Damian Lillard Appreciation Thread

[DanoMac]

Shame it didn't work out. What a weird two year ride.

[jakecronus8]

Everything felt off from the moment he stepped out of that limo 5 hours late into his welcome party and looked like he wanted to die. The peak of the Dame era was this board in the hours after the news dropped.

[TonySnellJr]

The Giannis/Dame duo never really got a chance. Disappointing with all of the injuries over the last 2 years. Still, they were the highest scoring duo in the league last season and it also felt like they were starting to figure things out as the 2nd season went on but then Dame's injuries happened. The horrendous coaching carousel of the last 2 years also undoubtedly hurt the team. For as much credit Horst should get for his abilities to work free agency, you can't forget he hired Adrian Griffin. A disasterous hire that led to a mid-season firing and scramble to find a HC resulting in Doc Rivers golfing his way to becoming the most mind numbingly mediocre coach and future president of basketball operations.

Injuries were still the big issue, Giannis missing the whole 2024 playoffs with Dame being out for 2 games as well, then this year Dame goes down with a brutal injury as he's rushing himself back into playing after being out with blood clots. Still think they could have made a deep run if Dame/Giannis were just healthy at the same time in the playoffs and had more time together.

[Matches Malone]

Read on Twitter

[Iheartfootball]

I have very little emotional attachment to this man.

I grade his time here as "incomplete".

Be Best Dame.

[soxperry]

Honestly, the Dame experience sucked. Thank you to Dame the person but im glad thats over

[SupremeHustle]

Some of y'all are too young to remember when Gary Payton got traded to the Bucks and it shows. That said, best of luck to Mr. Lillard.

[drone3]

Dame is a good guy... We just couldn't get consistent chemistry. Wasn't meant to be.. Quick recovery the NBA needs Dame time

[Thunder Muscle]

Some of y'all are too young to remember when Gary Payton got traded to the Bucks and it shows. That said, best of luck to Mr. Lillard.

It definitely has similarities. Fit never worked, saw an aging star, seemed like the guy did not want to fully be here. Obviously Dame had slightly more time. GP was hated more because he was moved for Ray Allen.

[drew881]

Dame elated to be waived. Looks like the appreciation thread will be short lived

[GoldenAntlers]

Best of luck to Dame. Wanted him on the team for a couple years prior to him joining. Was overjoyed when he joined, but pretty early on I found myself convincing myself that it would work. I really thought it would. I believed there was absolutely no way we didn't make the ECF this year. A lot of factors went into why it didn't work, but ultimately it didn't.

20m on the books for 5 years for "nobody" is wild though.

[paulpressey25]

Again, this is an appreciation thread. If you have nothing to contribute move on.

Understood. At same time a number of people were hesitant to voice the obvious opinion the past year. Rich man’s Mo Williams.

As Jake Cronus said, the video was bad that day he arrived at Fiserv. Nothing wrong with Dame. Great player. He just never seemed that into this.

[DingleJerry]

Yea sucks it didn't work out. Really curious the butterfly effect if there was a different coach hired and not the mess that was in year 1, it was so clear Dame thought Griff was a moron. Or, if Stotts had just remained there so he could be there when Griff got axed instead of having to be desperate with Doc. My guess Stotts could've gotten the O flow better rather than it all being so clunky.

That said, I think this also proves that true playmaking PG like him is not a fit with Giannis. Going into the move, it seemed perfect on paper but even with someone as elite as Dame at it that Giannis was clunky I think is enough trying it. This was the move I was hoping for years prior but it just happened too late. But it also seems Giannis just won't fully embrace being the screener rather than ball handler so maybe it never would have worked. Which is fine, since he's amazing at it but being amazing at both seems like it would be do-able for him.

Just seems like horrible timing and string of chaos/injuries never gave it a real chance to see if it could work. Again, curious on the butterfly effect of a different coaching situation.

[Bernman]

Again, this is an appreciation thread. If you have nothing to contribute move on.

Understood. At same time a number of people were hesitant to voice the obvious opinion the past year. Rich man’s Mo Williams.

As Jake Cronus said, the video was bad that day he arrived at Fiserv. Nothing wrong with Dame. Great player. He just never seemed that into this.

It's odd not to be that into your last and best shot to win a championship as one of the guys. There's a drawback to being too cool.

[Coach Carter]

The feeling was off from the start. He wanted to go to Miami, but credit to him for being a professional and having a go.

Then there's the fit. Giannis is too ball dominant and I believe any ball dominant PG would struggle to adapt playing beside him. Compare this to Jrue who if required, has no issues as a secondary ball handler. Good coaching though solves a lot of issues so it creates a "what if?" scenario.

I hate to admit this because I'm a big Dame fan, but I can't help thinking that this stint in Milwaukee taints my image of him.

[stillgotgame]

I have a Dame jersey I never wore.
At least it was cheap.
Dhgate.com makes some awesome jerseys.

[humanrefutation]

In some of the criticism here, it shouldn't be ignored that Dame got DVT in his calf - an injury that should have sidelined him for the season - and worked his ass off to come back for the playoffs only to tear his achilles. He gave it all to be back for the team, and likely cost himself a season in the back-end of his career.

I don't know if he truly wanted to be here when he greenlit the trade. But I don't doubt that he gave it his all.

[htr]

Dumbest question of the day but let me be the one to ask it. Is there a 1% chance the Nets (or some team I’m not aware of) have the cap space and would be cool punting the season and claiming Dame with the idea they be getting Dame in 26 and beyond?

[Be Here Now]

Pretty crazy that we never got one playoff game with Dame and Giannis both healthy.

The Anthony Mason/GP comps kill me. Dame has always shown very little emotion on the court. It's just who he is. Do I think he would have preferred to be traded somewhere else? Sure. Most pro athletes would. But the guy played hard, came back for the playoffs when he probably shouldn't have and ex teammates all seem to universally hold him in high regard. He played terrific the first half of this season. Horst was very unlucky to not be able to trade him this offseason at full health.

Theoretically the GA/Dame pairing made a ton of sense, but to the surprise of nearly everyone the two weren't a very good fit. It's now 100% clear that Giannis needs a robin like Middleton, who doesn't need the ball a ton but can ideally still take the last shot in a tight playoff game. I feel like Dame's penetration game suffered greatly with Giannis clogging the paint. As soon as Giannis was off the floor you got a better Dame rim %, which is a big part of his game.

As for being elated, what is he supposed to say? If he seriously found out about this at the same time as everybody else it's really bad business on the Bucks part.

[Baddy Chuck]

It'll go down as a disaster but I appreciate that Dame came into Milwaukee as a legit superstar with his head up ready to try and win, this bull body language talk is so dumb. It turned into a hellish, no-win situation from the start from coaching, to injuries, to roster composition/chemistry but I don't feel like he ever gave up on the team including coming back from injuries to try and salvage some playoff dreams, which might have ultimately ended his career. He'll be a scapegoat for his time here and people can hate how he played or whatever but it might be a good long while before we got a back to back all-star not named Giannis in Milwaukee again. Hope to see him play up to some standard again, would hate for this to be how it ends for him.