tlongII
10-30-2014, 09:26 AM
http://www.oregonlive.com/blazers/index.ssf/2014/10/damian_lillard_is_a_role_model.html#incart_big-photo
http://imgick.oregonlive.com/home/olive-media/pgmain/img/oregonian/photo/2014/07/08/-b0fc6307d4f75013.jpg
Portland Trail Blazer guard Damian Lillard works with kids at his basketball camp at the Multnomah Athletic Club.
Portland Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard lingered on the basketball court at the Multnomah Athletic Club, engulfed by dozens of kids in a gigantic huddle.
It was last summer, the morning of the first day of his basketball camp, and Lillard was preparing his campers for a busy afternoon. He answered a few questions and tolerated a few interruptions, but it was time for work, so Lillard urged the kids to sharpen their focus.
"Everybody listen, everybody listen," he said, standing in the middle of the huddle with his arm raised. "We're gonna have a good day of camp. We're gonna say 'Work hard' on three and then y'all are gonna listen to the camp coaches. OK? Say it as loud as you can. One. Two. Three."
"Work hard!" they screamed in unison.
The kids slowly dispersed into different drills and as Lillard gazed around at the bustle of activity, he didn't see a bunch basketball players or the next generation of NBA stars.
He saw kids who looked up to him. He saw kids that, perhaps, he could influence.
"The night I was drafted, my dad told me this moment would not define me," Lillard said. "He said it was my impact on people and what I did in the community that would define who I am."
• • •
It's been more than 20 years since Charles Barkley infamously told the world he was not a role model. Damian Lillard, 24, was barely knee-high back then, and the dreams he later would achieve, the dreams of reaching Barkley's status and playing in the NBA, were only beginning to take shape.
And now that Lillard has accomplished those dreams, now that he walks in Barkley's shoes, Lillard has a hard time comprehending that controversial proclamation.
In that infamous 1993 Nike commercial that Barkley wrote, he said he was paid to wreak havoc on the basketball court -- and nothing more.
"I am not a role model," Barkley said. "Parents should be role models. Just because I dunk a basketball doesn't mean I should raise your kids."
Lillard, respectfully, disagrees. Through his words and actions and by using social media as a bullhorn, Lillard is slowly emerging into the anti-Barkley, a star athlete with star power who not only understands his influence, but also embraces it.
"I think I am a role model," Lillard said, exaggerating the am. "I see it as a responsibility."
This truth is unveiled in his rap lyrics. It surfaces through his "Respect, Pass it On," pledge. It shows up in his work as a Global Ambassador for Special Olympics and in the unpublicized community events he sponsors in Portland and Oakland, his hometown. And, as much as anything, it materializes through his interaction with fans -- and antagonists -- on social media.
Lillard is poised to sign a maximum contract offer next summer that will make him richer than he ever imagined and ensure that he and his family are set for life. He could hide behind the pitfalls of fame like Barkley, he could shirk the accountability that comes with being in commercials, on video game covers, on billboards and through having your own signature shoe. But instead of hiding, Lillard puts himself out there, warts and all, hoping to inspire.
"I think it's really important because of the amount of influence that we have on kids," Lillard said. "Especially now. When I was growing up, all I knew about Michael Jordan was the Jump Man sign, the shoes and that he was the best player. I didn't know what type of person Michael Jordan was or what he thought about anything. I saw him play in games and that was it. And I think now we have twitter, instagram and we've got vine and it's all these ways for people to see us ... and they can follow every single thing we do. So therefore it's a greater chance of them being influenced by what we do, how we talk, stuff like that. They'd be more influenced if they read what I tweet and they see the quotes that I put up that really relate to who I am as a person and what I've been through. They'll respect that. They might follow in those footsteps. You know what I mean?"
• • •
So, when an issue or an event piques his interest, Lillard might use twitter to strike up a conversation, elicit debate or provoke thought among his 558,000 followers. Earlier this month, Lillard tweeted the web link of a roughly 6-minute video clip of a town hall in which a group of people from a variety of races discussed the thorny issue of race and systematic African American oppression in the aftermath of the Michael Brown shooting in Ferguson, Missouri. In the clip, a black man and a white man were featured prominently, offering differing points of view through a cordial, productive and open forum.
Along with the link, Lillard wrote: "Y'all need to watch this because it is a problem. Get in touch with reality."
