer to capturing their Championship dreams. And, even now, they are struggling to keep up with the elites.
Could that be about to change? Amid increasing pressure, the front office seems determined to bring in talent, going so far as to ask Lillard himself which players he’d like to be paired with. One name that has long been on Portlands radar? Golden State’s Draymond Green.
(via Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report)
Building the ideal roster around the already strong core is especially important for the Blazers as the clock starts to tick louder on Lillard’s prime.
President Neil Oshley even lobbied Lillard to provide a list of potential complementary stars, league sources told Bleacher Report. Lillard spent considerable time assessing rosters across the league. It is known that Aaron Gordon was one of the considered additions, though it appears Portland chose to pursue Robert Covington at the time instead.
The Blazers’ task is strikingly similar to the Warriors optimizing these final years of Stephen Curry’s union with Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, as both Curry and Lillard now stand north of 30 years old. Green, sources said, is also the premier malleable defender Portland has long dreamed of supporting its Lillard-McCollum tandem.
Portland’s defensive woes have been an issue for most of Dame’s tenure with the club. Aside from a heavy offensive focus from head coach Terry Stotts, the backcourt tandem of Lillard and McCollum (who are average defenders, at best) has a lot to do with that as well.
Adding Green wouldn’t make them comparable to a team like the Jazz, but it might just be enough to push them another rung or two up the Western Conference hierarchy.
Whether or not the Warriors will ever make Draymond available, however, remains to be seen.
