Damian Lillard In Milwaukee Not A Big Concern For The Boston Celtics

Several factors contributed to the Celtics’ failure to sign Damian Lillard, including the fact that they were aware of his lack of interest in moving to Boston, as well as the fact that he is 33 years old, has a history of injuries, will make his four-year, $215 million contract prohibitive, and the Celtics have a poor track record with offensive point guards who don’t play much defense.

The Milwaukee Bucks are now responsible for those issues and are hoping to see some championship-caliber play from Lillard before his inevitable decline.

Even with Lillard being a part of the Bucks club, the Celtics are not overly frightened of them.

Lillard has consistently performed well offensively in the playoffs, averaging 25.7 points and 6.2 assists, but he is the kind of player who may be pressured into being a volume shooter by a clever defense there.

His postseason field goal attempts increase from 19.9 to 20.8 but his career field goal percentage decreases from 43.9% to 41.2%.

In the postseason, he also becomes very simple to isolate defensively, which is one of the main reasons why Lillard’s Blazers only won four playoff series overall in 11 seasons and only made it to the conference finals once, where they were swept by the Warriors in 2019.

Lillard has been held to 22.4 points by the Celtics, which is tied for his second-worst performance versus any NBA team.

He also matches for second-worst in his career with a field goal percentage versus Boston of just 39.3%.

Marcus Smart would still be on the team, making it much easier to contain Lillard. However, Smart has since moved to Memphis, so the Celtics would have to rely on Derrick White and/or Malcolm Brogdon (maybe) to do so.

Does the Boston Celtics’ future include Jrue Holiday?
The Celtics have another choice, one that is already gaining attention in the NBA. Jrue Holiday has to be sent to the Bucks as part of the agreement to sign Lillard, and Portland is hoping to trade Holiday for additional young players and draft selections.

The Clippers taking on Malcolm Brogdon, who was the primary sticking point of the trade that ultimately sent Kristaps Porzingis to Boston, would allow the Celtics to become a factor in Holiday conversations.

In their search for a top-tier improvement, the Celtics now require the Clippers once more. The only issue is that doing so would cost Boston the remaining components of the team.

The Celtics would have to transfer Brogdon to Los Angeles in order to be able to redirect some of the Clippers’ youthful talent—players like Terance Mann, Brandon Boston, and/or Kobe Brown—to Portland.

Additionally, they would have to give the Blazers some selection picks. However, in order for the deal to happen, Boston would also need to sign Al Horford, most likely to the Clippers. That would be a difficult concept to grasp.

Horford is the squad’s soul if Smart was its heart, and trading one after the other would cause serious harm to the team.

Brad Stevens, the team president, has demonstrated that he is not hesitant to make that decision and to play the basketball play that he believes is proper, worrying about the chemistry difficulties later.

As a coach, he dealt with it frequently, like as when Danny Ainge traded Isaiah Thomas for Kyrie Irving, who caused a rift in the locker room, or when he let veterans like Al Horford and Gordon Hayward to leave on free agency.

The Celtics came into the offseason with Brogdon, Horford and Smart on board, and if they come out of the offseason with Holiday and Porzingis in their place, Stevens will have to look at that as a win.

It would be a serious talent upgrade, and if it comes with the added bonus of keeping Holiday from going to Miami or Philadelphia, all the better.

Either way, the Eastern Conference has undergone something of a shakeup here. But whether with Brogdon and Horford, or with Holiday, the addition of Lillard should not scare Boston too much.