The Portland Trail Blazers entered their first team practice on Tuesday in high spirits, much to the delight of superstar Damian Lillard.
He revealed in a clip posted by the Blazers' Twitter account that the team's energy level was much higher than he thought it was going to be, considering it was the NBA's shortest offseason in history. Although it some time for everyone to get going.
“At the start of it, it was like a couple of guys lost the ball and just dribbling and attacking the rim, but lost the ball out of bounds. And then it started to get competitive. Everyone started to make shots. But the one thing that stood out to me was that everyone was in pretty good condition.”
The 30-year-old Lillard added he was pretty impressed with their activity and that he feels good getting their first practice under their belts.
"The one thing that stood out to me was that everybody was in pretty good condition." @Dame_Lillard checks in from Day 1 of @Biofreeze Training Camp. pic.twitter.com/nwB8gBw97F
— Portland Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) December 9, 2020
Fatigue was a major concern around the league entering the upcoming season after the short turnaround from the last campaign. This very much applies to Lillard and the rest of the Blazers as they had to go into overdrive just to squeeze into the NBA Playoffs. They emerged as victors of the NBA's first ever play-in game against the Memphis Grizzlies to secure the eighth and final ticket in the West.
Lillard was pretty much untouchable in their eight seeding games, tallying 37.6 points en route to being named NBA Bubble MVP. The Blazers eventually succumbed to eventual champions Los Angeles Lakers but still earned the admiration of fans and pundits all over.
Rip City re-tooled nicely this offseason to surround Damian Lillard with more help, adding Robert Covington and Derrick Jones Jr. and bringing back Enes Kanter. The team also re-signed Carmelo Anthony, who resurrected his career last season.
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