Damian Lillard Doesn't See Himself Playing In The NBA Much Longer Because He Doesn't Enjoy What The NBA Has Become
I 100% agree with him here and I think he says this because he is basically the only NBA star left who hasn't left or added to his team to win a championship. In this 4 minute video he explains that the NBA isn't like it used to be anymore. When you got drafted when he did you still had veterans to play with who ran the team and you had to earn your spot and respect on the team. If you are drafted in the top 10 in todays NBA they give you the keys to the kingdom and let you do whatever you want. They spend one year in college and think they are owed all of the respect and don't have to deal with any veterans.
I think that is where the big difference is because if you played sports growing up if you were a freshman no matter how good you were you had to earn the respect from the seniors. I could be wrong but a lot of NBA players seem to care about social media followings and just what the fans think of them instead of their teammates. You have RJ Hampton out here saying he has burners so he can defend himself online. I feel like it meant more to win a championship to these guys like 10-15 years ago and now it is just to get a bag. I respect that as well but I feel like Lillard just plays for the love of basketball and to try and win a championship. As I am saying this the Blazers have shut him down for the year and are absolutely horrific so by the time this blog publishes I can see him wanting the fuck out of Portland. I don't know how much longer he can be loyal because they don't want to build around him for shit.
It would suck to see Lillard stop playing in his prime because he is one of the best guards in the NBA but we haven't been able to enjoy that because they have sucked so bad as of late and the only reason they win any games is because of him. I hope he gets what he wants or actually joins a contender because playoff Lillard is fucking awesome. It also is pretty cool to hear a guy that good still cares about the actual game of basketball and not the money aspect of it.