Damian Lillard looking to weaponize half-court shot this season
Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard is set to reveal a new weapon for the 2020-21 NBA season. According to The Athletic’s Jason Quick, Lillard is serious about adding the 47-foot shot to his already deadly arsenal.
Damian Lillard will have the half-court shot ready to fire with little warning
For those wondering if Damian Lillard will toss up the low-percentage three from midcourt at least once a game, guess again. The five-time All-Star is not about to jeopardize his team’s chances of winning a game just to try out his new signature shot.
“Obviously, I’m not just going to be out here every game firing a shot from half court — or maybe not even every 20 games,” Lillard said. “It might be once or twice in the whole season that I feel like … F it.”
Lillard didn’t reveal exactly when he will be tossing up half-court threes, but opponents will have a clue as to when that might happen.
“If I get in a game and I hit three, four 3s in a row? That’s when you should have your eyes open because it might be going up from half court at that point."
Damian Lillard has made the half-court shot numerous times before
The new weapon that Damian Lillard will be unleashing against NBA defenses this coming season isn’t necessarily unfamiliar to opponents. He’s made the 30-foot-and-out three-pointer a part of his repertoire the past few years.
This time, however, Damian Lillard will be extending the shot more than a few feet farther in order to keep defenders from clogging the lane for him. It will also prevent them from trapping him too far away from the basket.
According to Quick, Lillard made a high percentage of his shots from beyond 30 feet, leading the league in that unofficial category since his rookie season.
“Lillard last season shot 41.9 percent (54 of 129) from 30 feet and beyond, and in his eight NBA seasons, nobody has made more shots from beyond 30 feet than Lillard, who has 95. Golden State’s Stephen Curry is second during that timespan, having made 67.”
Throughout his career, Lillard has been one of the premier long-range bombers in the NBA. Last season, despite playing only 66 games due to the league’s lockdown because of the coronavirus pandemic, Lillard recorded career-highs in three-pointers made (270) and three-point percentage (40.1).
That’s an average of 4.1 shots made per game from beyond the arc.
Moreover, his total of 1,776 threes is 20th in league history and he is slowly climbing up the charts. If he makes 250 or more three-pointers this season, Lillard will be in the top 10 all-time in made threes.
If Damian Lillard gets more and more comfortable launching from half-court, the NBA might have a new three-point revolution coming with the Blazers guard right in the middle of it.