Milwaukee Bucks star Damian Lillard credits Doc Rivers for implementing plays from his Portland Trail Blazers days, aiding his adjustment to the team.
Since joining the Bucks, Lillard has undergone a transition period, seeking to find his rhythm within the team’s system.
Rivers’ strategic adjustments, including integrating plays familiar to Lillard from his time with the Trail Blazers, have facilitated the star guard’s adaptation process.
Lillard acknowledges the familiarity of certain offensive sets, recognizing their effectiveness against opponents in the past.
The incorporation of these plays has allowed Lillard to establish his comfort zone within the Bucks’ offense.
“It’s helped a lot,” Lillard said after dropping 41 points in win over the Los Angeles Clippers. “I think for a significant part of the year it was just trying to find my way. Just trying to find my spaces where I would have opportunity.
“I just think because I played against Doc so many times in the West and he had to scout against me, so when he came in he was just like, ‘You guys don’t run this? You guys don’t run that?’ Like, ‘This is stuff we hated to go hard against you. And he just started to slowly put some of those actions in.
“I think it’s helped me kind of just settle in even more, especially playing with some of the guys on this team that can shoot the ball and having a guy like Giannis in the dunker behind the defense sometimes, it’s like the stuff that I’ve always run and the situation I’ve always been in should be even harder to deal with now with the players that I’m playing with.”
