Inside the ‘nightmare’ potential of the Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard combination for Bucks
TORONTO – In the closing moments of the Milwaukee Bucks' season opener against Philadelphia, Giannis Antetokounmpo brought the ball up the court and literally handed it to Damian Lillard. The point guard then knocked down two free throws to clinch the game. Against Miami, it was Antetokounmpo making free throws to seal a win.
Getting to those moments didn’t always look smooth, but when needed the Bucks’ two best players led them to wins. Lillard set a franchise record with 39 points in his Milwaukee debut against the 76ers. Antetokounmpo had 33 against the Heat. In-between were clunker losses to Atlanta and Toronto.
It might go that way for a while as two of the league’s singular offensive forces lay the foundation of what they hope becomes its most unstoppable combination.
It will take adjustments. Or, importantly, sacrifice.
In the NBA, usage rate estimates the percentage of a team’s possessions a single player uses while on the floor. And over the last five seasons, Antetokounmpo has been at, or near, the top of the league and has led the Bucks the last seven seasons.
Lillard has been a top-20 player in usage and led Portland in that category the last nine years.
The natural question is how the two offensive supernovas sacrifice some of that to achieve the goal of a title. What it means and what it looks like will be different for each. It will take time to figure that out, too. Both say they are committed to the cause – and if they do – look out.
“It's between, I have to say this as respectful as possible, it's between me and him,” Antetokounmpo said. “At the end of the day, we have to have conversations every single day on what we are trying to do and we have to be on the same page.”
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Lillard believes it’s the right time for this change
Before he stepped foot in Milwaukee, Lillard acknowledged Antetokounmpo is a better player than he is. And at the start of camp the 33-year-old, Top 75 player also stated the obvious about the dynamic of playing with Antetokounmpo.
“I think you gotta come into it open minded and understanding that it might take some sacrifice,” he said about having to share the ball. “It usually does if you want to attain anything. I think you gotta come in willing to sacrifice, and I also know that I’m joining his team, where he’s been and he’s done things a certain way. And I’m also here to enhance it, to bring what I bring so it can better, so we give ourselves a chance to win.”
He isn’t just saying it to say it, either.
He admitted that even just a few years ago he might not have been ready for this situation. But now?
“Yeah, it’s more been like emotional and philosophical (understanding),” he told the Journal Sentinel. “I had a lot of experiences, you know what I mean, in life and on the court to where it’s like everything that’s taken place has almost prepared me for this time. To be traded, to be away from family, all of those types of things. It happened at the right time.”
In some of his initial interviews about teaming up with another high-level player, Lillard referenced being drafted onto a Portland team that had an established all-star in LaMarcus Aldridge. But 2013-15 was a long time ago and Antetokounmpo carries a far different kind of weight.
“You gotta defer to Giannis, there’s no question about that,” an Eastern Conference scout said. “It’s just how much and how often, I guess. Look, there’s a formula there. Both of them have unique skill sets. It’s just a matter of developing some chemistry and some hierarchy. I think Dame has lost so much and he’s coming into a winning situation and this is what he wanted. It may not be South Beach, but I don’t know many people who go to Milwaukee and don’t like it. He’s probably in the right mental frame of mind to take this leap.”
The scout paused.
“It’s going to be hell,” he said. “It’s going to be insane to see.”
In the early stages of this process Lillard has been off the ball while Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton and Malik Beasley have handled it. Lillard has been the one screening for Antetokounmpo. Lillard also has directed the offense, manipulating defenders and creating space.
As he watched his teammates go through a preseason shootaround in Oklahoma City, Lillard told the Journal Sentinel how much he likes to think about the game, anticipate movement and outcomes. So in real time he’s cataloging how teams are playing him and Antetokounmpo.
“It might not look like usage,” he said. “It just might look like which one are you gonna do? You gonna clog up the paint? Or are you going to allow me to make 9 threes? I’m not looking at it as much like he’s gonna have the ball or I’m going to have the ball, it’s how can we come together and be able to make it work for both of us. Because if we want to win big then it has to work for both of us to do what we do.”
