Damian Lillard struggles big time right now

[Iwasawitness]

Yes it is. Of course it is.

No it's... really not. If you're able to do pretty much the same thing as before, only on less shot attempts, then no it isn't.

Yes it is, it really is. If your USG% and FGA/game is the lowest it has been in a decade, then it takes major adjustment to figure that out, even if your shots are open. There's a certain rhythm you develop over many years of playing that gets thrown off when this happens.

You sound like someone who has never played. Have you? If so, I'm willing to travel and take you on 1v1. I'd destroy you.

Well for starters, no you probably wouldn't. Second and more importantly though, Lillard is still averaging 8 three pointers per game. He's still averaging 15 shots per game. There's no adjustment here. That is more than enough shots for him to be able to find a rhythm and get in sync with the offense. Maybe if he were down to like ten shot attempts and like four three pointer attempts, you would have a point. But that is plenty of shot attempts for him to be able to adjust. He's just off to a bad start to the season. This is nothing new for Lillard.

[Myth]

As a Blazers fan following Lillard’s time in Milwaukee, I have a strange reaction that is very win win for me. When he does well, I feel happy for him, because he is a good dude overall and I want him to show what he is capable of with a good team around him. But when is doing poorly, there is a sense of relief that feels happy that we traded him before he looked like this for us, and there is a mild sense of bitterness that says “This is what you get, the grass isn’t always greener.” Neither the positive nor negative reactions are very strong though, and I think that is because both reactions are active.

[Woodsanity]

Lame Time.

[DeBlazerRiddem]

Dame rarely starts the season in peak form. He always blows up around the ASB.

Here are his November stats for past couple seasons

18/19 - 25.2 pts, 5.2 rebounds, 6.1 assists on 41%/36%/86%
19/20 - 26.6 pts, 4.5 rebounds, 7.2 assists on 45%/38%/94%
20/21 - bubble year
21/22 - 22.8 pts, 4.1 rebounds, 7.6 assists on 42%/33%/90%
22/23 - 22.3 pts, 3.8 rebounds, 9 assists on 35%/28%/83%
23/24 - 22.4 pts, 3.4 rebounds, 5 assists on 36%/25%/94%

[DC_Melo]

I bet it's the Stotts thing that had something to do with it, combined with he didn't want to be there in the first place, combined with him aging a bit.

So when stotts left Dame decided, you know what, if he's gone I'm just not going to play good?

Is that why he had the best season of his career the year after Stotts left?

I believe he had added Milwaukee to his trade list (if he hadn't, his whole wanting to win a title thing was complete BS, as Giannis is the best player he's ever played with, by far). The aging thing is legit, and his slowing down was masked the last couple years on Portland, where he had free reign to score with 0 expectations. Now he's got expectations for the first time, no more hiding in Portland posting phony scoring numbers.

I mean… he made the playoffs 8 times as a Blazer, including a WCF run… he didn’t have a great supporting cast but he was the leader of a perennial playoff team. Not sure how that is a “no expectations” kind of role. He led the Blazers as far as Harden ever led any of his teams… and without any superstar teammates.

It’s almost like you have literally no idea what you’re talking about.

[ITYSL]

Well for starters, no you probably wouldn't. Second and more importantly though, Lillard is still averaging 8 three pointers per game. He's still averaging 15 shots per game. There's no adjustment here. That is more than enough shots for him to be able to find a rhythm and get in sync with the offense. Maybe if he were down to like ten shot attempts and like four three pointer attempts, you would have a point. But that is plenty of shot attempts for him to be able to adjust. He's just off to a bad start to the season. This is nothing new for Lillard.

So then...no on meeting up for an epic 1v1? That's what I figured

[Iwasawitness]

Well for starters, no you probably wouldn't. Second and more importantly though, Lillard is still averaging 8 three pointers per game. He's still averaging 15 shots per game. There's no adjustment here. That is more than enough shots for him to be able to find a rhythm and get in sync with the offense. Maybe if he were down to like ten shot attempts and like four three pointer attempts, you would have a point. But that is plenty of shot attempts for him to be able to adjust. He's just off to a bad start to the season. This is nothing new for Lillard.

