Damian Lillard hasn’t exactly been blowing everyone away with his up-and-down start with the Milwaukee Bucks. The seven-time All-Star has shown flashes of brilliance in his first few games for his new team — including a 39-point outburst in his debut — but at the same time, there’s no denying that Dame hasn’t fully adjusted to life in Milwaukee just yet.
Damian Lillard Speaks Out on Milwaukee Bucks Learning Curve
For his part, however, Lillard is adamant that he’s not the only one making some major adjustments on the Bucks. His new teammates are also doing everything they can to acclimatize themselves with a new superstar point guard on the squad. Let’s also not forget that the Bucks have a new head coach sitting at the helm.
“It is new for everybody,” Lillard said, via Dan Devine of Yahoo Sports. “It’s a new coaching staff. It’s not like I’m just the only guy that’s new to this — it’s a new staff, and a lot of things that they would like to see us do is not natural for a lot of guys, just as far as the cutting, the spacing, things like that. So it’s going to take time.”
It would be totally unfair to pin all the blame on Lillard in terms of the growing pains the Bucks have and will continue to experience moving forward. Milwaukee may have the same core of players, but beyond that, it’s pretty much a revamped squad.
Nowhere to Go But Up
There is also no doubt in Lillard’s mind that this is all part of the process. Following their 129-125 victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Monday, the Bucks are now 4-2 to start the season, which isn’t bad at all considering how much they’ve struggled early on.
“I think right now, because of the ability that we have, we’re able to make something out of these situations,” Lillard said. “And the effort is there, trying to do what’s being asked of us. But it’s not going to happen off the rip.
“It’s a lot of things out there that’s kind of … you know … mucky,” he added. “And it gets ugly at times, because it’s just not natural for us as a unit yet. But I think it’ll just get better.”
At this point, there’s nowhere to go but up for the Dame and the Bucks.
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