Damian Lillard says their patience is being tested early in the season

The Bucks' early-season struggles are testing Damian Lillard’s patience.

Jonas Panerio | Nov 2, 2023

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Milwaukee Bucks

Nobody thought transitioning into the Damian Lillard era would be a seamless exercise. At the same time, very few also saw the Bucks losing two of their first four games by nearly 20 points.

At this point, Lillard is doing his best to stay patient and embrace the process. He admitted, though, that it has not been easy, especially after the Bucks’ stinker against the Raptors, wherein they lost 130-111.

“The hard part is just staying patient,” Lillard said. "I think we've all been around long enough to understand it's a process, and it's going to take time, but I don't think that makes it any easier. When it's happening, you're kinda like, man, I know I said it's a process, and I know it's going to take time, but we're competitors, and we've done this at a high level, so we expect to get the kind of results that we put into it.”

Final. pic.twitter.com/xgislkIz4R
— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) November 2, 2023

Consistent inconsistency

Through four games, the Bucks’ rollercoaster ride of inconsistency continued. As impressive as they have looked in wins against Philadelphia and Miami, the team has also looked out of sorts against Atlanta and Toronto.

“It's going to look ugly sometimes, and other times it's going to look like the potential that it's supposed to look like. We had solid, solid showing opening night, and then we laid an egg kind of against Atlanta. Then we bounced back and tonight was the same thing. So I think you know you're in that type of process when you have that type of inconsistency,” Lillard continued.

Have to execute in real-time

Lillard explained that part of the learning process includes executing plays in real time. While it may be easy to discuss it in the locker room or in huddles, it’s a different story when an opponent also knows what you’re going to run and will try their best to blow the action up.

“Obviously, it's frustrating. We don't want to have it but we're still trying to learn each other, we're still trying to learn a new staff and it's one thing to understand it in walk-throughs and in practice but to go out there when another team is team is trying to disrupt it and to be able to make reads and understand within that is a different challenge.”