Right away, Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo make for the second-best pick-and-roll duo in the NBA , and if chemistry exists between the two at all, it could be one of the best we’ve ever seen. The sport is no longer hospitable to much post-up action, so to establish a true inside-out offense in 2023, you’ve got to have an elite slasher like Giannis and an elite deep gunner like Dame and, well, the Bucks now have exactly those two guys.
Lillard will have a sort of emotional homecoming with new Bucks assistant Terry Stotts, who was his head coach with the Portland Trail Blazers for nearly a decade. Stotts, as such, figures to be the Bucks’ offensive coordinator, and his comfort with scheming for Lillard will add to what’s already a job that even a novice could get lauded for. It won’t take a whole lot of creativity to get these pieces working together, but Stotts will bring it anyway.
It should be noted, too, that Lopez has had it good with Giannis and Jrue destroying everything on the front lines; he has gotten to inhabit a small piece of land, picking off rare stragglers.