l
Because "Baby Darius Dolla" just doesn't have the same ring to it?
I see a few fundamental differences between Lillard and Darius:
1. Lillard has a stone-cold killer DNA that I'm just not sure Darius has. He'll shoot the game-winning three, then reach into your chest and rip out your still-beating heart so he can show it to you before you die.
Remember this dagger from a few years back?
I was at that game, and could only respect how Dame shut 20,000 people up just like that. He personally took all the air out of that arena. I've been in libraries that were louder than the Q concourse five minutes after that shot.
Maybe Garland has that same assassin in him. We haven't seen it yet. Absence of evidence/evidence of absence notwithstanding, it is a key difference between them based on what we've seen.
2. Lillard gets to the line way, way more than Garland ever has. (8.4 career FTA per game for Dame vs. 1.4 for Garland.) That's basically 6-7 more points per game right there. That's pretty damn significant. If a guard is going to make at least some of his living in the paint, he has to get to the line more often than Darius is.
3. Durability. Despite taking all of those extra hacks, Lillard is a tank. He's never missed more than nine games in a season, and has played all 82 several times. Garland seems much more injury-prone. You can't help the team when you're wearing a suit on the bench.
I'm sure we can shake down the stats tree and find more differences (rebounding numbers, number of three pointers attempted/made per game), but you get the idea.
Having said all that: Darius just turned 21 and played four games in college before he entered the league. Dame is 30 and originally entered the league after four seasons of college ball. We're comparing the bolognese sauce that has been simmering all day in the pot, with its flavors all combining, to the one that just had its ingredients dumped in.
Lillard is listed at 6'2", 195. Garland is 6'1", 192. Comparing Lillard's rookie season to Garland this year, here are the numbers. Lillard was 22 at the start of his rookie season; Garland turned 21 in January so Garland was a year and a half younger at the time of this comparison.
Lillard: 19.0 ppg, 6.5 apg, 42.9% overall, 36.8% on 3's, 3.9 free throws per game, 3.1 rebounds, 0.9 steals, 3.0 turnovers in 38.6 minutes.
Garland: 16.9 ppg, 5.9 apg, 44.0% overall, 38.4% on 3's, 1.9 free throws per game, 2.2 rebounds, 1.2 steals, 2.9 turnovers in 32.9 minutes.
If you equalize the minutes per game Garland would be averaging 19.8 points and 6.9 assists, so a little higher than Lillard, which makes sense because his shooting percentages are higher. In fact, Lillard never shot 44.0% until his fifth season in the NBA when he was five years older than Garland is now.
Lillard's career 3-point percentage is 37.4%, which Garland has exceeded so far this year. Both of them are shooting exactly 38.4% this season.
One thing Lillard really improved on was his free throw attempts. By his fifth season he went from 3.9 to 7.4 attempts per game. I think part of that was learning how to draw contact and part was his growing reputation that got him more respect from the referees.
Lillard's career shooting percentage is 43.8%, and Garland is there already. He's also there on 3-point percentage. The difference is Garland is only attempting 4.5 per game whereas Lillard attempted 6.1 per game as a rookie and it's been climbing steadily ever since, peaking at 11.2 this year.
Lillard has settled in as a 30 point per game scorer the last two seasons, taking 20-21 shots per game. Garland is taking 14.5. The difference is that Lillard takes six more shots per game and 5.6 more free throws so his scoring average is much higher despite the shooting percentages being virtually identical.
I don't expect Garland to ever be a 30 point per game scorer because he's more of a pass-first playmaker. They're not the same player. But as Garland continues to improve the accuracy of his floater and gets better at recognizing when he can get his three-point shot off I expect his scoring average and shooting percentages will improve.
I believe his assist numbers will also improve as the ability of the players around him to score off his passes improves. This year he is sharing the court with Okoro, Stevens, and Osman - guys with very low shooting percentages. In addition, there were a lot of possessions that involved dumping the ball in to Drummond in the low post and watching him shoot (or get stripped) - no chance for an assist. Also, Jarrett Allen joined the team fairly recently and he and Garland are still working on their timing on the pick-and-rolls.
Lillard is averaging 6.6 assists per 36 minutes for his career and Garland is already there (6.5 per 36 this season). I think Garland has a chance to become a player of similar quality as Lillard although he probably will never take as many shots or get fouled as much.