Auerbach: Draft Express's Jonathan Givony Reflects On Damian Lillard

Nicole Auerbach of USA Today Sports has a nice feature on Lehigh's C.J. McCollum, a small-school guard who sought inspiration from Portland Trail Blazers rookie Damian Lillard while he was at Weber State.

In the piece, Jonathan Givony of Draft Express offers some reflective thoughts on Lillard's rise up the charts to the No. 6 spot in the 2012 NBA Draft.

"It was definitely a gradual process with him," Givony said. "He made a significant improvement throughout his college career, and as he got into the workouts, he really started showing people this guy was just as big, just as strong, just as athletic as any guard in this draft.

"That's a very extreme case. The Big Sky is as low a low-major conference as you'll find. ... For a guy like that to come out of the Big Sky, I'm not sure that's going to happen for another 15-20 years."

...

"He really made the case for and opened a lot of doors for a lot of kids," Givony said. "We're going to have to look at them a little bit differently and say, 'Are there other Damian Lillards out there?' "

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