Dame used to criticize other players for wanting out because it doesn’t work out and then they bounce around the league. Now it’s happening to him. Hot take: Dame’s career ain’t ending in Portland or Milwaukee. This is what happens when you run from the grind. Harden, Westbrook, KD, Kyrie, etc…
The Bucks identity was defense, and they downgrade from an all-nba 1st team defender to Damian Lillard. And Jrue was giving them 19 a game with very efficient shooting.
To be fair, they're not using Dame the right way AT ALL. Dame is Dame. They should know what they're getting. He is not playing Dame ball right now.
I feel bad shitting on Dame because I love the guy, but I'm going to add to it. This article goes into detail about Dame's abysmal defense this year. It pretty much sums up what myself and others have said about Dame's terrible defense and how it infects the identity of a team to the point where he becomes a liability. Damian Lillard is playing the worst defense of his career, and it might cost more than just the Bucks (msn.com)
This has long been a contention of mine as to why he can't be the greatest Blazer. He is the greatest scorer, but that still leaves a lot of the game on the table. Buck have been blown out as many times as the Baby Blazers.
Wow, he is really not trying on defense at all. He's shooting 40%, 30% from 3. However, these numbers are offset somewhat by his shooting 90% from the line and getting there 9 times a game. He has plenty of time to change the narrative, but I'm starting to think of him as Enes Kanter. Great efficiency, but always ends with a negative +/-.
I think Dame is learning very quickly that it's a cold, hard, snarky world out there away from the cozy, adoring (and accepting) confines of Portlandia. What Blazer fans always knew the hard truth of, the rest of the league is starting to really pay attention to. It will be interesting to see how he responds over time now that the microscope is set to a much higher magnification.......
Stotts had dame and cj and with guys like aminu etc had a pretty good defensive rating. I think Griff will figure it out but to not have Dame and Giannis doing two man stuff all night is silly.
I believe a lot of us felt that Damian will realize that the grass isn't necessarily greener in his neighbors yard. Not saying the Bucks can't turn things over and still win the title, but his lack of defense is a HUGE detriment to whatever team he is on. It's why the whole "Heat Culture" shit never made sense to me, his lack of effort on defense doesn't translate imho.
Bucks front office: "Hey bro, we got dame so we can have him and Giannis do some pick and roll, it's gonna be lethal" Bucks head coach: "so stagger them?" Bucks front office: "No, I sa..." Bucks head coach: "and play dame off the ball and have the offense run through giannis." Bucks front office: "no... Not at..." Bucks head coach: "and piss off his old coach he's had for years enough to quit the team a week before the season" Bucks FO: Bucks head coach: Bucks FO: Bucks head coach: "consider it done."
Also Dame used his offensive burden as a crutch for years. He couldn’t put out the kind of effort on defense to be a really good defender because he had to carry us on offense. Well…. That shouldn’t be the case now.
career BPM (A box score estimate of the points per 100 possessions a player contributed above a league-average player, translated to an average team.) + winshares/48: Dame--> 4.9 + .177 Jrue Holiday--> 1.6 + .102 Khris Middleton--> 0.7 + .117 Devin Booker--> 0.9 + .097 SGA--> 3.2 + .137 Jamal Murray--> 0.5 + .100 Jaylen Brown--> 0.3 + .102 Jayson Tatum--> 3.3 + .148 Jimmy Butler--> 5.0 + .203 CJ--> 1.3 + .101 Brandon Ingram--> -0.1 + .078 Curry--> 6.6 + .203 Klay--> .06 + .105 De'Aaron Fox--> 0.6 + .088 Ja Morant--> 2.8 + .119 Trae Young--> 3.0 + .132 Westbrook--> 4.0 + .139 Chris Paul--> 7.1 + .235 Paul George--> 4.0 + .147 **************************************** I tried to do apples/apples by comparing back-court players, mostly; not guys who spend a lot of time in the paint IMO, there's a lot of 'bile-induced-revisionist-history' going on in this forum about Dame right now. Kind of a jihad of minimizing the things he did well while exaggerating his flaws. No, he did not "always ends with a negative +/-". If he did his BPM and winshare/48 numbers would NOT be superior, in many cases far superior, to most of those players on that list. Dame was not a 2-way player; we all know that. But looking at this list, almost every one of those players played with talent far better than what Dame played with. Jrue played with AD and Giannis; Middleton played with Giannis and Jrue; Tatum & Brown played with each other and a DPOY; Chris Paul played with AD, Harden, Westbrook, Booker. Curry played with Draymond, Klay, and Durant. Dame didn't have that luxury. And looking at that list I don't think any of those players really put a team as lacking in talent on their shoulders and carried it into the playoffs...like Dame did, several times. And almost none of those players had the dual burdens of being the #1 scoring option and the #1 playmaker and facilitator. And carrying those burdens while being one of the most double-teamed and trapped players in the league, with again, no other elite talent to draw the focus of opposing defenses. Another burden Dame had was spending a decade under one of the most incompetent GM's in the league I get that a lot of people want to go the 'good-riddance' route when it comes to Dame. But a lot of the things being said right now are pure bullshit
Things aren't right in Milwaukee with the new coach. The guy wanted to play a scramble type defense with Brook Lopez as center. That has already been abandoned. Lopez has returned to playing in drop coverage.
