Portland Trail Blazers guard, Damian Lillard is on top of the basketball world right now.
Many are taking note.
Just ask former Trail Blazer, Bonzi Wells.
“At his position, he is the number one guard in the league right now,” Wells told NBA scribe Landon Buford.
“What I love about Dame, he does so much for the community, he raps, a family guy and loyal to the soil that he grew up in.”
That’s love. Dame’s earned it.
For those tardy to the party: That’s high praise from Bonzi Wells. Wells is highly regarded by Portland Trail Blazers fans.
Remember Wells’ heroics on April 23, 2003, when Wells set a Trail Blazers playoff record with 45 points against Dallas in the first round?
Wells played for Trail Blazers for six seasons, where he averaged 13.3 points and 4.7 rebounds per game.
The Blazers traded for Wells’ draft rights from the Detroit Pistons, who took him eleventh overall out of Ball State.
The Blazers would send the Pistons their first round pick the following year.
Even though he was traded to the Memphis Grizzlies during the 2003-04 season, by Portland, he still has love for them.
He’s been paying close attention to their buzzing movement in Portland.
GettyPortland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard
Led by Damian Lillard, the Blazers are in Round 2 of the NBA Playoffs, against the Denver Nuggets.
These two teams finished within one game of each other during the 2018-19 NBA regular season. The Nuggets wrapped up the year with a 54-28 record while the Blazers were 53-29, earning a tiebreaker for the No. 3 seed over the Houston Rockets.
Wells is in awe of Lillard. “He puts the work in on the court and isn’t all about talking with him,” he told Landon Buford.
“He goes out there and performs. That is what I respect about him. With that being said, that puts him above all guards in my opinion. What he did in that First Round [in the NBA Playoffs] against Paul George; who I know is a great defender and Russell Westbrook, who is a competitor; but he was able to put on a show like no other. That put him on the top of my list after that series.”
Wells is among a growing list within the NBA family that has high hopes for the Portland Trail Blazers and Damian Lillard.
NBA Hall of Famer, Charles Barkley believes Portland is going to the NBA Finals. “I like Portland in the Finals,” Barkley told me.
“With [Damian] Lillard and [CJ] McCollum. The addition of Rodney Hood and Enes Kanter. I like them in the West.”
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