Looking to rebound from a 15-67 2013-14 season, the Milwaukee Bucks have put together a roster that will be much more competitive this season compared to last. That roster includes a backcourt that won’t only be able to keep up with other top guards in the NBA, but even outshine some of them. With more than enough talent, Jason Kidd will have some tough decisions to make in his first season with the Bucks.
The Bucks had an exciting offseason solely based off the fact that they snagged Jabari Parker, Milwaukee’s possible franchise centerpiece for the future, at second overall in June’s draft. Milwaukee was almost guaranteed to improve this season with the addition of Parker, along with some Buck veterans in Larry Sanders and Ersan Ilyasova still in the mix.
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Only avid basketball fans realize the potential coming from the second unit, with
O.J. Mayo,
Jerryd Baylessand
Zaza Pachuliaall slated to come off the bench. The bench–and the starting unit, for all we know–is where the questions for Kidd begin heading into the 2014-15 season. Who’s getting the minutes this season?
It’s fair to assume a starting lineup that looks like this to at least start the season: PG Brandon Knight, SG, Giannis Antetokounmpo, SF Parker, PF Ilyasova, C Sanders.
Based on what Parker said at camp last week, this lineup could see some shake ups throughout the season, meaning more playing time for certain backcourt studs.
Kidd wants to play 4 out, 1 in, meaning everyone on the floor aside from Sanders will play on the perimeter. When this offense does see the floor, some newer faces could see playing time.
My projected 4 out, 1 in lineup: PG Kendall Marshall, SG Knight, SF Antetokounmpo, PF Parker, C Sanders.
Even with a respectable 4.9 assists last season, Knight has proven in his one season with Milwaukee and two with the Detroit Pistons that he can score, and might be better fit to play shooting guard and expand upon his offensive game this season.
In 54 games with the Lakers last season, Marshall averaged 8.8 assists per game with a fairly shallow roster in LA. Pairing Marshall with Knight in the Bucks’ backcourt seems like it could work, as Marshall can help Knight improve in his scoring game and take over as the facilitator.
Even though Antetokounmpo is currently slated as a guard/forward and could be starting the season off as a guard, he is much more fitted to play something bigger at 6-foot-9.
If Milwaukee did indeed use my lineup, second-year point guard Nate Wolters would be the Bucks’ only option to backup Marshall. After 7.2 points and 3.2 assists per game last season, Wolters should do a decent job running the second unit.
At backup shooting guard, however, is where things start to get interesting.
At the backup 2 position, Milwaukee has two pretty talented six-year veterans in Mayo and Bayless.
After starting all 82 games in Dallas the season before, Mayo only got starting minutes 23 of his 52 games last season in Milwaukee. Mayo averaged 11.7 points (40.7 percent shooting) and 2.4 rebounds while mostly coming off the bench for the Bucks last season.
Bayless played with both the Grizzlies and the Celtics last season, and ended up starting 19 of his 72 games. Bayless averaged 9.3 points (42.5 percent shooting) and 2.7 assists per game last season.
It’s a fairly hard choice to choose who should play behind Knight out of these two, as they are both very similar (numbers wise, at least).
To me, Mayo seems more fitting for this spot. He hasn’t been as good as he was with Memphis a few years back, but is still a capable scorer and could definitely succeed as a sixth man. Saying this, Bayless still deserves his shot, and as Kidd should be experimenting plenty this season, he sure could see the floor at some point.
On Wednesday, the Bucks will begin their preseason by hosting both Mayo and Bayless’ former team in the Grizzlies, only to follow that up with another game the next night in Detroit. Preseason is typically a great time to experiment with your lineups, and with Kidd taking over this horrific 2013 team and plenty of issues to be straightened out, I’m sure we will see an array of lineups on the court throughout the preseason. As a lot of NBA teams make lineup changes even during the regular season, definitely do not throw out that possibility for the Bucks this season.
After a long offseason of waiting, we will all finally be able to watch this young and exciting Bucks roster featuring some potential stars in this league.
With the backcourt jam-packed with talent, it will surely be an interesting battle in the preseason as well as the regular season to see who earns some playing time in Milwaukee.