Damian Lillard Keeps it Real About Trail Blazers' Need for Change
Damian Lillard, he's made sure everyone in the NBA world knows, wants to play the entirety of his career in Portland. But in wake of another disappointing playoff exit for the Trail Blazers, rumors are already swirling about the best player in franchise history experiencing a change of heart and demanding a trade.
Lillard didn't offer anything during his post-game press conference that suggested his loyalty to Portland was wavering. Even his cryptic Instagram post may not point to mounting frustration with the Blazers. The Nipsey Hussle song he quoted in the caption, after all, is called "Dedication," and no one in the league is more dedicated to his craft than Lillard.
Just because national talking heads and fans across the globe would love nothing more than Lillard to play elsewhere, though, doesn't mean Portland's loss to the Denver Nuggets will be the development that prompts his eventual exit. On the other hand, Lillard also made abundantly clear that more of the Blazers' status quo isn't cutting it – not after falling to a team missing a burgeoning star playmaker, proven veteran guard and quality on-ball defender.
"Obviously, where we are isn't good enough to win the championship if it's not good enough for us to get out of a first-round series with two of their best three or four players not on the floor," he said.
Jamal Murray is the biggest name missing from the Nuggets' attack. If he hadn't torn his ACL in April, many would have considered Denver favorites to win the Western Conference entering the playoffs. Portland would barely have had a puncher's chance to beat the Nuggets if Murray, playing some of the best basketball of his career when he went down, was available in the first round.
But the same could be said if Will Barton's nagging hamstring strain had improved enough for him to play. Even the availability of P.J. Dozier, dealing with a problematic hip injury, would have made a huge difference against the Blazers given how many defenders it took for Denver to even try and slow Lillard down.
Understanding the gravity of Portland's first-round loss requires context of the Nuggets' absences. The Blazers are a team built around the perimeter, and lost to a team missing perhaps its three best guards, playing a pair of anonymous 5-foot-10 rookies and a journeyman initially signed to a 10-day contract in their place.
Adding to Lillard's frustration is that he believed 2020-21, a season unlike any that came before or will come after it, might really have been Portland's perfect opportunity to win a title.
"That's why it's even more disappointing for me, cause I felt like if any year you could shoulder the load and go get one, it was this one," he said.
Instead, the Blazers came up well short against an inferior foe whose weaknesses aligned with their strengths.
Lillard very likely won't engage in the public crowing that sparks wholesale changes everyone knows Portland needs. But by focusing on the specific circumstances of this season's early postseason departure, he's forcefully reiterating just how disappointing the Blazers' playoff performance was – and laying a foundation of doubt that all but guarantees that significant overhaul.