ForwardCenter

Damian Lillard has things pretty well figured out, and now he’s trying to impart what he’s learned upon the next generation.

Last week, Lillard, his longtime trainer Phil Beckner and a host of current and former teammates, coaches and trainers who all helped the 6-3 guard on his journey from little-known high school player out of Oakland into an NBA All-Star, hosted a group of high school and college players at the first “Formula Zero” camp in Beaverton.

But unlike most camps, the primary goal of “Formula Zero” isn’t to make players better at basketball -- at least not from a skills perspective -- but better people. More and more, Lillard finds himself wondering if the next generation is ready to find success, not just in basketball, but in life, so he along with Beckner came up with "Formula Zero" to address some of those issues.

“I’ve seen interviews from kids in high school where somebody’s asking them like ‘What team would you want to play for?’ and they like ‘I want to go to a good situation where the ball is in my hands,’” said Lillard. “I would have never said that as a kid, I would have said ‘I want to win a national championship.’ It’s just different, and this camp is about changing that type of thought process. It’s no humility, it’s a lot of fake humility where people know how to play the role but they don’t have people around them that’s showing them how to be and how to handle stuff so that it’s just natural, it’s what they think. It’s what they think and feel so they don’t have to pretend.”

So in a world that increasingly incentivizes self-promotion, siloing, performative humility and taking the path of least resistance, Lillard and the “Formula Zero” crew want to prepare players for what happens when talent alone isn’t enough, both in basketball and life.

“All these people hanging on to them, wanting this, kissing they ass and putting them in a position where they feel entitled,” said Lillard when explaining the origins of the “Formula Zero” camp. “They mentality is messed up about what it’s going to be and having to earn stuff and having to work, taking criticism, listening and being coachable and stuff like that. It puts them in a position to where those things, it lets them down when they get in a professional environment and their talent can’t get them through.”

While he’s certainly not the only player from an unheralded background who went on to do great things in the NBA, Lillard considers himself a template for how character, hard work and accountability can allow someone with less talent to surpass those with more, both on and off the court.

“I want to help these kids that -- a lot of them, they ranked, they got all these followers on Instagram -- I want to help them have the stuff that is not just a talent, it’s not given to them,” said Lillard. “I’m not the most talented -- I’m 6-2, I don’t jump out the gym, there’s more talented, there’s gifted players out there -- but it would be hard for y’all to find somebody that’s sharper and more disciplined than me mentally and someone who is tougher and sharper and better and more compassionate than me in they heart. That’s stuff that has been put into me my whole life that people encouraged. That’s all a part of this camp.”

And the camp is just the beginning, as Lillard, Beckner and the “Formula Zero” staffers will continue to provide year-round mentorship. Some of those players will surely go on to have successful careers in college, and a few might even join Lillard one day in the NBA, though the goal of “Formula Zero” is to prepare those young men for what’s next, regardless of if it's at home, in the broader workforce or on the court.

“These same people have done this with so many other kids that just went on to be good people and have good jobs and a good life because they have those same values and those same principles,” said Lillard. “If I can get all those people and myself to pass that along to these kids now while they in 10th grade, 11th grade, 12th grade, starting college and that gives them a better chance going forward, then why not do it? That’s what we’re here for.”

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Damian Lillard looks to reverse 'messed up mentality' with 'Formula Zero' program

Greetings loyal listeners. With the 2022 Las Vegas Summer League championship once again coming home to Portland, it was a good time to fire up the mobile podcast studio to record the 56th edition of The Blazers Balcony, a co-production between myself, Casey Holdahl, and Brooke Olzendam...

On this week's show we consider the Trail Blazers' successful stint in Las Vegas, which ended with defeating the Knicks for a second time in order to secure the Summer League title, getting some good vibes in the desert at just the right time, begging for a Summer League championship ring, the maturity of Trendon Watford, who was named MVP of the championship game and second team All Summer League, the revelatory performance of Jabari Walker and what they might mean for the Blazers going forward before bidding a fond farewell to our friend and coworker Amara Baptist.

