总结:伊桑·舍伍德·施特劳斯说，虽然达米安·利拉德的出场时间明显比安东尼·戴维斯多，但戴维斯在PER(21.8比16.6)和赢球份额上超过了利拉德。AD也在预估胜利中做出了贡献。虽然大多数人都承认戴维斯是出色的防守球员，但施特劳斯认为戴维斯也是出色的进攻球员(或者至少对新奥尔良的进攻产生了更大的影响)。“利拉德确实在他的比赛中有很好的得分，而且比戴维斯更出色，这样做的目的并不是要表明相反。利拉德有一个令人难以置信的后撤步跳投和一个我们在新秀中见过的干净的三分球。他不是一个伟大的传球手，但以他的投篮，他不需要成为一个伟大的传球手。利拉德很好，在季前赛成为年度最佳新秀的热门人选后，他的表现甚至比预期的还要好。他现在还没有达到戴维斯的整体水平。出场当然很重要，一个完整的赛季应该胜过一个辉煌的片段。但戴维斯本赛季已经打了60多场比赛，而60场比赛并不是碎片。 Furthermore, his total contributions and his per-minute contributions both outpace Lillard's. When you gather all the evidence, Davis wins -- he is the clear rookie of the year."
“利拉德已经超越了他的年龄，拥有技术、感觉和强大的信心。虽然他的运动天赋很强，但并不是精英。所以从像米勒这样的人身上学习控球后卫的细微差别可以帮助他达到自己的最高上限。米勒是本场比赛中最好的吊球传球手(向克里斯·保罗道歉)和命中前锋。他在水平方向上和垂直方向上都能读懂球场——在地板下和在空中，即使防守方认为他们处于稳固的位置，他也能为队友创造投篮机会。当一个较差的传球者不能得分时，为你的球队得分是伟大后卫和优秀后卫的区别所在。拥有这些能力的利拉德，似乎会成为全明星的锁定球员。学会阅读比赛也会帮助他更有效地打球，并在这个过程中节省精力——这也是米勒在37岁时仍然表现出色的部分原因。”
利拉德本赛季计划帮助开拓者招募自由球员。“这取决于我们球队需要什么，但如果我喜欢市场上的一名球员，我知道他有兴趣，我当然会与他们接触，”利拉德说。“我会尽我所能帮助球队变得更好。”利拉德说:“我只是觉得波特兰是个很棒的地方。“这里的人很棒。如果他们想在一个他们知道观众会在那里的城市比赛，不管你的赛季是好是坏，是连败还是连胜，我们的球迷给了你比赛的目标。“他们每场比赛都在那里支持我们，当你在场上时，这是鼓舞人心的。当比赛似乎遥不可及时，他们会不断地欢呼。人们没有离开他们的座位，每一场比赛都是这样。”利拉德说:“作为一名职业球员，你不应该想去一个有很多分心的地方，你可能会陷入一些麻烦的城市。” "For me, I think this is the perfect place. I go out to movies, dinner, but I am able to take care of my business and focus. That's what I'm here for." And that's why you shouldn't expect Lillard to bolt as soon as his rookie deal is up. He's not a fan of moving all over the place. He had the opportunity to transfer to a bigger college once his name blew up at Weber State but he didn't. He said he chose not to because he was at a school that believed in him from the jump and he wanted to grow and develop with the guys he came in with. Similar to his current team. "I like what we have here," he said. "I think we have a lot of good players now, and all of our good players now are young. It would be great for us to build what we have here. Since we're all together now and young, I think we have a bright future together. "I'm happy with this. I like this city. I like the love that the fans show me. I come from a loyal family so as long as this organization is going to be loyal to me, I'm going to be loyal to them and do what I can to help us grow and bring talent here."
