Known for his elite offensive game, Damian Lillard feels his defense has improved over the years.
MILWAUKEE — None of the Milwaukee Bucks sound eager to move on emotionally from Jrue Holiday, the highly respected two-way guard who was so vital to their success in his three seasons with them.
But they are hoping they can put Holiday behind them defensively without too much dropoff in the switch to new point guard Damian Lillard, for whom Holiday was shipped to Portland (before getting re-routed to Boston).
Lillard’s resume trumps Holiday’s overall as a player on the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team with seven All-Star selections to Holiday’s two. But Holiday is renowned as a defender, earning All-Defensive honors five teams to Lillard’s zero. It was Holiday’s defense, too, that was his biggest contribution to Milwaukee’s championship run in 2021.
Missing Holiday as a teammate and friend was an open wound as training camp opened this week, just days after the unexpected trade. For center Brook Lopez it probably hit harder than for most. He and Holiday both grew up in North Hollywood, Calif., and had played against each other in high school. Holiday had been in Lopez’s wedding this summer.
So while Lopez has one actual brother across the Milwaukee locker room again this season in his twin, Robin, there’s another working elsewhere now as committed to beating the Bucks as he once had been to winning with them.
“Shoot, I love Jrue so much,” Brook Lopez said. “It’s going to be pretty annoying to see him playing against us in Boston, switching 1 through 5 and guarding all of us, making our lives living hell.”
That’s where Holiday’s departure likely will be felt most. He might be underrated as an offensive threat — based on career points per field-goal attempt, Holiday theoretically would be averaging 21.6 points to Lillard’s 25.2 if he took Lillard’s 18.4 shots nightly. But defensively, the former Bucks guard is stronger, more versatile and generally viewed as more committed on that end than the new Bucks guard.
I understand how to play team defense. … I’m not going to come in here and be Jrue Holiday. In my personal opinion, I think he’s the best defender on the perimeter. … The people I play against will tell you, I ain’t a pushover, you know what I’m saying?”
— Bucks guard Damian Lillard
It’s hard to quantify if Holiday gets those 3.6 ppg back by thwarting opponents. But consider: In his three Milwaukee seasons, the team ranked ninth, 14th and fourth, respectively, in defensive efficiency (points per 100 possessions). Portland ranked 29th, 29th and 28th. Last season, Holiday individually ranked 10th (107.9) among guards who played at least 50 games. Lillard? By the same criteria, only 13 NBA guards fared worse than his 117.4.
Three of those guys also played for Portland, though, suggesting the Blazers’ defense overall might have been less than the sum of its parts. That’s one source of optimism, that Milwaukee’s focus on defense with dedicated practitioners such as Lopez and Giannis Antetokounmpo will lift Lillard on that end.
Teams will have to 'pick their poison' with the star duo of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard in Milwaukee.
“We don’t need him to [do] anything more or less than what he’s done the last 11 years,” coach Adrian Griffin said Tuesday. “The goal is always the same and that’s to outscore the opponent. With Dame, your chances kind of increase.”
But Griffin, an advocate of defense as a player and as an assistant coach, did say he wants the Bucks to play more physically this season, adding to Lillard’s task.
But the 33-year-old guard, asked directly about the defensive gaps in his game compared to Holiday’s, did not blink.
“When you come into the NBA, especially as a young player who plays a lot, I think where you struggle the most is on the defensive end of the floor,” Lillard said. “I don’t think it’s always a lack of desire, I think it’s not knowing terminology. Sometimes you’re running around like a chicken with your head cut off. You don’t know what to expect. You don’t know tendencies. You don’t know personnel.
Damian Lillard discusses his transition from Portland to Milwaukee and teaming up Giannis Antetokounmpo.
“I think if you really look into my progression defensively, you’ll see that I’ve gotten better year after year after year after year. And I think the main reason for that is understanding what’s going on. I know players around the league. I understand calls.
“I understand where to be on the floor. I understand how to rotate. I understand how to play team defense. But I’m a competitor. … I’m not going to come in here and be Jrue Holiday. In my personal opinion, I think he’s the best defender on the perimeter. But it’s not going to be what people just throw out there loosely.”
Lillard also noted that most of his efforts with Portland came on offense. With Antetokounmpo and Middleton as proven scorers, he might have more energy left to defend.
Said Lillard: “The people I play against will tell you, I ain’t a pushover, you know what I’m saying?”
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Steve Aschburner has written about the NBA since 1980. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on Twitter.
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