"The Ferguson thing was a huge deal to begin with," Lillard said. "But with that debate -- I saw it on World Star Hip Hop -- it was a black man saying that he didn't think that it was a black and white issue. He was saying that people get it confused that, when you're black, you automatically make yourself the victim. And they say, 'Oh, I grew up like this. Or that.' But he was trying to get people to understand that wasn't what he was saying. He wasn't making an excuse. He was just saying what he feels like needs to be changed and what would make things better, not as black or as white, but as people. Then, there was a white guy in the video who said, 'My family didn't raise me like that. My family wasn't a part of that and I just feel like it shouldn't be held against me.' And he's right about that. I felt like it was something that people needed to see, because both of them had a good point."
Can you imagine the image-conscious Jordan in his prime jeopardizing his brand at Nike by weighing in on such a controversial conversation? Or for that matter, can you imagine some of the franchise cornerstones that have rolled through Portland over the years -- Rasheed Wallace for example -- going there? For Lillard, the last thing on his mind was his multimillion-dollar shoe deal with Adidas or his swelling portfolio of endorsements.
He saw an honest conversation about a societal problem and he thought the back-and-forth was worth a deeper look. It's virtually impossible for people with differing opinions to find middle ground nowadays, so when Lillard saw such an example, he shared it with the world.
"It was good that they could talk it out and that they were both articulate enough to get their point across and make it to where I could understand both sides," Lillard said of the Ferguson debate. "I grew up in poverty, so I understand everything that he's saying, to where I know people who play the victim all the time. They say, 'I didn't know no better.' Or 'I had this happen to me.' And then they end up stuck in that spot, because they played the victim. And I see the other side, because I was in those same positions and I still rose above it. So that's where I understand what they were saying."
Lillard also felt compelled to speak out in July, when he attended the ESPYs, ESPN's sports awards show. As part of the buildup to the event, Lillard was asked what he most anticipated. He replied: "Walking the red carpet with a Special Olympics athlete."
The Special Olympics twitter account passed along Lillard's quote the morning of the event, featuring a picture of Lillard playing basketball with a disabled athlete. Before long, someone mocked the tweet, replying: 'That could take awhile, this guy looks easily distracted."
Lillard is a Global Ambassador for the Special Olympics and standing up for people with disabilities is a cause near and dear to his heart. It's a passion that, in part, helped inspire him to spearhead the "Respect, Pass It On," anti-bullying campaign in Portland that aims to end bullying in schools.
When Lillard saw the nasty reply, he fired back: "Watch (your) mouth."
"Because, it's not right," Lillard said, when asked why he replied to the tweet. "My grandmother took care of people that had issues. And I saw what they went through. It makes you sensitive. You can hurt people's feelings like that. And you don't want to damage people like that. So I don't respect the fact that you can go on twitter and say whatever you want about this person because you don't have to deal with what they deal with. That wasn't cool."
And what about Lillard's faults, you ask? Weren't he and his friends part of a late-night disturbance downtown in May 2013? What kind of role model does that make him?
Well, Lillard wasn't a suspect in that incident and never came close to being charged with a crime, so that hardly serves as an indictment on his character. Besides, in the end, the minor incident taught Lillard a thing or two about living with the responsibility he talks about embracing.
"The only thing that I have to say about it is, I am who I am -- I don't pretend to be somebody that I'm not," Lillard said. "One thing that I did learn: Nothing good happens after 12 o'clock. The best thing I could say about it is I know I really am who I say I am, so people can say what they want."
• • •
Damian Lillard certainly has proven that he'll say what he wants.
It would be easy for him to avoid thorny topics. Media access across the NBA has never been more protected or limited. Front offices shield players from distractions and controversy more than ever. Players can blanket themselves in the comfortable cocoon of practices and games and through the isolation of travel. But Lillard chooses not to play it safe.
He chooses not to be like Barkley.
"If something touches me that much, if it speaks to me that much, then I'll say something about it," Lillard said. "I feel like it's a responsibility. Especially for me. Because I wish there was somebody for me to follow. I didn't follow nobody. I did it myself. And I know the route that I had to go and there were ups and downs and I know there's other people in that situation, some tougher situations, some better situations. But I feel like it's too much responsibility out there for us to just ignore it.
