So Lillard worked on his grades and became eligible for the playoffs, even though he didn’t play. After the season, he met (St. Joseph's coach) Lippi in his office, and Lillard remembers the coach breaking down the statistics of how many kids go on to play in college, and how many make it to the NBA. Then he asked Lillard if he really thought he was going to make the NBA. Lillard told him yes.“I kid you not, on my son’s life … He laughed in my face, bro,” Lillard said.
Lillard said he told Lippi “thank you” and then walked out of the office. And he was never the same again.
“It just changed me,” Lillard said.
His brother, Houston, said he could see something flip in Damian.
“It changed him. Damian before that was lazy — lazy, but talented. He played a lot, but he didn’t do any of the extras,” his brother said. “He didn’t have that laser focus we know now. But that experience, it 100 percent triggered him.”
It was the start of an obsession that still rages today.
“That experience kind of put me on edge about every little thing,” Lillard said. “After that, I just got more militant. I started to work way harder, and it got to the point where I knew I was working so hard, and I was doing everything I needed to do, that I was expecting to be the best player.”
Lippi, who has 895 career wins to go with seven Northern California titles and four state titles, says he doesn’t remember that meeting with Lillard, and said would never dissuade a student from his or her dream.
The next year, Lillard transferred to Oakland High and the rest, as they say, is history. That included a game at St. Joseph’s his senior year, a game where Lillard dominated and made sure Lippi heard about it.
“At one point he came down the sideline and said, ‘See, Coach!’ … which is fine,” Lippi said. “I would do the same thing. I was cut twice and always wanted to play against that coach. So I told him, ‘Yeah, Dame, I got you.’ I’ve never said one bad word about him. I love the kid.”
As Lillard has grown into one of the NBA’s best players, he still holds onto that sophomore slight, so much that his inner circle sometimes wonders why it is still a topic.
“People are like, ‘Let it go… it’s OK,’” Lillard said. “And I’m like, ‘No. I’m not letting it go.’ He literally smiled and chuckled in my face. Even if he was right, I would never do that to a kid. I was 15-years-old. If somebody did that to my son, I might whoop their ass.”
Today, that story serves as a tentpole to much for which Lillard stands. He never gives up. He is not outworked by anyone. He always believes he will win. And he will hold onto any perceived slight and use it as another piece of wood for his fire.
“I’ve watched him, and followed his career,” Lippi said. “Every single time he doesn’t get what he wants, he goes and gets it. And you don’t want to snub him … because then he starts dropping 35 on you.”