Blazers: Dallas coach Rick Carlisle says Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard 'early ROY'

[tlongII]

http://www.oregonlive.com/blazers/in...l#incart_river



DALLAS - Count Dallas coach Rick Carlisle among the growing list in the NBA who are impressed with Trail Blazers rookie Damian Lillard.

Carlisle, whose Mavericks (2-1) face the Blazers (2-1) tonight in Dallas, called Lillard an “early Rookie of the Year candidate” after the point guard has opened the season with averages of 21.3 points, 9.0 assists and 4.0 rebounds in three games.

“He’s going to have that much impact on their team,’’ Carlisle said. “Plus, point guards have the ball more, so they are going to feature him even more. But I’m really impressed with his feel for the game. He has an air of confidence, and he does a really nice job involving his teammates. And his shooting ability - we haven’t seen a point guard come in like this that can shoot from 25-to-26 feet - easily - in some time.’’

Lillard leads all rookies in scoring and assists and ranks fourth in field-goal percentage, seventh in rebounding and first in minutes per game (38.3).

Lillard has joined Geoff Petrie as the only player in Blazers history to score 20 or more points in his first three games. He would become the first to accomplish the feat in four games. He is shooting 47.1 percent from the field (24-of-51) and 37.5 percent from three-point range (6-of-16). He also has 27 assists and 11 turnovers.

Lillard will go against Mavericks Darren Collison, a 6-foot guard from UCLA who is in his fourth NBA season. Collison is averaging 17.3 points, 7.0 assists and 3.0 rebounds.

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

Hopefully the early ROY doesn't turn into the latter day Roy.

[clambake]

how much playing time is required to be considered?

[thunderfan]

He seems pretty solid, although he didn't do much to stop Westbrook in his first matchup - and Westbrook wasn't stopping himself that night either, oddly enough.