Trail Blazers Rebuilding

[Moranis]

I don't think Smart will ever be the kind of scorer that Dame is.

That's probably accurate and Lillard will never be the defender that Smart will be.

true, but elite scorers are far more valuable than elite defenders.

[PhoSita]

I don't think Smart will ever be the kind of scorer that Dame is.

That's probably accurate and Lillard will never be the defender that Smart will be.

true, but elite scorers are far more valuable than elite defenders.

Yup.  It's easier to build a defensive team around an elite scorer than it is to do the opposite.

Seems like the Blazers want to build an athletic, defensive oriented team that can cover for Lillard's defensive weaknesses with spacing just good enough to let Damian go to work on the other end.

[D.o.s.]

It would surprise me a lot of Lillard got significantly better as an NBA player than he is right now.

[moiso]

We don't know what we have in Smart yet, and I agree that Lillard may be at his peak right now.  I love Lillard's offensive game, and I agree that offense is generally more valuable than defense.  But both guys could peak as something like 3rd best point guard in their conference.  We just don't know yet.

[PhoSita]

It would surprise me a lot of Lillard got significantly better as an NBA player than he is right now.

I agree, I think he's mostly a finished product, though there's always room for mental growth, which matters for score-first guys (see: Pierce).

Lillard is a one-way star, like Carmelo, but he's still a really nice piece to have.  I've said this sort of thing before, but I'd trade the whole Celts roster of role players, and all the picks coming down the pike, for just one young star like Lillard, Cousins, Jabari, Wiggins, Okafor, etc.  It's always, always, always better to have that type of piece as your starting point.

[D.o.s.]

Yeah I would agree with that.