So then...no on meeting up for an epic 1v1? That's what I figured

If you cover my food and hotel then I'll consider it.

[ITYSL]

Well for starters, no you probably wouldn't. Second and more importantly though, Lillard is still averaging 8 three pointers per game. He's still averaging 15 shots per game. There's no adjustment here. That is more than enough shots for him to be able to find a rhythm and get in sync with the offense. Maybe if he were down to like ten shot attempts and like four three pointer attempts, you would have a point. But that is plenty of shot attempts for him to be able to adjust. He's just off to a bad start to the season. This is nothing new for Lillard.

So then...no on meeting up for an epic 1v1? That's what I figured

If you cover my food and hotel then I'll consider it.

Oh don't worry about that. I'll come to you and take you on in the mean streets of (I'm guessing) Cincinnati? Let's do this!

[Iwasawitness]

So then...no on meeting up for an epic 1v1? That's what I figured

If you cover my food and hotel then I'll consider it.

Oh don't worry about that. I'll come to you and take you on in the mean streets of (I'm guessing) Cincinnati? Let's do this!

Dayton but close enough.

[10DayContract]

I think he'd be playing better in Miami, simply for the fact that Spo would use him correctly.

[Tim_Hardawayy]

As a Blazers fan following Lillard’s time in Milwaukee, I have a strange reaction that is very win win for me. When he does well, I feel happy for him, because he is a good dude overall and I want him to show what he is capable of with a good team around him. But when is doing poorly, there is a sense of relief that feels happy that we traded him before he looked like this for us, and there is a mild sense of bitterness that says “This is what you get, the grass isn’t always greener.” Neither the positive nor negative reactions are very strong though, and I think that is because both reactions are active.

As a Heat fan, I just find the whole thing mildly amusing, because I know if he were doing this in Miami, he and the Heat would be getting torn apart right now, but Milwaukee is flying semi under the radar (although give it 10 more games and the peanut gallery will start to get heard).

I do think he'll still pull it together, but this is what Heat fans were telling Blazers fans the whole time, he's not worth as much as they claim, because declines can come quick and sharp for guards his age. Ironic that both Portland and Miami fans are arguably happier than Bucks fans right now though (with the Celtics being the big winners if anything).

[Scalabrine]

Bucks made a risky trade that seems to have back fired. They still need to pay him a ton for 3 more years after this one.
Miami probably happy they got to keep Herro, who is outplaying Dame so far.
Celtics look like the biggest winner out of all of this, getting Jrue really solidified their roster.

I wonder how this turns out in the end, so far this is a disaster for the Bucks and there is a ton of pressure for it to work this year, every year after it just gets less and less likely.

It's 10 games.

[Yoshun]

1. Dame always takes time to heat up.

2. He's shooting well below his career averages in every category. It's very unlikely to continue.

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

As a Blazers fan following Lillard’s time in Milwaukee, I have a strange reaction that is very win win for me. When he does well, I feel happy for him, because he is a good dude overall and I want him to show what he is capable of with a good team around him. But when is doing poorly, there is a sense of relief that feels happy that we traded him before he looked like this for us, and there is a mild sense of bitterness that says “This is what you get, the grass isn’t always greener.” Neither the positive nor negative reactions are very strong though, and I think that is because both reactions are active.

As a Heat fan, I just find the whole thing mildly amusing, because I know if he were doing this in Miami, he and the Heat would be getting torn apart right now, but Milwaukee is flying semi under the radar (although give it 10 more games and the peanut gallery will start to get heard).

I do think he'll still pull it together, but this is what Heat fans were telling Blazers fans the whole time, he's not worth as much as they claim, because declines can come quick and sharp for guards his age. Ironic that both Portland and Miami fans are arguably happier than Bucks fans right now though (with the Celtics being the big winners if anything).

I don't think you will find many Bucks fan not happy with the trade. All the concerns are around AG/Brook right now.