This will probably be our last podcast for a few weeks, so feel free to parse it out as you see fit.

You can subscribe to the Blazers Balcony on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Stitcher, TuneIn, Deezer, Spotify, I Heart Radio,  Pocket Casts and Pandora. 

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PODCAST » The Blazers Balcony, Episode 56

The Portland Trail Blazers are once again the kings of Las Vegas.

Despite once again finding themselves trailing at the end of the first quarter,  the Portland Trail Blazers pulled away thereafter to secure an 85-77 victory versus the New York Knicks to win the 2022 Las Vegas Summer League championship Sunday afternoon at Thomas &amp; Mack Arena on the campus of UNLV.

“Our staff did a great job preparing them, getting them ready,” said Steve Hetzel, who served as head coach for Portland’s summer league team. “They were committed from Day One. They wanted to win this thing, so they came here with a mission and executed. I’m proud of them.”

With the win, the Trail Blazers improved to 4-1 in summer league play. Portland has now won two Las Vegas Summer League championships after taking home the title in 2018.

Both teams started Sunday’s championship, which tipped off a noon, a bit ragged, with neither team scoring for the first two minutes. But Portland, a team that bested the Knicks 88-77 in their third game in Las Vegas, got the worst of it with eight turnovers while shooting just 3-of-12 from the field, resulting in a 14-12 deficit at the end of the first quarter.

However, the Trail Blazers took control of the game early in the second quarter, with Colbey Ross, Craig Randall and Jabari Walker all converting three-pointers in a 9-0 run to give Portland a 21-14 lead with 7:50 to play in the first half.

The Trail Blazers would outscore the Knicks 29-16 in the second quarter to take an 11-point lead into the intermission. An 8-0 run midway through the third quarter gave the Trail Blazers their largest lead of the game at 49-37, though they’d head into the fourth leading by 14.

New York would use an 8-0 run of their own to get Portland’s lead down to seven with just over seven minutes to play. But Trendon Watford, who was named MVP of the championship game by unanimous vote, was re-inserted into the game and scored seven points in a 9-2 run that pushed Portland’s lead back to double digits.

“They made a run late third, early fourth and we stuck together,” said Watford. “When we came back in we turned it up and I’m just proud of all these guys.”

Behind Watford and Brandon Williams, who went 8-of-8 from the free throw line in the fourth, the Blazers were able to comfortably finish out the game to secure their second summer league championship and the rings that now come with it.

Williams led Portland with 22 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the field and 10-of-10 shooting from the line to go with five assists, three rebounds and a steal in 22 minutes.

Watford went 7-of-15 from the field and 3-of-6 from three to finish with 19 points, seven rebounds, three steals and an assist in 27 minutes.

Jabari Walker, selected by the Blazers with the 57th pick of the 2022 Draft, finished up a wildly successful run in Las Vegas with 14 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field and 2-of-5 shooting from three, 11 rebounds, three steals, two blocks and two assists in 27 minutes.

“This just shows how much work we put in over the summer, shows we have a good, young core right now,” said Walker. “We can bring some help to the vets.”

In five games in Las Vegas, the rookie out of Colorado averaged 12.4 points on 63 percent shooting from the field, 43 percent shooting from three and 80 percent shooting from the line, 9.8 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 1.0 blocks and 1.0 steals in 22.0 minutes.

“I keep preaching this: I’m happy to be here, I’m not satisfied,” said Walker. “I don’t believe I should have went 57th, I keep preaching that. I just feel like I’m slept on and I just want to go out there the prove that. I’ve got a chip on my shoulder.”

Keon Johnson scored just two points but also tallied three rebounds and three steals while finishing a +10 in a team-high 31 minutes. Kyle Alexander added eight points, four rebounds, an assist and a steal in 16 minutes. Luka Garza contributed six points, three rebounds and a block.

