If the top star who has performed the most disappointingly since the start of the season is none other than portland Blazers star Damian Lillard. On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the NBA, Lillard was also selected into the ranks of the NBA's 75 top stars officially released by the NBA, which is also a certain affirmation of the star's personal ability and honor. But to talk about this controversial NBA75 star, the failure of the former Warcraft Howard and the Splash Brothers, Another Clay Thompson, also made the two stars quite dissatisfied, after all, there are championships in hand and various honors are not bad, which does make the two parties feel very unhappy.
As a member of the 75th star, Lillard is indeed questioned by the outside world. After being selected by the Blazers with the sixth pick in the first round in 2012, Lillard has been holding portland for nine years, and this season will be the tenth season of his career. In his nine years with the Trail Blazers, Lillard has not won a single individual or team award, only once in the Team of the Season, four times in the Second Team and one Time in the Third Team, while the other honors are only 11 Times best of the Week, 1 time best of the month, and 6 all-Star tours and 2 all-Star Skill Challenge championships. However, as a top guard, Lillard still gave many fans a lot of classic scoring and big heart kills, such as the first round of the 18-19 season super long three-point kill Thunder, and three 60+ classic scoring good plays. And the fans' performance of Lillard's big heart also affectionately gave the title of "cousin".
However, so far in the new season, Lillard's state after the start of the game is far from being worthy of the title of "75 stars". So far this season, the Blazers have only achieved a record of 4 wins and 5 losses, temporarily ranking tenth in the West, and Lillard has started these nine games, but his performance can be described as a disaster level. In nine games, Lillard averaged just 17.8 points per game, a career low and worse than his rookie season average of 19 points per game. In addition, his shooting percentage is only 33.7%, and his three-point shooting rate is only 21.7%, all of which have set a new career low. Such a sluggish performance has also made more and more fans question the rationality of his selection as one of the "75 top stars". And in today's Game of the Blazers' home game against the Pacers, Lillard delivered his worst performance since the start of the season, scoring just four points on 2-of-13 shooting, including 6-of-0 three-pointers. Without the excellent performances of teammates McCollum and Powell, the Blazers would have been difficult to win at home.
As the Blazers' star, Lillard has always taken "one person, one city" as his belief, in the face of the league's more than ten years of superstar group situation, Lillard has firmly expressed his attitude, he once said: "I will never do that (to hold the group to win the championship), I can't control the trade, if the team decides to trade me to a place, this is beyond my control, but I can control myself will not do that." 」 ”
However, after nine seasons of the Blazers' inactivity, Lillard's belief in never holding a group by one person and one city has begun to loosen somewhat, and when he made a guest appearance on a podcast show in April this year, he admitted that "the superstar hugging group is forced, and not winning the championship is not worth mentioning in their eyes." And this summer's trip to the Tokyo Olympics began to shake him. After winning the Tokyo Olympic gold medal with Durant, the league superstar, he finally felt the benefits of having a superstar teammate. Lillard, who killed everyone in the NBA, was obviously at a loss on the international stage, and if it were not for Durant Carrie's U.S. men's basketball team, it would not be easy for the U.S. team to win the championship.
For Lillard, the bad performance of the new season continues. Since the offseason, rumors about Lillard's trade have begun to fly, and even he himself has revealed today that he met James this summer, and James has described to him the wonderful prospects after leaving Portland, which shows Lillard's infinite desire for the championship and his dissatisfaction with the Blazers for so many years.
Lillard's poor performance at the beginning of the season may have many factors, one is that this season's NBA official chose a new sponsor to develop a game ball, Andwell's basketball replaced the Spalding basketball that has been used for many years, which also made many stars feel bad at the beginning of the season, but at present, Lillard is the most affected. Perhaps the second important factor is Lillard's psychological change. He had always been disgusted with the star group, and he had repeatedly expressed his determination to stick to Portland, but now he has begun to waver, after all, Lillard, who has turned 31, is no longer young, and the golden period of his career is running out. The third factor may be Lillard's lobbying of James and Davis this summer, which may really make him feel a little moved!
In any case, Lillard, as a superstar who bluntly dislikes "hugging", he also deserves respect, after all, in this era of star hugging, this is not easy. But as he grew older and his career peak continued to decline, Lillard's obsession with "one person, one city" would continue to be shaken. The continued slump at the start of the season may not be a big deal, but when to get back to the state he once was in is a matter of consideration.
After all, in the face of questions from all sides, Lillard needs to respond with the toughest performance, and now this psychological fluctuation of the ape heart and the heart of Cao Ying will greatly affect his performance in the new season and his future in the Blazers! And today, they will face the Lakers led by James and Davis who have recruited him, and whether they can recover in time to respond strongly depends on Lillard's own ability to adjust!