Why Was Damian Lillard Only A 2-Star Recruit in High School?

A three time All Star, a three time All NBA player, and the 2013 Rookie of the Year, Portland Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard is considered one of the best players in the NBA. He was a highly heralded player coming into the NBA, being selected sixth overall in the 2012 NBA Draft by the Portland Trail Blazers and immediately producing great numbers as a rookie. In large part because of Damian Lillard. Portland is a consistent playoff team in a very, very tough Western Conference. But Damian Lillard wasn't always seen as a star and in fact, he's probably one of the most overlooked NBA stars of all time. As a high schooler, Damian Lillard was rated as a two star recruit and received very little Division one attention. So how is it possible that one of the league's best players was so overlooked as a kid? Let's find out. What's up guys? Ethan, here today I wanted to talk about Damian Lillard's crazy journey from overlooked high school player to yearly NBA star. Dame grew up in Oakland, California and always had dreams of becoming becoming the next NBA star from the Bay Area. And although he's living that dream right now, nobody thought back then that he'd get anywhere close to accomplishing that. So why was Damian Lillard rated as just a two star recruit in high school? Well, first of all, he was undersized. Damian Lillard was 5 foot 5 as he entered high school. And although he grew to be about 6 foot 1 by the time he was a senior, weighing only 165 pounds, he was still undersized compared to many of the elite guards in the country. In a recruiting system that relies heavily on physical traits, Damian Lillard just didn't fit the bill of an elite high school recruit. And because of that, he was not really given a true look. Another reason that he was a two star recruit is because he wasn't a part of a big basketball program. As a high schooler, Dame played for the Oakland Rebels AAAU program, the second fiddle program in Oakland behind the Oakland Soldiers, who had the number one recruit in Damian's class, Brandon Jennings, as their star player in high school basketball. Dame transferred to Oakland basketball powerhouse St. Joseph Notre Dame as a sophomore, but he ended up leaving after that season because of a lack of playing time and a lack of support from his head coach. So now Damian Lillard entered his junior year of high school with almost no meaningful high school accomplishments or playing time and he had to find a place to prove himself. He ended up transferring to Oakland High School for his junior season and that's where his career took off. He averaged 19.4 points per game as a junior and 22.4 points per game, along with 5.2 assists per game as a senior, securing him first team all league honors. Despite his great upperclassmen seasons, Lillard finished his high school career as a two star prospect with very few D1 offers. He ended up committing to Weber State University in Utah, Utah, who played in the Big Sky Conference as a freshman at Weber State. Lillard went on to be named the Big Sky Freshman of the Year and first Team All Conference. Going into his sophomore season, he upped his scoring to nearly 20 points per game, securing the Big Sky Player of the Year award. But he faced a setback in his junior year as he broke his foot only 10 games into the season. He ended up redshirting the rest of that year and came back as a redshirt junior averaging 24.5 points per game, which was good enough for second in the nation in scoring behind Reggie Jackson and again Dame was named the Big Sky Player of the Year after his junior year. He was widely regarded as the top point guard prospect in the country and decided to forgo his senior season and declare for the NBA draft. He was selected by the Portland Trail blazers with the sixth pick of the 2012 NBA Draft and has since gone on to become one of the best players in the NBA. Despite the fact that he was overlooked by almost everybody as a high schooler. Those are the reasons why Damian Lillard was rated as a two star recruit in high school. Where do you guys have Damian Lillard ranked among your NBA point guards today? Let me know what else you guys want to see. Comment some video suggestions down in the comments below. Make sure to like and subscribe because I'm putting out new videos every single Thursday guys, so you don't want to miss that. Also make sure to check me out on Instagram, my personal pagehan Koza and my NBA page bau. And of course my website and my Facebook are both in the description as well. And I'll be back at y' all with another video soon. Peace.