The NBA universe is well aware of the Portland Trail Blazers phenomenon Damian Lillard. But nine years ago, ESPN’s Marc Spears got a taste of the physical and psychological skills the Blazers Point Guard was willing to unleash in a pre-draft workout. He tells the story on the Hoop Collective podcast.
“I remember seeing him at Merritt College, which you probably never heard of, in Oakland when he was training, the most incredible workout I’ve ever seen.”
“He was in incredible shape, he did this exercise where he would shoot a three-pointer and then run back to the baseline on the other side, run back and shoot another three-pointer. It’s a bit like he stayed crisscross from one end of the track to the other, but shot down three pointers and nailed them at full speed all the time. “
‘It was like a few minutes exercise where I thought he was about to fall dead, he’s tired and he’s nailing all these three. And you had, Portland was there, Golden State was there and there was another team, maybe the Clippers were there. “
“And so he does this full sprint from baseline to three point line, three point shooting thing, nailing everything. And he’s from Weber State, like he’s not nervous. And then, after nailing about eight threes, he sweats heavily and then just gets in the middle and does a tomahawk dunk. And I was like Oh My God. “
Spears goes on to talk about Lillard’s psyche and his drive to keep getting better, a frame of mind that keeps the injury-plagued Blazers going this season.
“I watched him play, fell in love with his game, and his anger and his hunger, and he just never gets satisfied, he’s like an East Oakland guy who got nothing.”
“Just when you think, well, you’re Rookie of the Year, you’re out of chip, yes, I do, you’re All NBA, yes that’s not enough, you’re an All Star, that’s not enough.”
“I want to be Portland and I want to win a championship here and until that happens I just keep fighting and clawing and so you think when CJ gets hurt, a long list of guys get hurt, the Blazers would fall apart, but it tells you why he’s great, why he’s a future Hall of Famer, why he should perhaps be the best men for MVP right now. ”
“Because they’re like 18 and 11 and he’s working with all these young guys who haven’t proven themselves and who’ve done better.”
You can listen to the podcast here. The Blazers lecture starts after 27 minutes.