the guys that switch onto little Lillard will still get chippies. That will still be there. The major difference is weakside help will be more active in Milwaukee. Not 3 Blazers standing nearby watching Lillard get scrunched.
Last year, Jimmy Butler ate Jrue Holiday in the playoffs. Sure, Giannis was injured for a portion of that, but still - can you imagine what Butler would do to Dame vs. Jrue? What do the Bucks do if Tatum hunts Dame in a switch? I think the Bucks are going to be unstoppable on offense, but they are going to have real issues with perimeter / switching defense which they did not have too much issues with in recent years. I imagine Bucks fans will be shocked how good their offense is, but they will also have to learn what it means to live with a minus perimeter defender, especially in the playoffs when teams will really hone into it.
Dame had a BPM of +7.1 points/100 possessions last season, even with his bad defense and playing on a bad team. Jrue was +3.1 points with his good defense and playing on a very good team with the best record in the NBA. Grayson Allen and Joe Ingles had D-Ratings 3 point worse than their team; Connaughton was 2 points worse. Dame was 2 points worse than his team pretty clearly the Bucks have judged that Dame's offensive production will more than offset his defensive flaws. Teams can hide one weak defender in the starting unit, especially when they have good defenders, like the Bucks do. The Warriors have been doing it for years. What they can't hide is two or three bad defenders, which is what the Blazers have had to do
playoffs and winning big is why Milwaukee traded Holiday for Lillard. Jrue regular season 3pt percentage dips in the playoffs. He was doinking early and often last postseason. 28% on 8 attempts per game. Milwaukee shoots a ton of triples. New Coach, maybe some changes? One of the biggest differences between Lillard and Holidays games are aggressive takes and putting pressure on the defense. Dame averaged 9.5 FT's per night. Holiday averaged 2.5 FT. getting folks in foul trouble is an extra dynamic the Bucks can use. Hack-A-Giannis is less effective if Lillard is drawing fouls too.
It wasn't only hiding bad defenders last season. There was also subtle competition for leak outs hidden in the already bad defense. Scatter plays messed up Portland bad. Loose ball situations had multiple Blazers feasting for easy buckets. Sometimes the ball wasn't secured, and oopsy opponent easy baskets happened. here's an example of everyone run offense without the basketball @5:35 of these highlights. Ant & Grant both decided to do a flyby leak out on perimeter shooter. Leaving 3 blazers to defend everything else. The ball gets tipped around and the Blazers are at serious disadvantage. The Bucks eventually get the ball back with 0 defenders near the hoop. Result: wide open Holiday 1 footer
