No ****** way, their whole college career and playing style suggest Lillard will be far more successful.
He seems he like could reach Gilbert Arenas level (in his prime). Really high ceiling. Great draft pick up for the Blazers.
Reminder that Daryl Morey did everything he could to try to trade up in the draft and select this kid with the fifth pick. Everything possible. But in the end, Sacramento decided they'd go a different direction, and drafted...Thomas Robinson. Don't bother learning his name, you won't hear much of him ever again. He's a player who averages 5 points a game, is not good enough to even supplant Jason Thompson in the rotation, and is best known for throwing a flagrant elbow to the throat of another rookie when the Kings played Detroit and getting suspended for it. lol, classic Kings pick. I guess what I'm saying is that a #5 pick in the hands of Daryl Morey would have been way more valuable than in the hands of the Sacramento Kings, and it's...very fortunate for Portland that things went down like this.
LOL so Robinson's career is defined by his preseason and his first 10 games? C'mon dude....I'm sure you're better than that...
Back to Lillard, not to be repetitive, but when a rookie steps on the floor for his first sumemr league game and is instantly and obviously the best player on every team, that is really something. I remember we were chatting after that game and people were paying so much attention to the Rockets rookies (and rightly so) and I was like "dudes, that's all and good, but did you see their PG?"
I don't know how you could have such an issue with this. So according to you, Thomas Robinson is a better #5 pick than Damian Lillard was at #6, and history will vindicate the Sacramento Kings?
Woah there.... 1) You can't predict the future. I can't predict the future. Who knows how each of their careers will go? We're literally 10 games into their careers, and you're already declaring people's career paths? Please.... 2) Never once did I say that Thomas Robinson will be better than Lillard. However...it's foolish of you to say "Don't bother remembering him. He'll never amount to anything". How can you even begin to justify that statement? He was widely considered a top 5 selection, and the Kings took him because they needed a power forward. Now, will he be better than Lillard? I don't think so personally, but how can it be a sure thing so early in their careers? I'm just saying you're being incredibly assumptive and you have absolutely no reason to immediately write Robinson off as a bust so early. Hell...look at Marcus Morris. You say he'll be remembered for the elbow he threw earlier this season. Seriously? I'm not saying you're going to be wrong, but c'mon....it's just too early.
Nothing you've typed in this long love letter to Thomas Robinson is even relevant. The only salient point is that Lillard was a better pick than Thomas Robinson. And you were in a big hurry to agree with that, so what are you even arguing? What is the point of this? You think Robinson will improve as a player and you think I somehow don't? Of freaking course he will. But will he ever be better than Lillard? Nope. He'll always be a wasted pick at #5, just like a guy like Marvin Williams will always be a wasted pick at #2 in 2005. Nobody cares about the guy who turned into a solid role player, they care about how Williams wasn't even the 16th best player in that draft. They care about how he isn't Chris Paul or Deron Williams, all drafted after him. You think I'm going to impressed by some argument that a 5 ppg elbow chucker playing on a toxic team like the Kings might one day turn into a "solid professional" some day? Well so what even if he does? The point is that there are already players drafted after him who have franchise player potential. That's your crystal ball in the present day. You're being pissy and weird over ceilings when other people are talking about the sky. Robinson is crap. Just deal with this thing.
Once again, because clearly you missed the point....It is way too early to even begin to say how each of their careers will turn out. Tyreke Evans had a monster rookie year, then has regressed since then. Once again...I'm not saying you're destined to be wrong. But I am saying that you are being quite assumptive in saying that Lillard is destined to be a superstar, and that Robinson is destined to be a "crap" and "a wasted pick". That's just not an objective stance in any way, shape, or form. Let them play out their careers before we start labeling them, because we really don't know yet.
This is so disingenuous. I didn't say "Lillard is destined to be a superstar," I said he's destined to always be better than Thomas Robinson. Lillard's potential is obvious to anyone with eyeballs, Robinson's truly isn't. The rate at which both players realize their potential, if at all, is unknown, but it is almost a certainty that Lillard will realize his at a higher trajectory. This makes Robinson by definition a bad pick, if significantly better players at positions of need were always available instead. Those aren't goalposts, that's just common sense. But even putting aside how you zealously white knight the personnel decisions of the most embarrassing franchise in the NBA, let's address a larger point: The entire purpose of talking about draft picks and new rookies in threads such as this one is to marvel or laugh at their skills, as the case may be, and to speculate about what their careers will be like. And you have some sort of issue with this, that you've decided to project on me? I couldn't be less interested, you have no idea. If you disagree with the entire premise of this part of the forum, then don't read it.
Has he always been this good of a shooter ? He hits a lot of shots that look like what TD called "pray to Jesus" shots. They always go in though. Our luck is just ****ed up. All these hail mary shots always go in against us. Yesterday it was Lillard and Batum who couldn't miss and before that it was Queen James against the Heat.
He's always a good shooter. I know rockets coach and players kind of use this as excuse of our defeat. But Batum is tall, quick with long arms. As good as Lillard is, he's very smart using good picks to get open shots or mismatches. Even the so called 'ridiculous' shot by Lebron in our recent defeat, grantland has a good breakdown showing it's partly from a good pick designed by Heats. We need to be honest and find ways to improve by paying attention to better close out, better Pnr defense and better rotation. That said, Lillard is very good yet disciplined which is rare for a rookie.
MKG went 2nd overall and Morey was planning to take Drummond if the Kings or Raptors would have succeeded their pick.
