Damian Lillard of the Bucks talks about his “tough” life outside of Portland.
The star of the Milwaukee Bucks, Damian Lillard, shares his thoughts on life beyond Portland. Following the break, the Milwaukee Bucks won three straight games, including one on the road against the Minnesota Timberwolves, suggesting that they may have found some of their lost swagger again.
The team’s season-long quest for self-awareness is still underway, though, as Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo try to find their mutually beneficial rhythm.
Lillard opened up about leaving Portland, the city that was his home for 11 years, to join the Bucks in a recent interview with Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated.
Even though he has only been at his “new” residence for a short spell, the eight-time All-Star told the league source that adjusting to life off the court has been just as challenging as his time on it:
“It’s hard being apart from my kids. My life was set in Portland. My brother was the other way down the street from my mother. Down the street was my sister. My children attend school. That was the ideal setting for my entire existence. It was an ideal circumstance.
So it’s a lot to leave that alone. And that’s what it is when you add the basketball aspect to it.” How is your solo flight experience in Milwaukee going? Seemingly not very glamorous.
“After practice, head home to play video games and watch boxing. Man, I’m praying that something fresh will appear on YouTube after typing in [boxing website] Fight Hype 100 times. I really don’t have a whole life.
However, that’s the price you pay for becoming a big boy. You must be willing to do that and work through it.” As a star duo, Lillard and Giannis haven’t even approached reaching their full potential.55.2 PPG overall this season
Lillard informed Mannix that he and Antetokounmpo have a “good” relationship on a personal level and that he anticipates development being made on the court in their relationship. He compared the state of affairs to that of Nikola Jokić and Jamal Murray coming to terms with one another over a number of years while playing for the Denver Nuggets.
Naturally, Bucks supporters want results now, not to wait for the team to improve for another six or seven years. In light of this, the team’s three post-holiday games have given rise to hope. During the course of those 75 minutes that Lillard and Antetokounmpo have played together, Milwaukee has outscored opponents by an astounding 32.8 points per 100 possessions.
During the same time period, the team’s defensive rating has been 89.9, which is especially encouraging considering Lillard’s past defensive shortcomings. With a defensive rating of 117.4, he finished in the bottom 30 of all players in the league (2022–2023) among those who made at least 41 appearances.
On that end of the court, the Bucks as a unit still have work to do. As of this writing, the team’s defensive rating of 115.1 places it merely 17th in the association.
1 Comment
Wow, fantastic blog format! How long have you been blogging for?
you make running a blog glance easy. The full glance of your site is
excellent, as neatly as the content material! You can see similar: dobry sklep and here sklep online