Damian Lillard had no doubt his Portland Trail Blazers belonged in the playoffs, even if he could only watch them get there. Speaking at his end-of-season exit interview on Wednesday, the 35-year-old guard reflected on a season spent rehabbing rather than playing, and praised the way his team responded to a year of upheaval.
"I would say my takeaway is just that we had a great season, in my opinion, just taking a big step for our group, making it back to the playoffs," Lillard said. "We experienced a lot of adversity and there's a lot of opportunities for us to fold and just pack it in, and we didn't. So I was proud just as a teammate, and being a part of this organization again, to just see how we responded."
Lillard, who returned to Portland last summer but did not play this season, used the time off the floor to rebuild his perspective on the game.
"I was able to see the game a little bit differently, kind of from a coach's perspective," he said. "Like, what should we do now? What is the other team trying to do? I also got an opportunity to learn my teammates — seeing what might set them off, seeing what they're doing when they play well, seeing where they might struggle."
Asked about a possible playoff return as the Blazers pushed San Antonio to a competitive five-game series, Lillard admitted he had thought about it.
"I definitely thought about it. I never really put it out there like, hey, let's start a conversation about it," he said. "But I haven't played in a whole year, and even though I've been training, that's giving me a lot of credit to think I'm going to just come back and just go crazy."
Much of his praise was reserved for interim coach Tiago Splitter, who took over the team mid-season after head coach Chauncey Billups stepped away.
"I thought he did well. Just being launched into that seat as a head coach out of nowhere, unexpected, having to be a leader of men in this league is tough," Lillard said. "He started to impose his style and what he wanted to get done more and more. You could see his investment in the team and how successful he wanted the team to be. A lot of our success down the stretch is because of how much he put into it."
The season opened under a cloud after Billups, the head coach who lured Lillard back to Portland, faced a sudden departure. The seven-time All-Star refused to dissect the circumstances publicly and instead expressed sympathy for his coach and his family.
"It was tough for me. I didn't even think about it from a basketball standpoint," Lillard said. "I've known Chauncey for years and years, even before he became my coach. To see him have to have that experience, all of the things that were up in the air and being said, I just felt bad for him having to experience that. My thoughts and my feelings went directly toward him and his family."
Looking ahead, Lillard sees a team a few pieces from contention. He singled out the rise of Deni Avdija and the offensive rebounding of Donovan Clingan as engines that should generate open shots — if Portland can knock them down.
"We just need to be a better shooting team," Lillard said. "When you got a guy like Deni who's constantly getting downhill and in the paint, it's going to generate good shots. I'm going to be in the paint. Teams are going to help. It's going to lead to open shots. We got to make shots and capitalize."
He remains convinced the experience of falling short to the Spurs will sharpen the group. "We saw what it was like and we came up short. I'm excited for people to see what's to come."