Lillard studied how other guards played with Antetokounmpo under former coaches Jason Kidd and Mike Budenholzer, to learn the positioning Antetokounmpo liked. But also, how Lillard could not only affect the space around his new teammate without the ball but showcase new elements of his game.
“A person that is just watching the game without knowing what’s going on, they don’t see the value in that, but that’s a way for us to complement each other,” he told the Journal Sentinel.
“I was just looking for ways that I could evolve as well. I know that I’ve been the player that I’ve been for 11 years, but we can all evolve and improve in more ways than we probably think until we start looking for those things.”
He nodded to himself.
“I know that I’m capable of a lot of stuff that I probably haven’t shown,” Lillard said. “There’s things that I haven’t done because it hasn’t been required of me to do that I work on the summer. Movement shooting. Cutting. Playing in the pocket. Making passes that I haven’t had to do a lot of. But I’m equipped to do those things. So I’m looking at where do I, how can I be an even better fit. That’s what I was looking at.”
And for one former coach at least, if that’s what Lillard said he’s going to do – it’s what he’ll do.
“He takes a lot of pride in making guys better, he really does,” former Trail Blazers assistant John McCullough said. “I think it’ll take some time – probably not much time – to feel out Giannis’ game and where Khris (Middleton) fits and where he’s getting his shots. He’ll find out where everybody can flourish and he’ll find them. I’m not sure he’s out to get his, but he just gets his in the rhythm of everybody else.”
Beasley agreed. He said he felt like when defending Lillard for years out in the Western Conference, Lillard’s big nights came in the flow of the game and not because he was hunting shots.
“That is the great character of Dame,” said McCullough, now the director of player development for the University of Tulsa women’s basketball team. “He wants to win. If it takes dropping 40, he’s going to do it. If it takes helping somebody else do it, that’s what is going to happen that night. I mean, he can get points if he wants to get points, but he wants to win games. He wants to win a championship.”
How will Giannis adjust for Lillard?
Over the last six seasons, Antetokounmpo has been one of the most dominant offensive players in the game and much of that stems from the fact the play often begins, and ends, with him. Be it bringing the ball up the court off a defensive rebound or as the point guard in the half court, Antetokounmpo has been one of the highest usage players in the league since 2017-18. Last year, he was No. 1 with 37.3% of all Bucks plays running through him.
While Lillard is ready to figure out his place around that, Antetokounmpo has insisted from the beginning he wants his new point guard to feel like the Bucks are his team.
“I feel like this is the first time in my career that I really don't – I don't want to say I don't care because I care a lot – I don't mind with my usage being 25 (percent),” Antetokounmpo said. “I want him to be the primary point guard. He's the point guard of this team. He's the guy that's going to make a lot of decisions with the ball in his hands in early offense, in late offense, early clock, late clock, early offense, late in the game. He's going to make a lot of decisions for this team and I trust him.”
Antetokounmpo went on to say if he had to set 50 screens a game for Lillard, he would. While that number is an exaggeration for any particular game, he wanted to emphasize the point that he is ready to do what it takes for the team to reach its end goal.
It’s the point opponents are curious if Antetokounmpo will commit to night in and night out.
“It’s all fun and games now, but now at some point Giannis is going to want to handle it, he’s going to run his own pick-and-roll,” an opposing Eastern Conference executive said. “That’s going to be the balancing act when it gets real. Is he going to accept not having the ball and not running pick-and-rolls and just being the screener and roller in those situations? Which I think he will, because he says he wants to win and says he wants to be a championship team again, and I think to do that, that’s what he has (to do).”
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The Eastern Conference scout noted Antetokounmpo doesn’t have to screen that much in a game, adding “Giannis as a screener and roller? Oh my goodness. If he’s willing to buy in. You can’t switch. What are you going to do? Trap Dame? I mean, this is a nightmare, seriously, if Giannis buys in to being a screener.”
It's a nightmare some already have lived.
