FanShot

Freeman: Damian Lillard Feature

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Joe Freeman of The Oregonian has an excellent feature on Weber State point guard Damian Lillard, a possible target of the Portland Trail Blazers in Thursday's 2012 NBA Draft. ------------------------------------ Lillard has a prominent tattoo on his left arm that stretches from the top of his shoulder down to his elbow. It's an inscription of a Bible passage, Psalm 37, which urges believers to pay no mind to "evildoers" and "cultivate faithfulness," and the "desires of your heart" will come to fruition. Lillard was inspired to get the tattoo after attending church one day during his freshman year. The way he sees it, nothing sums up his story better. Basketball wasn't a birthright for him and he had ample opportunities to take a different, perhaps negative, path in life. But he never lost faith. "I just felt like coming from Weber State, being the underdog, I just felt like it was about me," Lillard said. "In Oakland, there were a lot bad temptations and people were going in different directions. I could have easily followed them. But my heart was somewhere else and I felt like I had a purpose for something else. I wanted to play basketball. I wanted to go to school. It was just about having faith -- having faith in what I believed in and not letting anything sway me away from what I wanted to do." ------------------------------------ -- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter