Hoops Tonight - Reaction to Damian Lillard traded to Bucks, NBA title favorites with Giannis?

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Damian Lillard finally gets traded, and not to any of the destinations that had been hinted. He's going to the Milwaukee Bucks. The Bucks are getting Damian Lillard, the Blazers are getting Drew Holliday and DeAndre Ayton and some draft compensation, and the Sons are getting use of Nurkic and Grayson Allen and a couple of other role players from the

Blazers as well. All hell is breaking loose, and we have a new championship favorite going into the season one that's probably gonna disrupt my power rankings quite a bit, obviously for all the teams involved, which we'll get to later on this week, But today I just want to focus on this trade and all of the fallout for it. I have six different pieces of fallout from this. One Portland not trading Dame to Miami. What does that mean? Two Damian Lillard and Giannis together with the Bucks, what

does that look like? Three the Blazers getting a young big man for their guard? Core, what does that mean for? Where will Drew Holliday end up? Five? Do the Suns have enough athleticism and talent in their front court? And? Six what do the Miami Heat do now? So all sorts of fallout from this incredibly interesting trade, We're gonna break it all down. You guys know the Joe before we get started. Subscribe to our YouTube channel, follow me

on Twitter at Underscore Jason lt. Don't forget about our podcast feed wherever you get your podcast under Hoops tonight, and continue to drop mailback questions in the YouTube comment so I can continue to hit those at the end of the shows. All right, let's talk some basketball. So let's start with the Portland trading Dame to Miami. So again, the conundrum here, and I saw both sides of it, was like Portland wants to do what's best for the franchise.

But then there's the Damian Lillard element. He's been here for over a decade, He's done everything for this franchise. Like you want to take care of him, you don't want to vindictively send him somewhere else, right, So, like those two purposes were kind of competing against each other. And the problem was is there wasn't a trade out there, at least that had been pitched that successfully addressed both concerns, a trade that was what was best for Portland and

what was best for Dame. It was a tough thing to find out there, and I think that was the position of negotiating leverage that pat Riley was coming from. I think that's why he was being stingy with the

assets he was offering in the deal. I think he just didn't realize that something like this would materialize, and that's what this ended up being This ended up being the magical trade that took care of both because not only does Portland get an asset back that actually makes a lot more sense for them in the big picture in DeAndre Ayton and another asset and Drew Holliday that they can flip for draft compensation. So Portland got what

they wanted out of the deal. But Damian Lillard is now going to a basketball situation that is not only great, I'd argue it's a better basketball situation than Miami. Now. It's not the market that Miami is, and I'm sure that there was some elements to that that Dame was looking forward to, But you cannot look at this situation and think that Portland vindictively sent Dame somewhere that he didn't want to go. Dame is gonna love being in Milwaukee.

He's gonna love playing with Giannis. He's now on the championship favorite, and this is his best opportunity to win an NBA championship in his long NBA career. So this magical scenario arose, and then pat Riley gets squeezed. So honestly, like this is probably the best possible outcome to this situation. This was the situation, the outcome that I didn't think was possible, obviously, the outcome that pat Riley didn't think was possible, and patience ended up paying off for the Blazers.

So kudos to them, Kudos to Dame. This is gonna be really exciting now. Next phase of this whole storyline, Damian Lillard and Giannis together with the Bucks. So one of my biggest critiques of the Dame era in Portland is that they never gave him what he needed to compete. Right, So what do I always talk about on the show. Unless you are like absurdly good offensively as a team, which Portland never really was. Unless you were absurdly good offensively,

you need a dominant defensive front court. That's what NBA history has taught us. If you go back in NBA history, this Jokic Gordon front court was probably the worst defensive front court of any team to win the title in

the last several decades. Right, But the backstory there is it's the most unguardable offensive player in the NBA and flanked by four role players that compliment him perfectly, basically putting together the most unguardable offense that we've seen in recent NBA history, Right, So that was why they're the exception that proves the rule. As we go back, it's all defensive front courts, right, It's it's Draymond Green and Andrew Wiggins. It's Giannis and Tennen Kombaum, Brook Lopez, It's

Lebron James and Anthony Davis. It's Kwhi, Leonard Sergebaka and Marcasol. It's Kevin Durant, Raymond Green and Andre Guadala. Like, we can go back and go back and go back, but it's all dominant defensive front courts, right. So from that standpoint, that should be a prerequisite to contending in the modern NBA, especially when you have a small guard that you're a

full crum that you're using as a full crum. Look at Steph with Golden State, right Like everyone looks at Steph as one of the best offensive players of this era, and that's what he is. But the twenty fifteen Warriors

were one of the best defenses in the league. So it was the twenty sixteen to twenty seventeen Warriors, right, Like, you guys get the point, Like this team would have had a defensive foundation built on Draymond Green, one of the best defensive folkrums of this era, and Andre Gudala, one of the best perimeter defenders of this era, one

of the most versatile defenders of this era. Right, Like, at the end of the day, that's what you need to give your ball, like your offensive oriented backcourt their best opportunity to win. And Portland never did that. Not at any point during the Damian Lillard era did they even have an above average defensive front court, let alone a defensive front court that had a chance to contend.

So what I'm really excited about seeing Damian Lillard flanked by the type of defensive front court he needs to be able to contend for championships. Giannis and Tenna Koopa and Brook Lopez are arguably the best defensive front court in the league. We're gonna talk about it later, but that's kind of the pairing of that with the pull up shooting of Dame is actually kind of the ideal basketball situation you'd like to have of the best chance

to beat the Denver Nuggets and the Nicoleek's problem. Right, And we'll get into that in a little bit, But this is what you were hoping for for a Dame situation. If you're building a Damian Lillard team from scratch, this is what you're looking for. You want a big forward that can take care of some of the higher level shot making, right like with Chris Middleton, that would help. Obviously, not that Dame can't do that stuff, but it just is a different type of punch, right. And you want

an excellent screen and role partner. That's the honest. You ideally a screen and pop partner as well, that's Brook Lopez. And you want a dominant defensive front court that can make up for his defensive limitations. It's about crafting easier jobs for limited point of attack personnel, right, Like, when you don't have a good defensive front line, you have to ask your perimeter defenders to do a lot because if they don't contain the ball, it's gonna be lay

up city on the back end. Right, When you have an elite defensive front court, you can be like, hey, Dame, all I need you to do is get over the top of that screen and just force him to drive into me. That's all you need to do. You don't need to block his shot, you don't need to keep him in front of you off the dribble. You need to prevent him from taking easy pull up threes, and prevent him from taking easy pull up jumpers in mid range shots right at mid rang shots and floaters on

his way downhill and pick and roll. If you can do that, we'll take care of the rest. Right, They can craft for Dame an achievable defensive role, and that's the beauty of having a dominant defensive front court next to a limited defensive guard. So game planning for the Bucks now is totally different. Dame is a better half court offensive player than Giannis. That's just a fact at

this point. Here's what you're getting for Damian Lillard, right, You're getting thirty two points, five rebounds, and seven assists per game last year on an outrageous sixty five percent true shooting. He was the second best high volume pick and roll player in the league. Last year, only fifteen players ran at least a thousand pick and rolls. Dame was second on that list behind Luka Doncic at one

point one four points per possession. He was also the third best ISO guy in the league out of the twenty five players in the NBA to run at least two hundred and fifty ISOs Dame finished behind Joel Andmbiden Demarta Rosen at one point one to three points per possession. He shot fifty four percent effective field goal percentage on pull up jump shots. He shot fifty six percent in effective field goal percentage on catch and shoot jump shots. He's still one of the best rim finishing guards in

