What’s Wrong with the Bucks?
The Milwaukee Bucks have struggled mightily since winning their first NBA Cup title. Now that they have gone 2-5 in their last seven games since the tournament, what’s wrong with the Bucks?
Multiple factors must be looked at to get the full story, but a lot of the issue is rooted in the offense. The offense could not get into any form of a rhythm in nearly back-to-back games against winnable opponents including the Brooklyn Nets and most recently the Portland Trailblazers. Against the Trailblazers, the team only shot about 31% from three and 43% from the field. Their defense forced 17 turnovers on the night, but that doesn’t matter if the team can’t turn that defense into offense. Which is what marred the Bucks for most of that night, especially individual play.
Damian Lillard ended the night against the Blazers with only 16 points on 33% from the field and 29% from three, a very pedestrian night to say the least. But their other star Khris Middleton had only 2 points on 20% from the field and did not make any of his three-point shot attempts. Giannis Antetokounmpo was his usual self with 31 points, 52% from the field, and 4 stocks (steals and blocks). There is nobody quite nearly as dominant as Giannis but even so, he needs his teammates to step up especially when the defense closes down on him. We have gotten glimpses of how great this offense can be this season, but it’s going to take a higher pace of play as well as players hitting shots that the defense gives them.
Improvement and Upcoming
How can this Buck’s team improve before the All-Star break? There’s not a ton that needs to be done right now, they could even get by without trading for a player. But it will take a slight change in pace, a few late nights of shooting practice, and a long-time starter moving to the bench.
The team is in a slump and no trade moves that are made will drastically change the team overnight. But something that these close losses have shown is that this starting lineup is getting old fast. With Lillard hitting his twilight years, Brook Lopez a foot from retirement, and Middleton losing a step with injury; this team needs to look into what they can do to speed up the pace of this offense. A player that has gotten better on both ends of the floor is AJ Green, a young defender who can space the floor very well with his consistent three-ball. In his previous game, he had 21 points (all of his points coming from threes) and provided much-needed defense coming off the bench. But this would mean pulling someone from the starting lineup and that person should be Khris Middleton.
A New Era for Middleton
While Middleton has been trying to find his footing on this team after his late start to the season, he has yet to find any consistency in the starting lineup. Averaging his lowest in points per game since his first year on the Bucks in 2013-14.
This can partially be attributed to Lillard’s extended role with the team, but it also tells of the waning story to end Middleton’s career as his points per game have dropped every season since his career-high 20.9 points per game in 19-20. He is still a positive asset to his team but he can no longer be looked to as that consistent third scorer, which is why it would make more sense to have him as a veteran scorer off the bench in a Ginobili-esque fashion. He still has a few years left in his career and I don’t see this Bucks organization breaking the two of them up considering their history. But this move helps to get the Bucks better defense in the starting lineup, a proven scorer off the bench to help with the lack of scoring, and gives the starting offense a better pace and space look heading into a rather easy stretch of games for Milwaukee.
