作为Ripcityradio的620 AM共同主持人Andy Bunker和Taylor Danforth的每周播客系列的一部分，我们坐下来寻找潜在的上升播客来谈论Damian Lillardthe MVP candidate, can he get better, and what he can do to take ANOTHER step. AvailableHEREdirect, or on iTunesHERE

Exactly how good has Lillard been? Well, if he continues this level of play he's going to end the season averaging over 25 points and 7 assists. If he does that, he lands on alist that's almost exclusively Hall of Famers. While that's all well and good it doesn't quantify how he went from fringe all star to legitimate MVP candidate. Yes, candidate- not favorite. If you have anyone other than Steph Curry on your ballot you should have your voting privileges stripped for life. No making statements, no ridiculous off the wall votes. It's Steph. That's it.

这样，您可以提出一个论点，说利拉德在咖喱下面的梯级上凯文·杜兰特, Lebron James,Russell Westbrook，克里斯·保罗（Chris Paul）和卡希·伦纳德（Kawhi Leonard）。在进行工作之前，请意识到，与詹姆斯和杜兰特的呼吸相同，并不意味着Lillard>/=勒布朗或杜兰特。这仅意味着利拉德将他的比赛提升到了一个水平，以至于他可以在同一句子中提到他，您不应该盯着他。不相信，这是帮助您改变主意的多个理由。

Lets first take a look at Lillard's bread and butter, his masterpiece, his... you get it... the pick and roll. As you can see above, you cannot go under and you cannot go over. If you caught he's now able to take defenders off the dribble all the way to the basket and finish effectively. Since his rookie year he's managed to add something new to his game, which considering where he started when he came into the league- is pretty impressive. When he was drafted in 2012 he brought a control of the pick and roll not normally seen from a rookie- finishing in the top 15% of league in PPP. This year he's angling for top 10%- no small feat considering he runs it more than jut about anyone else in the league. At .934 PPP he sits in the 88th percentile for the season, but if you look at what he's done over the last 17 games he's averaging 1.00 PPP in the pick and roll. This is akin to Lillard scoring on every other pick and roll if he shot nothing but 2-point shots. In case you were wondering... that's good. Really good.

什么使Lillard在选秀比赛中比以前更好？他在每个方面都表现更好。浏览选秀权，您是利拉德（Lillard）可以选择的自助餐。在选秀权下？好吧，在利拉德职业生涯的这一点上，如果您不接受他的选择，您可能会被替补或交易。说到哪个，嘿杰夫·格林!

好吧，实际上不是绿色的人，这是Mike Conley, but it's Green who stares as if he's the most recent graduate of the James Harden Defensive Academy. ..

Speak of the devil and he shall appear! That's the only thing that will be said about the Houston game at this point. But feel free to watch that over and over again with this in mind...(shameless self promotion- also funny animal .gifs)

打电话@JHarden13从这里开始“浣熊手”。当他试图打防守时，这就是我所看到的。手臂pic.twitter.com/hxbx7eq4yh

— Dan Marang (@DMarang)2016年2月26日

Because Lillard has been so hot from outside lately, defenses are starting to pick him up earlier and closer to half court. This is a double edged sword as you can see here.

Tony Snellgets aggressive out high and is forced to go over the pick by Mason Plumlee. This split second separation keeps Snell from being able to pressure Lillard from behind, who takes advantage by getting both Gasol and Snell off balance with a hesitation/in-and-out dribble, driving to the rim and ultimately finishing strong at the rim. Gasol made the mistake of showing too much of an angle and Lillard took it. It's little things like this that have been responsible for his improved shooting inside of late- up to nearly 53% (FG%) on drives out of the pick and roll.

Essentially it becomes a no win scenario -go over, go under, it doesn't really matter he's going to eat that up. What about when teams try to trap/blitz the pick and roll coverage? Early in the season Lillard was susceptible to bad decision making in certain instances.

Here former Blazers Patty Mills and拉马库斯·奥尔德里奇（Lamarcus Aldridge）闪电战的掩护转身切入,迫使Lillard wider than he wants to go. This allowsBoris Diawto rotate over and get in position to protect the lane. Lillard already has his mind made up and doesn't see thatEd Davis已密封Manu Ginobili在弱方面。相反，它导致有争议的尝试，呃...不足。

快进几周，您可以看到Lillard进行了一些调整。的确，Kemba Walkerand弗兰克·卡明斯基不是精英级别的后卫——但是他的责任re is on Lillard to make the correct play/read. Saying he made the correct read here is a lot like calling saying the sky is blue. More "duh" than anything all that enlightening. However, there's a few things to be taken in this instance. Lillard recognizes the trap early, adjusts with a crossover dribble splitting the defense, and attacks before the second big can get out front to crowd the lane and contest the shot. In fact, it's probably best that泰勒汉斯布鲁not get in Lillard's way in this particular case.

如果您在NBA中谈论效率，最好是谈论罚球。想要一种确定的火力来提高有效性和得分吗？走上线。在这种荒谬的连胜，突破，增长，仍然不确定该怎么称呼 - 他的罚球率为.276。这意味着他基本上要获得4杆的罚球。自1月18日以来，他在.354。这似乎并不大，但这增加了28％的增长 - 他现在每3枪获得超过1罚球。如果您从CJ McCollum个人资料中记得，虽然重要的是进行罚球很重要，但产生罚球更为重要。当然，这里的回报率降低了，但是从长远来看，数学的机会非常简单 - 增加的机会超过了保证。在利拉德（Lillard）的情况下，这并不重要，因为他提高了自己的利率和百分比。 Over the same span of time he's hitting nearly 88% of his free throws, and he's made 45 straight.

虽然不完全负责，但这种类型的动作最近有助于为利拉德（Lillard）产生罚球。Lillard似乎无处不在克里斯·保罗（Chris Paul's）stop and pop when a trailing defender is scrambling hard to recover after the screen. With the majority of Lillard's pick and roll action originating in the "high" position- it makes sense that he would add this to his game. Defenders are now wary of chasing too hard over the top, affording Lillard the opportunity to; survey the defense a bit longer, get a shot off cleaner, get a head start turning the corner, and/or frees his sight line to make a cleaner pass.

这里要触及的最终区域是利拉德改进的过渡游戏。尽管Dame以精心打算的挑选挑选能力进入联盟，但过渡游戏对他来说从来没有真正自然。今年，他在过渡时期的PPP方面处于NBA的最低点。在149个快速休息机会中，他在本赛季有4次泄漏。他几乎完全是公开球场上的球处理者，他并不总是做出最好的决定。在本赛季平均为.899 PPP之后，他设法将其提高到1.04 PPP。这些积分是无价的，因为它们通常是游戏中可能会收到的最高百分比。

Look no further than Russell Westbrook, who has 356 transition opportunities, and a 1.163 PPP. As earlier stated, Lillard currently sits at 149 and .899, so Westbrook gets out in the open court more than twice as often and finishes with more efficiency. It's no secret that Westbrook is devastating on the break, if Lillard were able to elevate just a bit more- now you're looking at Lillard moving up into the truly elite scorers in the NBA. While Damian may not ever be (almost surely not) on Westbrook's level in transition- having him get one or two more opportunities per game by leaking out or catching the ball farther up court could be huge. Thirty points per game is actually an achievable thing if he's able to add this to his game as well. And why not? Every time you question the man he just comes back stronger.

与罚球率提高，内部更好的结束以及诊断防御能力的提高能力相匹配，并且图片开始变得更加清晰地了解达米安·利拉德（Damian Lillard）如何提高他的得分和协助平均水平。防御的最后一件。

Next week- Damian Lillard, is he a good defender?