American professional basketball player who currently plays for the Portland Trail Blazers, Damian Lillard's is ready for action.
Lillard's 3-pointer as time ran out in Game 6 of a first-round playoff series against the Rockets gave the Trail Blazers a 99-98 victory. Lillard averaged 20.7 points, 5.6 assists and 3.5 rebounds last season.
Lillard on his way to success and he is working to achieve the same stardom as Kobe Bryant and LeBron James.
He said "'I think I put myself out there a little bit. But I have to give a lot of credit for that to my team and what we were able to accomplish. What happened with me as a basketball player, a lot of opportunities opened up because of that."
Lillard palyed with the Blazers as their starting five together with All-Star LaMarcus Aldridge, Nicolas Batum, Wesley Matthews and Robin Lopez.
During the off season, the team was able to acquire veteran player Steve Blake as well as center Chris Kaman.
Blake is impressed of Lillard's performance saying "You could see how talented he is. He is as good as advertised."
Aside from Blake General manager Neil Olshey said "Nothing gets in the way of basketball for Damian."
Although Lillard trained with the national team this summer, he was not drafted to play in the recently concluded FIBA World Cup wherein the US won.
He said "The best part about that was just being able to compete against the top players every day. You don't get that opportunity very much and I was thankful for that. But I also feel like they were telling me I wasn't good enough."
"I've always been one to throw wood on the fire, anytime I got the opportunity. Once I turned away from making that team, I basically took it as I wasn't good enough. That was another reason for me to go back and keep trying to improve as a player."
Lillard watch the Rockets series games twice this summer and he acknowledges that there are changes in the shots that would likely happen.
He said "'I think it just changed me with not questioning myself. There's always times where you question yourself a little bit, not that you don't believe in yourself, but you're like, 'What if this happens? Or what if that happens? But in that moment nothing crossed my mind. I never doubted what would happen for a second."