the league. As a matter of fact, among guards, blows sixty three. He's second to John Moran in restricted area makes per game, and he shoots sixty three percent there, which is off the charts for a small guard. And to top it all off, he's one of the better passers in the league. So to be clear, to put it simply, you are getting one of the very best half court shot creators in the NBA, and now you're adding Jannison tenne Kumpo as a pick and roll partner

with him part of the issue. This is why I pitched potentially a James Harden for Drew Holiday switch in the past. Is as good as Drew Holliday is, and he's an excellent player. We're gona talk about him a little bit. He's not a very high level pick and roll passer. Right, And he's not the type of really really deadly pull up shooter that forces defenses to employ to deploy a really aggressive pick and roll coverages. Right, Like you're gonna live with Drew Holiday take and pull

up threes. You're gonna live with Drew Holiday and pick and roll against drop coverage trying to pick you apart. You cannot do that with Dame. You absolutely have to show high at a very mint at the minimum, you have to show high, probably gonna have to blitz a lot. Now, let's imagine that scenario where Damian Lillard has a tenecumpo ball screen, a good solid ball screen that gets Dame separation.

He's going to take and make pull up threes all day long unless you show high with the screen defender. If you show high with the screen defender, then what happens. It's a pocket pass to Jannis barreling down the floor in a four on three with Brook Lopez in the dunker spot and Chris Middleton on the wing and probably someone like Pat Connoton on the other wing. Right, that's what you're getting. That's the dynamic that you're opening up by giving Giannis and tennecoompbo a re pick and roll

ball handler at a higher level. Not to say that Drew's not a real one, but Dame's just at an entirely different level there right, not to mention all of the things that open up in pick and pop situations that you get from Brook Lopez, who obviously has the ability to pick and pop. Pick and pop opens up

a whole other list of issues for a defense. When you have a high level shot creator like Damian Lillard, he is going to overnight turn them into a much, much, much tougher team to guard in the half court and half court offense in slow down situations has been the one achilles heel for this Milwaukee Bucks team They've consistently defended at the championship level, and containing Giannis in the big picture of a basketball game and his athleticism, what

he brings to the table is such a royal pain in the ass. And now you're adding to that that he can't even be the primary game plan for your half court defense. Everything is gonna have to start with how the hell are we gonna guard Damon pick and roll? This is this? I love this steal. It makes so much sense for Dame, It makes so much sense for Giannis. I love the way that they've continually taken care of Yiannis.

Like again, like guys, we always talk about player movement in the NBA, and oh, what about small market teams and what about Oh, everyone wants to go to the Lakers. Giannis is gonna stay in Milwaukee. You know why, because he got a little antsy. Once they got him Drew Holliday, he won a championship. Then he got a little antsy. This summer they got him Damian Lillard. Now he's the favorite to win a championship. He is now. I guarantee you he has a bigger margin for error with this team. Now.

If four or five years go by and they're having some issues, he's gonna trust them because time and time again they've come through for him and brought him the tools that he needs to compete for championships. This is how it's done. This is small market basketball done right. This is how the Milwaukee Bucks are gonna keep one of the top two players in the league in the long term in Milwaukee, of all places. We will uh do a deeper dive on the Buck when we get

to their season preview next week. I do want to say again, like what I'm excited about is the Denver matchup, because you got to think, if you want to guard Denver and a score on Denver, there's two things you have to be able to do defensively. In the front court, you have to be able to have a guy that can reasonably bang with Nikole Jokic in the post, just reasonably. You don't need him to stop him, but you need to make him at least work a little bit. And

then ideally you have really good back line help. But that's where Nikole Jokic is passing can be a problem. So ideally you want someone in the back line that can be two places at once, a guy that can help at the rim while simultaneously being able to rotate out to shooters and dissuade them from taking shots. Giannis is one of like two or three guys in the league that can do that. So I love the idea of the Brook, Lopez and Yannis or front court, I