The Knicks had five players who finished in double figures, led by 19 points from Quentin Grimes.

The Trail Blazers will now go their separate ways, with some returning to Portland in a few months for training camp while the others will be on the hunt for their next opportunity. But whatever comes next, they’ll always be a 2022 Las Vegas Summer League champion.

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Watford Wins MVP, Leads Blazers To Second Summer League Championship

It's better to be lucky than good, though the Las Vegas Summer League Trail Blazers have been both.

After losing their first game in Las Vegas, the Trail Blazers won their remaining three contests, despite trailing by double figures in all three, to finish second in the preliminary round and move on to the Las Vegas Summer League Championship game versus the New York Knicks on Sunday.

The Trail Blazers finished up their preliminary round on Thursday with an 85-77 victory versus the Rockets, which pushed their record to 3-1 and their point differential -- the first tiebreaker in the event of a multi-team tie -- to +8.3, good for second among the 30 teams.

But with seven teams entering Friday, the final day of preliminary round play, with a 2-1 record, the Trail Blazers would have to wait to see not only the results, but the respective margins of victory in those results before knowing if they would move on to play for the 2022 Championship.

But with five of the remaining 2-1 teams -- New Orleans, Phoenix, Indiana, Denver and Utah -- losing their games on Friday and neither of the other two teams -- Toronto and Oklahoma City -- winning their games by large enough margins, Portland’s point differential held up by an average of 1.8 points per game to qualify for the championship.

The Trail Blazers will now face the top-seeded Knicks in a rematch of Portland’s third game in Las Vegas, which they won 88-77 on Monday, July 11 behind 18 points and six rebounds from Trendon Watford and 16 points and 13 rebounds from Jabari Walker.

Sunday’s game will be the second time the Trail Blazers have played for the Las Vegas Summer League championship after they brought home the title in 2018.

Sunday’s game can be seen both locally and nationally on ESPN. Tipoff is scheduled for noon.

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Trail Blazers To Face Knicks Sunday At Noon For Summer League Championship

The Trail Blazers kept their hopes of playing for the 2022 Las Vegas Summer League championship alive with an 85-77 victory versus the Houston Rockets Thursday night at Thomas &amp; Mack Arena on the campus on UNLV.

Portland is now 3-1 in Las Vegas Summer League play. They will finish up their run in Las Vegas on Sunday, though the time of their game and what they might be playing for is still to be determined.

The Blazers, as they’ve been want to do during their time in Las Vegas, went down by double-digits -- 14 to be exact -- by the end of the first quarter. But Portland scored the first 12 points of the second quarter to get back into the game, and would end up going into the half trailing 41-36.

Portland started the second half on an 11-2 run to take command of the game, eventually outscoring Houston by 14 in the third quarter to take a 63-54 lead into the fourth. The Blazers held the lead the rest of the way, securing the victory while also adding eight points to their point differential.

Why does that matter? Because the top two teams in the standings will face off on Sunday for the Las Vegas Summer League championship. And in a multi-team tie -- there are already at least three teams tied at 3-1 with seven games yet to be played on Friday -- the tiebreaker comes down to point differential, meaning that not only did the Blazers need to win Thursday night to keep their championship hopes alive, they also needed to do so in convincing fashion.

As of the end of games Thursday night, the Trail Blazers sit in a five-way tie for first with a 3-1 record. But with a +8.3 point differential, Portland sits in second behind only the Knicks, who have a 3-1 record and a Summer League best +11.3 point differential.

However, there are seven teams -- the Pelicans, Suns, Pacers, Raptors, Thunder and Nuggets -- with a 2-1 record that still have a game to play on Friday. So the Trail Blazers will have to wait until the completion of Friday’s game -- particularly the finale between the Lakers and Pelicans, a team currently with a +9.7 point differential -- before they know if they’ll be playing for the championship or bragging rights.

Keon Johnson led all scorers with 25 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the field and four rebounds. Luka Garza and Greg Brown III each finished with nine points, with the former grabbing six rebounds and the latter six while also blocking three shots.

