Friedman: Blazers G Damian Lillard Talks Improvement, Defense, Draft

Daniel FriedmanofSlamOnline.comhasan extended Q&Awith Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard, who discusses the upcoming NBA Draft and areas of improvement for the Blazers, among other topics.

SLAM: What aspects of your game do you think you still need to work on?

DL:I think I need to work on my solutions in the paint, floaters, being a little more crafty. I think I could be a better passer, and individually I also need to be a better defender. Ineedto get better defensively. I could also have a little bit more gamesmanship, drawing fouls, you know, just stuff like that.

There will be a lot of film that I've got to go back and watch to look back through the whole season to see how I've progressed, to see some of the things that I started to do better or some of the things that I still need to get better at.

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SLAM: What kinds of things do the Trail Blazers need to work on for the '13-14 season?

DL:As a team, the number one thing we need to get better at is defense, and it's going to start with me. Being the point guard, I defend the guy who has the ball most of the time and I'm going to be the first guy that goes into the defensive stance when he's bringing the ball up. So we need to get better defensively, we need to communicate better and I think we could have more desire to play the game. We could have more energy with the way we approach the game.

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SLAM: You're in New York representing Portland at the NBA Draft lottery tonight. Through the Draft, how should the Trail Blazers be looking to improve?

DL:We have a lot of good pieces. With me, Wes, Nic, LA and Meyers right now, and maybe JJ, I'm not sure, we have a lot of good pieces. But I think we could get another young athletic wing that can come in and score. I even think another big guy that can come and protect the paint, shot blocker, rebounder, athletic guy that can finish in the paint and dunk the ball. I think those are the type of guys that we could use next season.

Big thanks toJP503in the FanShotsfor getting there first.

-- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com |Twitter