The Portland Trail Blazers were considered as one of the most surprising teams last season.
Despite losing four of their starters from the previous campaign, they still made it to the playoffs and past the first round. The success they had was attributed mostly to their all-star guard and leader, Damian Lillard.
Even if they were already counted out at the start of last year's campaign, the team just played on and racked up win after win. The two-time all-star became the undisputed go-to-guy of the franchise supported by last season's Most Improved Player, C.J. McCollum.
With what the squad has achieved, it's no surprise that the Weber State alum takes pride in winning games when they are considered as underdogs. On Monday, Lillard guested on SiriusXM NBA Radio and gave his thoughts on forming a “super team,” where he made it known that even if he had the chance to form his own, he wouldn't do it and also mentioned how fun it will be to win against one:
“If somebody wants to go join people and do that, it's not against the rules. They can do it.”
“It's just more pressure to win when you do it. Some people say, ‘Oh, they had to do that to win it,' but we play the game to win it. So when people do it, that's their decision. I wouldn't do it. That's just not who I am.
“I might have too much pride for that or be too much of a competitor where I couldn't bring myself to do it, but it also makes it more fun. You get to take a monster down and that's always fun.”
This may be taken as a shot to the Golden State Warriors, who eliminated Portland in the West semis back in May. Even if they already had three all-stars in their team, they still aggressively pursued Kevin Durant to join their fold, and as we all know now, ultimately decided to take his talents to the Bay Area.
With key additions to the Blazers' lineup this season, the 26-year-old guard will have more help than what he had last year. It will be interesting to see how much fun he'll have competing against those with multiple stars dubbed as “super teams.”
If there's one thing certain, Damian Lillard will give his best night in, night out because that's simply the kind of competitor he is.
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