Jabari Walker also contributed 9 points on 3-of-6 shooting to go with nine rebounds, two assists -- including a no-look, behind-the-head pass for a dunk that will surely make the Las Vegas Summer League highlight package -- and a block in 25 minutes.

Jabari Smith Jr. led the Rockets with 19 points on 7-of-13 shooting, 10 rebounds, two assists and a block in 28 minutes.

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Summer League Championship Hopes Still Alive With Win Versus Rockets

Trail Blazers rookie Jabari Walker remembers quite well when he realized his father Samaki, who played 10 seasons in the NBA after being selected with the ninth overall pick of the 1996 NBA Draft, was preparing him to go into the family business. 

It was Jabari’s freshman year at Campbell High School in North Hollywood, CA. While participating in an open run, the younger Walker, posted up in the corner waiting for a pass, failed to hit the glass after a missed shot attempt, drawing the elder Walker’s ire. Afterward, Samaki made if clear that, if Jabari was going to play that way, there would be consequences.&nbsp;

“Afterwards he’s like ‘Okay, you don’t want to go crash and get the offensive rebound? Alright, we’re gonna run after this open run,’” recalled Jabari. “He was making me run for not being active, just rebounding and stuff like that. He wasn’t making me run for not shooting the ball, stuff like that, he made me run for the little stuff.”

So it was almost poetic to see Jabari crash the glass from the corner after a missed shot and outwork a defender to secure an offensive rebound and score on the putback late in the third quarter of Portland’s 88-77 victory versus the Knicks Monday night in Las Vegas, roughly 24 hours after recounting that story.&nbsp;

“I was kind of taught how to be a pro before playing at the pro level, just playing off of superstars,” said Jabari. “And it wasn’t the greatest to watch in high school or college but it kind of complements at the highest level. It’s a role that not everybody knows how to play and it’s a role that you can develop and earn more respect in. My dad kind of instilled that in me early.”&nbsp;

Jabari credits that approach for the success he’s had in the very early days of his professional career. After being selected with the second-to-last pick of the 2022 Draft, Walker has averaged 13.0 points on 68 percent shooting from the field and 38 percent shooting from three, 8.6 rebounds and 1.0 assists and has been arguably the best player on Portland’s 2022 Las Vegas Summer League roster.

“The expectations, like, nobody knows my name coming here really, so I don’t really have any expectations,” said Jabari. “The way I look at it, everything I do is a plus. I know who I am as a player; a lot of people don’t know who I am as a player, so it just makes it even better. So there’s no pressure for me.”

He’s yet to start a game in Las Vegas and is averaging less than 20 minutes of playing time in those contests, though that hasn’t seemed to dull his impact. In fact, by some metrics, he’s been one of the most efficient and effective players thus far in Las Vegas.&nbsp;

“I’ve always preached the little things -- you see me rebounding, putback dunks, that’s what’s part of a winning team,” said the younger Walker. “A lot of guys don’t do that, a lot of guys focus on the main things. I could be a guy that works my way from the bottom and then earns a bigger role where I’m trusted more. I just want to do it the organic way, earn my way, earn my trust and then there’s still skill sets that I have that a lot of people haven’t seen. Whenever it comes it, it comes out.”

But until then, Jabari is more than content to simply do what is asked, just as Samaki taught him. He’s been trained to take pride in filling a role, even if it might not be that of the star player, while also realizing one can make quite a career out of the “little things.” After all, it worked out pretty well for dad, and has already resulted in a guaranteed contract.&nbsp;

“He just kind of taught me earlier that a role player isn’t a bad thing," said Jabari. "If my dad was a star player, I probably wouldn’t understand the rebounding, the blocking, the timing, finding areas to get open,” said Jabari. “I thank him a lot for that. With him being a role player, that helped a lot. In the NBA, everyone is a role player, everyone has different roles. I feel like the quicker I learn what my role is, the quicker I’m able to impact. I try to look at it from a mature aspect and just complement the stars, earn my way.

