Bucks star Damian Lillard may be coming off a down year, but he’s not ready to slow down just yet. In a chat with Jim Owczarski of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Lillard insisted that he’s still the same player that he was on the Trail Blazers years ago.
“I’m not a player that’s breaking down. I live a clean, good, healthy life, so I can do it. I can do the same sh*t I did two, three years ago. I can do it right now,” said Lillard. “I think when the trade happened everybody was like, ‘Well, Milwaukee’s gonna win it,’ and I think when it didn’t always look the way they wanted it to look or thought it was gonna look, and I wasn’t looking how I looked in Portland, it was like, oh, what’s going on with Dame? Why is Dame not doing this? But when for a greater part of the season I was still averaging about 26 points. Like, if you really think about that – what standard do y’all hold me to if I’m scoring 26 points and averaging seven assists and I’m not feeling great? I’m going through a lot of stuff. That’s just the truth.”
Damian Lillard was the centerpiece of the Blazers franchise and he had a case for being the best guard in the league during his prime. During his last season in Portland, he averaged 32.2 points, 7.3 assists, and 4.8 rebounds per game on 46.3% shooting.
But after forcing his way out of the franchise, initially in favor of the Heat, Lillard changed teams for the first time, and things haven’t been the same since. In his first season with the Bucks, his stat line fell to 24.3 points, 7.0 assists, and 4.4 rebounds per game 42% shooting.
As Lillard struggled on the court, the Bucks struggled to keep up with the Eastern elites. They finished 3rd in the East with a 49-33 record and failed to live up to expectations as a championship contender. In the playoffs, the Bucks lost in the first round to the Indiana Pacers.
Off the court, Lillard was dealing with a lot of personal matters which became a major distraction. Besides the complexities of changing home cities from Portland to Milwaukee, Lillard was also in the throws of a divorce that put his twin infant children in the middle of a dispute between their parents.
The whole ordeal became a major story for the Bucks and it clearly had an effect on Lilalrd, who had his worse season in over a decade. Needless to say, it was far from the season that Bucks fans were hoping for and with no major signings over the summer, there still remains significant doubt that they can compete for a title. One way or another, the key to success is 34-year-old Lillard, who is owed $169 million over the next three seasons.
After giving up major pieces of their core to trade for Lillard, the Bucks need him to play like a superstar in order to compete in the East. If he can return to the state he was at just two years ago, it might be enough to push the Bucks over the edge of title contention.
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