Damian Lillard has been around for quite a bit now. He is currently in his first season with the Milwaukee Bucks, but the former Rookie of the Year is now a 12-year veteran.
During the past decade or so, Dame has been terrorizing the league and giving opposing coaches sleepless nights as they attempt to come up with the best game plan against one of the most dangerous scorers in NBA history.
More often than not, despite all the work these coaches put in, Lillard is still able to make it seem like the opposition came unprepared. Just ask Atlanta Hawks head coach Quin Snyder.
Quin Snyder on Milwaukee Bucks Star Damian Lillard
Before Snyder took over the helm for the Hawks toward the latter part of last season, the tenured shot-caller spent eight seasons as the head coach for the Utah Jazz. Being that the Jazz are in the same division as the Portland Trail Blazers, Snyder and his coaching staff back in Utah had to face the prospect of trying to hold Lillard down multiple times in a season.
It was never an easy task.
In fact, Snyder recently revealed that he actually named one specific move after the seven-time All-Star point guard:
“I’ve seen him just continue to add things to his game,” Snyder said.
“There was always something. Some of the stuff he did I’d try to teach guys. We had a move named after him (in Utah). I think that’s true of great players for us as coaches. Players show you a lot. And sometimes they’re not aware maybe that they’re even doing something. In his case, you can tell it’s deliberate. He’s examining his game and adding things to it all the time.”
Snyder did not share any details about the specific Lillard trademark move he was talking about but it is clear that it has left quite an impression on him. In fact, it would not be surprising if he’s also shared this with Trae Young, Dejounte Murray, and the rest of his Hawks players.
This just goes to show how much respect Lillard has earned not only from his peers, but from coaches from arounf the league as well.