"People think like ‘Oh, you’re not the star.’ You can make a lot of money being a role player and you can be a starter being a role player. It’s so important, a lot of people don’t embrace that. There’s some stigma behind being a role player that a lot of people don’t like. Everybody is going to play a role eventually in the NBA."

While it’s apt to consider the benefits of a player having a father who also played in the NBA, we should also note the importance of mothers as well. And in Jabari’s case, he gives a huge amount of credit for who he is to his mother, Jo Dudley. 

“I can’t say enough about my mom,” said Jabari. “She’s in the Bureau. The people you see on TV, FBI agents, that’s what she does. She’s the intelligent side off the court. My dad is very intelligent, too, but my mom just has a different feel for communication with people. I don’t even know how to explain it, I can’t talk enough about my mom... I learned not to really talk about her as much because for years she had a job to where I couldn’t even talk about it. Now her job is a little less dangerous and more people know her, so I can say it on camera, but before I couldn’t even tell you what my mom did just because you don’t hear too many people like that because it can be a dangerous job.”

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Jabari Walker Was Trained From A Young Age To Play A Role In The NBA

It’s fashionable to show up a little late in Las Vegas anyway.

The Portland Trail Blazers, despite once again spotting their opponent a double-digit lead in the first quarter, secured their second win of the Las Vegas Summer League with an 88-77 performance versus the New York Knicks Monday night at Thomas &amp; Mack Arena on the campus of UNLV.

“We got smacked to start,” said assistant coach/summer league head coach Steve Hetzel. “They punched us right in the mouth. I loved the way we responded. You could see it in the huddle that they weren’t going to give up, they weren’t going to cave in. It was fun to be a part of.”

By handing the Knicks their first loss of Summer League, the Trail Blazers improved to 2-1 in Las Vegas with at least two more games to play.

New York scored the first 13 points on Monday night’s contest and led 24-9 at the end of the first quarter. But rather than folding up, the Trail Blazers doubled down, going on a 21-4 run to tie the game at 28-28 midway through the second quarter.

Portland would go on to take a one-point lead into the intermission. After trading the lead for the first few minutes of the third, the Knicks scored eight-straight to take a 54-49 advantage with 3:13 to play in the quarter. But Craig Randall and George King would answer with back-to-back three-pointers, which started a 10-2 Portland run that would give the Blazers a two-point lead going into the final frame.

After getting “smacked” to start the game, the Blazers returned the favor in the fourth. Greg Brown III finished two dunks, Kyle Alexander got one as well and Jabari Walker, who Portland selected with the second-to-last pick of the 2022 Draft, continued his eye-opening play in Las Vegas, scoring 11 of his 16 points in the final 10 minutes to help secure the 11-point victory.

“We knew (New York’s) intensity wasn’t going to stay the whole time,” said Walker, who left Colorado after two seasons. “I like to call it rah-rah at the beginning of the game, they jumped out but we stayed composed. Our timeouts were all beneficial, good talks so we knew we were going to walk them down and that’s what we did.”

Five Blazers scored in double figured Monday night, with Trendon Watford leading the way with 18 points on 6-of-11 shooting to go with six rebounds and an assist in 28 minutes.

Walker posted the first double-double of his fledgling pro career, finishing with 16 points and 13 rebounds in 26 minutes.

Keon Johnson added 11 points and Brandon Williams 10, though both players also finished with four rebounds and four assists. Craig Randall went 4-of-8 from three for 12 points in 16 minutes.

Quentin Grimes led all scorers with 24 points in the losing effort.

The Blazers will finish up their scheduled games at summer league on Thursday versus the Rockets at 6:30 p.m. on NBA TV before completing their play in Las Vegas on either Saturday or Sunday versus a team to be determined.

