In watching Damian Lillard dazzle Friday night, I couldn’t help but to think we have a bona fide superstar on our hands. I turned to a friend after seeing Lillard’s final deep three and shouted, “Curry eat your heart out!” To which my friend (a Los Angeles Lakers fan) replied with a smirk that told me to pump the brakes. After all, Laker fan expects superstars so they tend to not get excited the way we Blazer fans do. Hours after the game had ended, I was still buzzing with excitement but started to wonder if my friend was right. Maybe being a long time Blazer fan had my thoughts clouded, maybe I am grasping at straws only to be let down like I was with Brandon Roy. We haven’t had a superstar in his prime on our roster in almost three decades. That player was Clyde Drexler, after watching Lillard become the first Blazer since Clyde to surpass 30 points in four consecutive games on Sunday, I decided to dig a little deeper.
First let me start off by saying a superstar is a rare commodity; to me, there are less than ten players in the league right now who are or have been superstars at some point in their career. In looking at the point guard position, there are two current superstars who reside here: Steph Curry and Russell Westbrook. For comparison sake, I will be using them as the baseline to determine whether Lillard can reach superstar heights.
Below are career numbers for the three players mentioned above, the two categories that stand out most when analyzing point guards are PPG and APG:
Westbrook: 21.4 PPG and 7.1 APG
Curry: 21.6 PPG and 6.9 APG
Lillard: 20.8 PPG and 6.2 APG
Above numbers show Lillard is almost on par with Curry and Westbrook but when we look deeper, that’s when we realize he is actually on pace to be better than both. Below are some things to consider.
Westbrook: Currently in year 8 of his career, 27 years old and has averaged at least 24 points per game two times during his career. He did so at age 26 and is on pace to do so again at age 27.
Curry: Currently in year 7 of his career, 27 years old and has averaged at least 24 points per game two times during his career. He did so at age 25 and is on pace to do so again at age 27.
Lillard: Currently in year 4 of his career, 25 years old and is on pace to average over 24 points per game for the first time in his career.
Furthermore if you pull Lillard vs. Curry years one through four, you will find Lillard is better statistically each year.
Being a sports fan for 28 years, one thing I know is most NBA athletes have a six-year window of prime play. Those years are from age 26 through age 31; in looking at Westbrook and Curry, they are following that curve exactly. While nobody can predict the future, seeing Lillard progress the way he has should have Blazer fan optimistically excited that we do in fact have a SUPERSTAR in the making!
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