should say, dealing with the Nikole Jokicic problem. And then on the other end of the floor, you have to have an offense that can successfully at Denver out while at the same time taking advantage of their lack of rim protection. Damian Lillard unlocks that most important part, the consistent ability to stretch their defense out. And when you combine that with the relentless rim attack of Giannis, they have the ideal type of basketball team construct to knock

off this Denver team. So I love the deal for the Bucks. I think it makes a ton of sense. And now all of a sudden, we have a very very interesting championship favorite this year, the Blazers. Look at this. You just brought in DeAndre Ayton. I don't love DeAndre Ayton obviously, yea. He leaves a lot to be desired in terms of his motor and his commitment defensively. But here's what he is. He's, at the very least when he's engaged, an average defensive fulcrum, certainly better than use

of Nurkics, right. And he's a great screen and roll big with great hands who catches everything and finishes everything around the rim. I cannot think of a better player to bring in properly within this timeline to flank Scoot Henderson. You know, Shaden Sharp and Anthony Simons. You're giving them a defensive folkrum, and you're giving them an excellent pick and roll partner. Think it makes a ton of sense.

And then you also brought in Drew Holliday, who will inevitably get flipped in the next few days for even more asset return. I just did a quick little list of teams that could potentially talk themselves into needing Drew Holliday and making a move Philly, the Knicks, the Rafters, the Sacramento Kings, the Clippers, the Warriors, the Timberwolves, the Pelicans, the MAVs. There are a lot of teams that are

gonna be making calls about Drew Holliday. I mean, it'd be pretty freaking hilarious if the Heat had to make a call, right like, hey, you guys interested in Tyler Harrow now the Suns. So obviously use of Nurkic is a significant downgrade from DeAndre Ayton. But Grayson Allen is a good player. Grayson Allen is one of the very

best spot up players in the league. Last year, out of one hundred and twenty six players to log at least two hundred spot at possessions, Grayson Allen's one point two to six points per possession ranked second on that list, So one of the best spot up players in the league, and he's also a guy who competes defensively in his good athlete na Sir Little is a interesting young wing in the league who's on a long term deal at

a good number, So obviously some value there. And basically, I guess you could talk yourself into saying that they turned Eighton's contract into multiple mid level salaries that are easier to move, so they increase their flexibility. And so I have to think that they're targeting something more in the long run, because my thing is like front court was the biggest weakness of this roster and Eighton's just

better than use of Nurkic. So you I think the Suns today are a worse basketball team than they were yesterday.

And so I wonder in the big picture, if they have a plan to target forwards and they have multiple in mind, and these are the mid level salaries they need to pull that off, Like maybe that's the plan, But I have to think that there's a bigger picture plan to bolster the front court for Phoenix, because I just have a hard time believing that they would downgrade like that at the center position unless they're a way higher on nurgic than I am, which I mean, who

knows how their front office feels about him. Last, but not least, what do the Miami Heat do now? They have to do something? Right? Like, not only was talent a massive issue for you in last year's playoff run, as you overcame that through crazy hot shooting, an excellent coaching performance from Eric Spolstra and Jimmy Butler just becoming superman in the first round series against the Bucks, right, But like talent's an issue, you need talent, So like again,

calling about Drew Holliday'd be hilarious. But do they audible and go after James Harden? I mean, I guarantee you if asset, if you don't want to give up too much in the way of assets, that's a deal that makes sense. Do you go after Zach Lavine? Do you go after Demarta Rosen? I mean, training camp is right around the corner. I would not be surprised if the Heat audibleedon made a more splashy deal within the next few days as well. And whenever that happens, we will

cover it again. We're gonna cover the Bucks in more detail when we get to their season preview, when Drew Holliday gets traded, we'll do a reaction video to that, and when the Heat do something, we'll do a reaction video to that as well. As always, I appreciate you guys. We'll get back to our power rankings tomorrow. Don't forget about mailbag questions and I will see you guys. Then the volume