SDH Presents from DraftExpress.com: Damian Lillard Revisited

+Damian Lillard was largely an unknown prospect going into his fourth year of college basketball, as he was forced to redshirt his previous season after breaking his foot. Lillard emerged as one of the top players in the country, scoring over 24 points per game on stellar efficiency (62% TS%), even though his team failed to advance to the NCAA Tournament or NIT. Lillard's draft stock steadily rose as the year moved on, despite question marks about his shaky assist to turnover ratio and the quality of competition he faced in the Big Sky conference, eventually being selected sixth overall by the +Portland Trail Blazers. It didn't take long to realize that Lillard was a tremendous find for Portland, as he was unanimously named NBA Rookie of the Year after averaging 19 points and 6.5 assists per game in his debut season.

Lillard has continued to progress in his second professional season, helping Portland to a surprising 36-17 record thus far (tied for the fifth best record in the league), while earning a selection to the NBA All-Star game. What can we learn about Lillard's progression from unknown prolific scoring mid-major combo guard to one of the top young point guards in the NBA? We review our thoughts on him leading up to the 2012 NBA Draft and evaluate his progression as a basketball player from a strengths and weaknesses standpoint.  See what the folks of +DraftExpress have to say and always keep up with all 30 +NBA teams right here on +Slap Dog Hoops.  Be sure to stay tuned to SDH in the coming weeks as I will be recapping, reviewing and ranking the performances of all thirty teams in the Association in my Worst to First Countdown.