When the Milwaukee Bucks traded for Damian Lillard, the entire NBA landscape seemed to shift. Surely the combination of Giannis and Dame would be devastating, especially on the pick-and-roll. It would turn Milwaukee into an offensive juggernaut, one so powerful that the Bucks would be able to overcome the loss of some defense when Jrue Holiday was also moved.
But that hasn’t happened at all. The pairing of Lillard and Antetokuonmpo has been awkward at best, and the Bucks defense has been a mess. Moreover, the Bucks are off to an awful start, and the finger pointing has already begun. Doc Rivers is throwing his players under the bus, talking about 50-50 balls that the Bucks aren’t getting to, which is coach’s code for “don’t blame me, they’re not playing hard enough.” The Giannis trade mill is supercharged right now, and the inevitable phone calls about his availability have already started.
The real flaw in the Damian Lillard trade
When the Bucks made the Lillard trade, it felt like the Portland star was the final piece of the puzzle. But Lillard struggled making the adjustment to his new home, not to mention Giannis’s ball dominance and Rivers’ system. Milwaukee did display more firepower at times, but everything else fell apart in a hurry.
The flaw that the Bucks forgot about in this trade scenario is that they already have an old roster, especially now that Giannis is on the verge of turning 30. What the Bucks really needed was an injection of young talent, but they don’t have anywhere near the roster flexibility pull off a move for a younger complementary piece.
That problem isn’t going away anytime soon, even when Khris Middleton returns for good. Which is why much of the league is burning up the phone airwaves checking on Giannis’s availability, although that’s basically an exercise in futility at this point.
Coaching instability is also part of the problem
Part of the reason this trade didn’t work is because of Milwaukee’s revolving-door approach to the head coach position. The first part of this problem has nothing to do with Lillard.
Mike Budenholzer was a defensive-minded coach whose teams defended the three-point line relentlessly, but Giannis got upset with Budenholzer when he wouldn’t put Antetekuompo on Miami’s star, Jimmy Butler, in the Heat’s playoff upset the year before last. As a result, the Bucks hired Giannis’s guy, Adrian Griffin, but it quickly became obvious that Griffin was in way over his head with the Bucks as his first job.
Enter Doc Rivers. His forte is supposed to be fixing veteran teams that need turnarounds, but Rivers’ recent stops haven’t gone well at all. He hasn’t been able to fix the Bucks’ defense, and his rapport with veterans is turning out to be very overrated at this point in his career. The Milwaukee coach has acquired an unfortunate tendency to blame his players when things start to go south, and the odds are he’ll be doing TV again as an analyst soon, maybe even before Christmas.
Lillard’s problems don’t look fixable right now
As for Damian Lillard, fixing his issues is going to be challenging, to say the least. He’s a 33-year old scorer whose best days are behind him, and while he can still go off and post impressive numbers, he’s also at the point in his career where he becomes a liability during his off games because of his defensive issues.
Moreover, Lillard’s reputation has taken a real hit based on what’s happened. He was once perceived as the ultimate team/franchise guy as the anchor on a Portland team that was good but not great. But he worked the trade market hard on his own, stating early on that Miami was his preferred destination, which made it that much harder to consummate any realistic trade. His contract basically makes him untradeable, so he’s not going anywhere anytime soon.
The Giannis trade rumors
Neither is Giannis, although you might think otherwise if you follow the NBA rumor mill. Online trade machines everywhere are scrambling to come up with viable trades for Antetokuonmpo, but having Giannis pull in fans is the foundation of Milwaukee’s business model now, which means he’s staying put.
The best case here is that the Bucks right the ship enough to get back to .500 and perhaps save Rivers’ job, but even that looks unlikely the way they’re playing right now. It’s going to be a long season in Milwaukee, and it’s very clear that something dramatic has to give with this roster, Lillard’s ineffectiveness and Giannis’s clear dissatisfaction with the situation.