Yahoo!: Damian Lillard looked at Suns in decision to stay with Trail Blazers

It was no secret that All-NBA guard Damian Lillard had some soul-searching to do after last season.

The same injury-hit Denver Nuggets team that got swept by the Phoenix Suns in the second round of the playoffs got to that series by beating Lillard’s Portland Trail Blazers in six games.

So for the Blazers star, losing meant asking the question: Was Portland doing everything to win a title? Should he leave?

In an interview with Yahoo! Sports’ Chris Haynes, Lillard explained how he came to the decision to remain with the Trail Blazers. He opted against chasing a ring on a superteam after, among other ways of reflection, an impromptu meeting with Los Angeles Lakers stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

And Lillard could look to the desert — and the team that beat the Lakers in last year’s first round — for evidence that building a title-contending squad himself was doable without big-market muscle.

“If you look at Phoenix, they don’t have a bunch of stars. They got people who are really good at what they do and understand their roles,” Lillard told Haynes. “Chris Paul and Devin Booker are All-Stars, but Deandre Ayton is a quality center, Jae Crowder is an experienced, quality stretch-four man that’s tough, Cam Johnson is nice and Mikal Bridges is my favorite small forward in the league.

“You just look at how that team is put together and they’re in the Finals coming out of the West. That’s what my vision is,” Lillard added. “I don’t see us just landing star players. I’m Dame Lillard, and C.J. is C.J. McCollum. We have the core pieces to do the same thing that Phoenix did.”

That’s high praise for the Suns, who drafted their core three players in Booker, Ayton and Bridges, then added Paul via trade. Signing complementary pieces like Jae Crowder and Cam Payne while drafting Cam Johnson has given them depth and a full utility belt on the roster.

While Lillard’s comments highlight that respect for the Suns around the NBA has shifted in a positive way over only a few seasons, it also hints that the success of last year’s two smaller-market NBA Finals competitors in Phoenix and Milwaukee had a lasting impact elsewhere.

Portland can’t financially restructure the team a great deal, nor shove its way into landing an All-NBA talent as the Lakers did with Davis, who forced his way out of New Orleans a few years ago.

But the Blazers did target change. They replaced long-time coach Terry Stotts with former NBA point guard Chauncey Billups.

Like the Suns, they’ve surrounded the All-Star backcourt with defensive presences and shooters like Norman Powell and Robert Covington over the past year. They have a presence at center in Jusuf Nurkic, who before a series of recent injuries was one of the more productive bigs in the league.

The Blazers, who are off to a 3-5 start this season, have their own draft picks (Anfernee Simons, Nassir Little and C.J. Elleby) who they hope can develop into more helpful roles on the perimeter. They’ve added big man depth (Cody Zeller and Larry Nance Jr.) this offseason and have also taken fliers on former high-profile prospects who have failed to stick after playing bigger roles with several teams (Dennis Smith Jr. and Ben McLemore).

They are still looking to find the right role players and a system to help Lillard and McCollum carry less of the load. They were 10th and 31st across the NBA in usage, respectively, last year.

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