Spears: Mom Providing Support For Blazers G Damian Lillard During Rookie Season

Marc Spears of Yahoo! Sports writes about Portland Trail Blazers rookie guard Damian Lillard and his relationship with his mother.

Gina Johnson plays the role of Lillard's personal manager, chef, housekeeper, voice of reason and more while living with her son during his rookie year in Portland. Her mission: To allow her son to concentrate solely on his NBA Rookie of the Year potential. Meanwhile, she'll take care of everything else.

"I wash his clothes. I cook his food. I handle whatever deals he needs to handle," Johnson said. "Anything. Everything. He doesn't do anything but go to practice. That's all he does. That's it."

...

"She's not treating me like a little kid," Lillard said. "But she speaks her mind to me about what she feels is right or wrong. She'll say, 'You need to get some rest. You got practice tomorrow. You got games. It's a long season.' I really take in the advice she gives me. It's helped me my whole life so I figured I should continue that."

Lillard's father was the subject of a feature earlier on Tuesday.

-- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter