Why Damian Lillard, Bucks face a bigger challenge than the Celtics

Damian Lillard, in the midst of “the hardest transition of my life,” still faces his biggest on-court challenge yet.

The 33-year-old veteran will be held responsible for the outcome of this Milwaukee Bucks season, for better or worse, whether or not he deserves it. That is what happens when a front office trades a core member of a recent championship roster for an eight-time All-Star. He is the face of change for them.

Everything, as of now, points to the Bucks being worse than last season. At this time last year, they owned the NBA’s best record, three games better than both the Boston Celtics and eventual champion Denver Nuggets. They are entered Wednesday fifth, 10 games worse than the Celtics and trailing a trio of Western Conference contenders.

Then they moved 11 games back from the Celtics with a 122-119 loss in Boston. Lillard scored 32 points with Giannis Antetokounmpo out.

Second place in the East is not so wide a gap in the grand scheme, but it is slim enough that one tweak to a team could have meant all the difference, and much of that margin does point to Lillard as a likely culprit.

The Bucks are shooting and taking care of the ball better, as their offensive rating has risen from 113.6 (17th) at this point last season to 118.8 (4th, entering Wednesday). We can agree that Lillard has played a significant role in that.

But the Bucks are also worse at 3-point defense and defensive rebounding, as their defensive rating has slid from 109.8 (3rd) to 115.4 (16th). They have changed coaches three times in the past 10 months — from Mike Budenholzer to Adrian Griffin, Joe Prunty and now Doc Rivers — and replaced several role players (notably Grayson Allen for Malik Beasley), but no one should argue against Lillard playing a role in this, too.

And you rarely hear a title team talking like them.

“I feel like for me, this has been the hardest season that I’ve played — not only physically, because I had the procedure done on my left knee in the end of June,” Antetokounmpo told The Athletic’s Sam Amick. “And I had to get back to myself. … But emotionally, and mentally, it’s been draining. I’m not going to lie to you. It’s been extremely tough, from Coach Bud being let go to Coach Griff coming in, being let go, then Coach Joe for three games, Coach Doc coming in, and then you have Dame. It’s been tough.”

“It’s been harder than I thought,” Rivers said of the job three weeks into his tenure.

It is even more personal for Lillard, who opened up about a divorce that was filed three days after his trade to Milwaukee, telling Yahoo Sports’ Vincent Goodwill, “It’s probably been the hardest transition in my life.“

As Antetokounmpo told Amick, “Hopefully, step by step, I get where I want to go and I’m able to help the team get where we want to go.” The same should apply to Rivers and Lillard. There is still time left in…