Damian Lillard proved his commitment to the Portland Trail Blazers with a two-year max extension this past offseason. However, the Rip City faithful may have head coach Chauncey Billups to thank for convincing Dame to stay.
The veteran guard had options for his future. He had a chance to join the Los Angeles Lakers before when LeBron James recruited him, and had he asked to be traded, Portland would have probably granted it. Nonetheless, he chose to stay.
Interestingly Billups apparently did not try to recruit him at all or even asked him to stay when they meet in January of this year. He kept it real with him.
“I told myself, and I told Dame this before I got the job: ‘I ain’t recruiting you.’ I’m going to tell you what I feel and what I think because I care about the person,” Billups revealed, per The Ringer. “You got decisions you have to make for you and your own family. I can tell you what I think I can do to help you, but I ain’t coming with no recruiting pitch, I ain’t gonna do that. Because a lot of times, lying has a lot to do with recruiting; I’m not going to do that. I was no different at that point than I was before I got the job. I just tried to keep it real with him.”
Damian Lillard liked that approach from Chauncey Billups. He has always been honest with him, and it certainly played a role in the superstar guard choosing to stick with the team.
“That’s why I fuck with him so heavy. He knows the game, he’s a thinker, he’s a players’ coach, he has relationships with everybody, but I know he’s going to keep it solid,” Lillard said of his Blazers head coach.
Lillard still has title aspirations, and while he doesn't have a superteam, the Blazers did put in the work to give their franchise player a better roster. They made sure to re-sign both Anfernee Simons and Jusuf Nurkic, all while adding Jerami Grant to improve their firepower and Gary Payton II to elevate their defense.
While it remains to be seen if the group can break through in the tough, tough West this 2022-23 season, it will be wrong to write off a team led by Lillard.
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