"I'm in a position to influence and I feel like I can influence people in a positive direction. I didn't tell people to come follow me. People decided to come follow me. So it's I feel like I have a responsibility. And I feel like I should embrace that responsibility."
http://imgick.oregonlive.com/home/olive-media/pgmain/img/oregonian/photo/2014/07/08/-b0fc6307d4f75013.jpg
Portland Trail Blazer guard Damian Lillard works with kids at his basketball camp at the Multnomah Athletic Club.
Portland Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard lingered on the basketball court at the Multnomah Athletic Club, engulfed by dozens of kids in a gigantic huddle.
It was last summer, the morning of the first day of his basketball camp, and Lillard was preparing his campers for a busy afternoon. He answered a few questions and tolerated a few interruptions, but it was time for work, so Lillard urged the kids to sharpen their focus.
"Everybody listen, everybody listen," he said, standing in the middle of the huddle with his arm raised. "We're gonna have a good day of camp. We're gonna say 'Work hard' on three and then y'all are gonna listen to the camp coaches. OK? Say it as loud as you can. One. Two. Three."
"Work hard!" they screamed in unison.
The kids slowly dispersed into different drills and as Lillard gazed around at the bustle of activity, he didn't see a bunch basketball players or the next generation of NBA stars.
He saw kids who looked up to him. He saw kids that, perhaps, he could influence.
"The night I was drafted, my dad told me this moment would not define me," Lillard said. "He said it was my impact on people and what I did in the community that would define who I am."
• • •
It's been more than 20 years since Charles Barkley infamously told the world he was not a role model. Damian Lillard, 24, was barely knee-high back then, and the dreams he later would achieve, the dreams of reaching Barkley's status and playing in the NBA, were only beginning to take shape.
And now that Lillard has accomplished those dreams, now that he walks in Barkley's shoes, Lillard has a hard time comprehending that controversial proclamation.
In that infamous 1993 Nike commercial that Barkley wrote, he said he was paid to wreak havoc on the basketball court -- and nothing more.
"I am not a role model," Barkley said. "Parents should be role models. Just because I dunk a basketball doesn't mean I should raise your kids."
Lillard, respectfully, disagrees. Through his words and actions and by using social media as a bullhorn, Lillard is slowly emerging into the anti-Barkley, a star athlete with star power who not only understands his influence, but also embraces it.
"I think I am a role model," Lillard said, exaggerating the am. "I see it as a responsibility."
This truth is unveiled in his rap lyrics. It surfaces through his "Respect, Pass it On," pledge. It shows up in his work as a Global Ambassador for Special Olympics and in the unpublicized community events he sponsors in Portland and Oakland, his hometown. And, as much as anything, it materializes through his interaction with fans -- and antagonists -- on social media.
Lillard is poised to sign a maximum contract offer next summer that will make him richer than he ever imagined and ensure that he and his family are set for life. He could hide behind the pitfalls of fame like Barkley, he could shirk the accountability that comes with being in commercials, on video game covers, on billboards and through having your own signature shoe. But instead of hiding, Lillard puts himself out there, warts and all, hoping to inspire.
"I think it's really important because of the amount of influence that we have on kids," Lillard said. "Especially now. When I was growing up, all I knew about Michael Jordan was the Jump Man sign, the shoes and that he was the best player. I didn't know what type of person Michael Jordan was or what he thought about anything. I saw him play in games and that was it. And I think now we have twitter, instagram and we've got vine and it's all these ways for people to see us ... and they can follow every single thing we do. So therefore it's a greater chance of them being influenced by what we do, how we talk, stuff like that. They'd be more influenced if they read what I tweet and they see the quotes that I put up that really relate to who I am as a person and what I've been through. They'll respect that. They might follow in those footsteps. You know what I mean?"
• • •
So, when an issue or an event piques his interest, Lillard might use twitter to strike up a conversation, elicit debate or provoke thought among his 558,000 followers. Earlier this month, Lillard tweeted the web link of a roughly 6-minute video clip of a town hall in which a group of people from a variety of races discussed the thorny issue of race and systematic African American oppression in the aftermath of the Michael Brown shooting in Ferguson, Missouri. In the clip, a black man and a white man were featured prominently, offering differing points of view through a cordial, productive and open forum.
Along with the link, Lillard wrote: "Y'all need to watch this because it is a problem. Get in touch with reality."