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Watford, Walker Lead Another Comeback To Best Knicks In Las Vegas

Damian Lillard doesn’t see anything wrong with his fellow professional athletes moving from franchise to franchise in an effort to find whatever makes them happy, regardless of their motivations. Changing teams in an effort to improve chances of winning a championship? Have at it. Prefer sun, larger cities and/or a more lively social life? Great, do you. A straight-up move for more money? That works, too. Whatever it is his contemporaries want out of this life, Dame has no issue with those who try changing addresses in order to realize those goals.

But that approach simply isn’t for Lillard. Despite growing up in Oakland, a city that doesn’t share all that many similarities with Portland, he was ecstatic to be selected by the Trail Blazers with the sixth overall pick of the 2012 NBA Draft. When he was the only starter to return to Portland after the 2014-15 season, he took it as an opportunity to build his own legacy in Portland rather than following his former teammates out the door.

And now, rather than joining the ever-increasing number of All-Star caliber players asking to be traded to pastures presumed greener, Lillard has signed a two-year extension that will keep him under contract with the Trail Blazers through the 2026-27 season. The deal could very well be his last before retirement, which would fulfill the plan he laid out early in his career of being a Trail Blazer for life.

“My intention has always been to be a Trail Blazer for life,” said Lillard while holding his youngest son, Kalii, and in between admonishing his eldest son, Damian Jr., both born in Portland, for interrupting. “Nothing would make my career more than just winning one championship in Portland.”

That’s not to say he’s always been satisfied. He has often discussed his desire for what he calls a “real chance to win” and when he wasn’t sure the organization was as committed to that goal as he was, he made his concerns known, both privately and publicly. But the intention was always to use his considerable influence to improve the Trail Blazers, not fulfilling an exit plan. And considering how many times he has proven his loyalty throughout his career, often in the face of significant criticism, he feels he should be afforded that right.

“Any time that I mention something that I want, I think because I never say nothing, people look at it like a threat,” said Lillard. “But it’s never been a threat, it’s always been like, look, I’ve proven my commitment, I’ve never changed where I stand. But I’m not going to just not say nothing if I feel like we could be doing this or that better. I feel like I’ve shown who I am for a long enough period of time to where I should be able to say ‘I want a better team. I want us to improve.’”

However, Lillard also understands the world he lives in. While supporting the rights of a player to do whatever they can as an individual to find a situation that suits them, he knows that the way those issues play out publicly -- and how they are described by the media, accurately or otherwise -- can leave some fans concerned.

“When I say stuff it’s never to make a threat or try to say ‘Do this or else!’” said Lillard. “That’s never my stance, but that’s typically what it is in our league now. So when I do, that’s the way it comes off.”

But between assurances from ownership and the recent actions of the front office, Lillard was comfortable continuing on the path toward spending the totality of his professional career with just one team by signing the two-year extension.

“I don’t think this type of contract is strictly about going out there and playing, it’s who you are,” said Lillard. “It’s like, your impact on the organization and what you bring to the table and what I’ve become nationally or globally by just being myself. That’s not anybody giving me an image or putting me into something, that’s who I am. And that’s why all these things come because there’s power in who I am. I bring that level of me to the organization.”

The “level of me” that Lillard brings has become synonymous with the Trail Blazers. His desire to stay in Portland rather than “run from the grind” has been built on a notion that hard work, dedication and loyalty will ultimately be rewarded. That worldview isn’t for everybody, but luckily for the fans in Rip City, it’s one of the foundations of who Damian Lillard is.

“It’s got to be part of who you are. Some guys like change and there’s nothing wrong with that,” said Lillard. “But people that just embrace where they are and find a home and find a life where they are, it’s not an easy thing to do. Some guys want to live in California or New York or Florida, whatever the case may be. People be feeling like that sometimes, and there’s something to be said about that. You think about it as a player, but if it doesn’t outweigh how you feel about where you are, it’s just a thought. And that’s what it is.”

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Lillard Continues Down Path Toward Being A Trail Blazer For Life

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