I just don't get the Heat end game right now. What are they happy about? 6-4. I know they won 5 straight but I don't really see a high ceiling on them. You have $150m locked into Butler, Bam, Herro and Duncan for the next 3 years. I thought Dame would've been huge for them in a win-now window and blow it up in 2 years. Now it's probably a 50-win team that is still maxed out salary-wise. Yeah, Dame may end up being washed, but at least you had a chance at a high-ceiling with him. Now I don't know what the Heat does to contend.

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

One thing that doesn't show up in Dame's box score is Giannis seems to be benefitting more from Dame the last 3 games. I think he is working better with Dame where either he gets a cleaner lane to the basket or he is more able to take plays off and be more rested. Even if Dame struggles, if Giannis can get back to being a 61-65%TS guy, it would be huge.

[ITYSL]

If you cover my food and hotel then I'll consider it.

Oh don't worry about that. I'll come to you and take you on in the mean streets of (I'm guessing) Cincinnati? Let's do this!

Dayton but close enough.

I'm in Michigan. PM me and let's make this happen. We'll film it for RealGM to witness iwasawitness getting his hat handed to him.

[kieferli]

Too early to say that, you need to wait until Jan and see,

[ShootersShoot]

Bucks made a risky trade that seems to have back fired. They still need to pay him a ton for 3 more years after this one.
Miami probably happy they got to keep Herro, who is outplaying Dame so far.
Celtics look like the biggest winner out of all of this, getting Jrue really solidified their roster.

I wonder how this turns out in the end, so far this is a disaster for the Bucks and there is a ton of pressure for it to work this year, every year after it just gets less and less likely.

So the trade backfired after 3 weeks into the season? In a new city with new teammates? That's like you starting a new job and your new boss calls you a failure or success one month into it..in what world is that logical?

[hardenASG13]

I bet it's the Stotts thing that had something to do with it, combined with he didn't want to be there in the first place, combined with him aging a bit.

So when stotts left Dame decided, you know what, if he's gone I'm just not going to play good?

Is that why he had the best season of his career the year after Stotts left?

I believe he had added Milwaukee to his trade list (if he hadn't, his whole wanting to win a title thing was complete BS, as Giannis is the best player he's ever played with, by far). The aging thing is legit, and his slowing down was masked the last couple years on Portland, where he had free reign to score with 0 expectations. Now he's got expectations for the first time, no more hiding in Portland posting phony scoring numbers.

I mean… he made the playoffs 8 times as a Blazer, including a WCF run… he didn’t have a great supporting cast but he was the leader of a perennial playoff team. Not sure how that is a “no expectations” kind of role. He led the Blazers as far as Harden ever led any of his teams… and without any superstar teammates.

It’s almost like you have literally no idea what you’re talking about.

I'm no Harden fan, just was an OKC fan back in the day and was predicting he'd be an all star the next season before he was traded (which he was, just not with OKC). In either case, Hardens Houston teams were much more respected than any of Dames Portland teams, and they weren't stacked rosters by any means.

As far as me not knowing what I'm talking about (?) I was making light of the stotts thing, not agreeing with it. I know Dame was able to lead a team to the playoffs perennially, where they weren't a threat at all. Lots of guys do that, they arent superstars, just very good players.There were no expectations in that nobody viewed Portland as a team that could win a title. They played out west, often late at night, and nobody noticed his flaws or hot and cold streaks as much as they are now, as the Bucks are supposed to be title contenders this year swapping jrue for him. I think people look at his scoring numbers from Portland and assumed he'd be a massive upgrade, which hasn't been the case.

The spotlight is on him and the Bucks now, if you dont realize the difference in expectations i guess I cant help you, and I think people will slowly realize he doesn't impact winning all that much, especially at this stage of his career. He really never has, as if he were a true superstar he would've had at least one good postseason run. The time they made the WCF they were easily swept by a warriors team that was without KD. Just not sure why people thought adding him would be a major upgrade for the Bucks. I think they are old, slow, and in trouble.

[Capn'O]

This feels like a bump thread.