"The Ferguson thing was a huge deal to begin with," Lillard said. "But with that debate -- I saw it on World Star Hip Hop -- it was a black man saying that he didn't think that it was a black and white issue. He was saying that people get it confused that, when you're black, you automatically make yourself the victim. And they say, 'Oh, I grew up like this. Or that.' But he was trying to get people to understand that wasn't what he was saying. He wasn't making an excuse. He was just saying what he feels like needs to be changed and what would make things better, not as black or as white, but as people. Then, there was a white guy in the video who said, 'My family didn't raise me like that. My family wasn't a part of that and I just feel like it shouldn't be held against me.' And he's right about that. I felt like it was something that people needed to see, because both of them had a good point."
Can you imagine the image-conscious Jordan in his prime jeopardizing his brand at Nike by weighing in on such a controversial conversation? Or for that matter, can you imagine some of the franchise cornerstones that have rolled through Portland over the years -- Rasheed Wallace for example -- going there? For Lillard, the last thing on his mind was his multimillion-dollar shoe deal with Adidas or his swelling portfolio of endorsements.
He saw an honest conversation about a societal problem and he thought the back-and-forth was worth a deeper look. It's virtually impossible for people with differing opinions to find middle ground nowadays, so when Lillard saw such an example, he shared it with the world.
"It was good that they could talk it out and that they were both articulate enough to get their point across and make it to where I could understand both sides," Lillard said of the Ferguson debate. "I grew up in poverty, so I understand everything that he's saying, to where I know people who play the victim all the time. They say, 'I didn't know no better.' Or 'I had this happen to me.' And then they end up stuck in that spot, because they played the victim. And I see the other side, because I was in those same positions and I still rose above it. So that's where I understand what they were saying."
Lillard also felt compelled to speak out in July, when he attended the ESPYs, ESPN's sports awards show. As part of the buildup to the event, Lillard was asked what he most anticipated. He replied: "Walking the red carpet with a Special Olympics athlete."
The Special Olympics twitter account passed along Lillard's quote the morning of the event, featuring a picture of Lillard playing basketball with a disabled athlete. Before long, someone mocked the tweet, replying: 'That could take awhile, this guy looks easily distracted."
Lillard is a Global Ambassador for the Special Olympics and standing up for people with disabilities is a cause near and dear to his heart. It's a passion that, in part, helped inspire him to spearhead the "Respect, Pass It On," anti-bullying campaign in Portland that aims to end bullying in schools.
When Lillard saw the nasty reply, he fired back: "Watch (your) mouth."
"Because, it's not right," Lillard said, when asked why he replied to the tweet. "My grandmother took care of people that had issues. And I saw what they went through. It makes you sensitive. You can hurt people's feelings like that. And you don't want to damage people like that. So I don't respect the fact that you can go on twitter and say whatever you want about this person because you don't have to deal with what they deal with. That wasn't cool."
And what about Lillard's faults, you ask? Weren't he and his friends part of a late-night disturbance downtown in May 2013? What kind of role model does that make him?
Well, Lillard wasn't a suspect in that incident and never came close to being charged with a crime, so that hardly serves as an indictment on his character. Besides, in the end, the minor incident taught Lillard a thing or two about living with the responsibility he talks about embracing.
"The only thing that I have to say about it is, I am who I am -- I don't pretend to be somebody that I'm not," Lillard said. "One thing that I did learn: Nothing good happens after 12 o'clock. The best thing I could say about it is I know I really am who I say I am, so people can say what they want."
• • •
Damian Lillard certainly has proven that he'll say what he wants.
It would be easy for him to avoid thorny topics. Media access across the NBA has never been more protected or limited. Front offices shield players from distractions and controversy more than ever. Players can blanket themselves in the comfortable cocoon of practices and games and through the isolation of travel. But Lillard chooses not to play it safe.
He chooses not to be like Barkley.
"If something touches me that much, if it speaks to me that much, then I'll say something about it," Lillard said. "I feel like it's a responsibility. Especially for me. Because I wish there was somebody for me to follow. I didn't follow nobody. I did it myself. And I know the route that I had to go and there were ups and downs and I know there's other people in that situation, some tougher situations, some better situations. But I feel like it's too much responsibility out there for us to just ignore it.
"I'm in a position to influence and I feel like I can influence people in a positive direction. I didn't tell people to come follow me. People decided to come follow me. So it's I feel like I have a responsibility. And I feel like I should embrace that responsibility."