Lillard heart is broken since his wife has filed for divorce, which is unbelievable…

 

Even if he is going through “the hardest transition of my life,” Damian Lillard still has his greatest on-court obstacle to overcome.

Whether he deserves it or not, the 33-year-old veteran will be held accountable for how the Milwaukee Bucks perform this season. That is what happens when an eight-time All-Star is traded for a key player on a recent championship club by a front administration. For them, he represents transformation.

Right now, everything suggests that the Bucks are worse than they were the previous year. They had the best record in the NBA at this point last season, three games ahead of the Boston Celtics and the Denver Nuggets, who went on to win the championship. They were behind three Western Conference teams and 10 games behind the Celtics as of Wednesday the 5th. Then, on Wednesday night, they suffered a 122-119 setback in Boston, dropping them 11 games behind the Celtics. For the game without Giannis Antetokounmpo, Lillard scored 32 points.

In the big picture, the difference between second place in the East is not that great, but it is close enough that a single change made by a club may have made all the difference. A large portion of that differential does indicate that Lillard is probably to blame.

The Bucks’ offensive rating increased from 113.6 (17th) at this point last season to 118.8 (4th, entering Wednesday) as a result of improved shooting and ball handling. We can all agree that Lillard has been a major contributor to it.

But the Bucks’ defensive rating has dropped from 109.8 (third) to 115.4 (16th), indicating that they are also inferior at defensive rebounding and 3-point defense. In the last ten months, they have replaced a number of role players, most notably Grayson Allen for Malik Beasley, and switched coaches three times, going from Mike Budenholzer to Adrian Griffin, Joe Prunty, and now Doc Rivers. However, no one can deny that Lillard has had a hand in this as well.