Which would rather have?

[coffee425]

I thought it would be interesting to compare two of my favorite young guards in the league, Damian Lillard and Marcus Smart, with two contrasting skillsets during their rookie year. I know hindsight is always 20/20 based on what we now know about Damian's defensive limitations, but these are two players that showed an all-nba level of talent on opposite ends of the floor in their first year.

So which rookie season would you rather build around?
Damian Lillard's rookie season in which he showed a tremendous offensive skillset, or Marcus Smart's rookie season in which he showed he's already a lock-down defender.

I'd also like to say that these guys are two of the clutchest youngsters in the league. Always around big plays at the end of games. What a luxury to have either guard to lead their teams

[PhoSita]

I really like Marcus Smart, but this isn't even a question.  You build around Damian Lillard.

[slamtheking]

Lillard.  unless Smart shows real progress as a ballhandler, passer and shooter, it's Lillard all day right now.

[jpotter33]

Not really a fair comparison given that Lillard was like 2 years older than Smart in his rookie year. Didn't he play 4 years at Webber State or something? That's a significant advantage for first year performance. We should revisit this question in a year or two to make a fair assessment.

[Eja117]

Probs Damian

[max215]

I love Smart, but this is not even close.

[ahonui06]

I don't like Lillard's approach to the game. Doesn't care about defense and is an inefficient shooter.

Personally, I don't believe Lillard is a player to build around so I rather have Smart as a complimentary player and continue the search for a franchise cornerstone.

[PhoSita]

I don't like Lillard's approach to the game. Doesn't care about defense and is an inefficient shooter.

Personally, I don't believe Lillard is a player to build around so I rather have Smart as a complimentary player and continue the search for a franchise cornerstone.

Bad at defense and doesn't care about defense are different things.


As for shooting efficiency, Lillard had a 56% True Shooting Percentage last season, which ranked him in the Top 10 among guards who averaged at least 5 assists per game, ahead of guys like Mike Conley, Ty Lawson, Kyle Lowry, Eric Bledsoe, Brandon Knight, John Wall, Reggie Jackson, and Tyreke Evans.

[colincb]

Not really a fair comparison given that Lillard was like 2 years older than Smart in his rookie year. Didn't he play 4 years at Webber State or something? That's a significant advantage for first year performance. We should revisit this question in a year or two to make a fair assessment.

Lillard is 3 years and 8 months older than Smart and played 4 years in college compared to 2 years for Smart. As rookies, Smart had a better overall Box +/- than Lillard primarily due to his much better rookie defense, but Lillard had stronger scores on other advanced stats like win shares and VORP that are biased toward offense.

Lillard improved greatly in three years and is a top 10-15 player now on overall Box +/- stats (Smart was 93rd last year) and as such, it will be very tough, but not impossible, for Smart to catch up. I suspect Smart will close the gap and be a very good NBA player, but top 10-15 would put him in the perennial NBA all-star category and I don't see that. OTOH he looked like the best player in the summer leagues at times (and then regressed with horrific shot-making decisions), but that's summer league.