One opposing coach noted the Bucks’ championship run in 2021 when the two-man game of Antetokounmpo and Middleton became near indefensible as the 7-footer committed to giving his longtime running mate committed screens.
“He got to a place that was just amazing,” the coach said of Antetokounmpo. “He knew he wanted Khris to have the ball in his hands and he was going to screen for Khris. That’s how badly he wanted to win.
“And he was willing to do it and he figured out how (expletive) good it was. And he did it that year. He did it in that playoff run. He really kind of grew along that year but he really grew as that playoff run unfolded. In the end, that’s really what it came down to.
“It's going to be interesting really just to see what kind of sacrifices get made because that’s what it’s going to be about. Because they could have a nice honeymoon this year and if that’s the case it could go the right way.”
What has to be scary for the rest of the league is that Antetokounmpo is just as aware of that.
“I think we're gonna do, as a team, what's necessary for us to win,” he said. “I've been in the position before that down the stretch, Khris had the ball more, we won the championship. Now we all benefited from it. It changed our life. It changed everybody's life, the coaching staff, training staff, everybody's life. It changed the City of Milwaukee. So, we have an opportunity.
“I'm saying this publicly, I said this with him, Dame is here to be Dame and we're going to let Dame be Dame.”
Giannis and Lillard in the pick-and-roll can be 'unguardable'
Sometimes what is obvious, is obvious.
“Me and him in the pick-and-roll whether I’m setting it or he’s setting it, that’ll be a tough cover,” Lillard said flatly.
And their potential in that action has opponents shaking their heads already.
“It’ll take a little bit for those guys to get that synergy but Dame Lillard’s been – after Steph Curry in the last decade – one of those guys who, alright, you gotta be up at the level,” a Western Conference scout said. “Now you’re in that and you got Giannis in short-roll pocket situations to where now you’re going to be completely in rotation or you got this dude who’s obviously a freak of nature going down the paint against a low man.
“That thing – I don’t think it’s going to be automatic right now – but like, when that is cooking and they figure out the spacing and all of those intricacies, it should be unguardable.”
The Eastern Conference executive said, “It’s probably going to be the most lethal (combination) because you have to pick your poison. Dame, his pick and roll numbers are off the charts with average and above-average players. Jusuf (Nurkić), (Drew) Eubanks and some of those guys. But with Giannis you’ve got to pick your poison. They’ll be off the chart.”
They’re not alone.
Mark Daigneault, Oklahoma City head coach: "Traditionally teams play really aggressively with the pick and roll screener with Lillard, and if you do that with Giannis the problem is now he’s on a fast break basically when the ball comes out. So there’s dilemmas that they have the opportunity to present. They’re going to be really good if they can figure out how to leverage them."
Quin Snyder, Atlanta head coach: "Dame’s like instant spacing because of his range off the ball and then also when he has the ball he changes your pickup points where he just extends the court. With those two guys in combination presents additional challenges because you have vertical spacing with Giannis and his ability to attack the rim, play above the square, and then Dame’s ability to darn well shoot it from half court. Obviously they’re aware of that. That’s why they feature those guys in a lot of combinations together and it’s hard to guard.
Through 65 regular-season minutes together in their first three games there have been the predictable hiccups. There also have been the expected “oh no” moments for defenders. It’ll be a daily work in progress for Lillard and Antetokounmpo to answer the questions about how their partnership will evolve, but no one believes they’ll go unanswered for long.
“In this specific topic, taking a step back and let Dame be Dame because we know that we're going to figure out ways to be effective,” Antetokounmpo said. “We're going to figure out ways to help this team, but we have to – we don't have to win – but I want to win so bad and we have a chance to win.”
It’s a chance Lillard has waited for, too.
“I think it’s going to fire him up,” McCullough said of Lillard. “He’s got to make this happen. He knows that. And I think he embraces that. I really do. Whatever Dame needs to do to make it happen – and it’s still tough to do, win a championship. It’s going to be exciting to see, how everything unfolds.”
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Sacrifice can make Giannis, Damian Lillard an unstoppable combination
