Milwaukee Bucks: Takeaways From Preseason Games 1, 2

If you’ve taken the time to search through your TV listings in hopes to find some sort of NBA preseason game to watch that night, which forced you to go to your computer and your favorite illegal (most likely) streaming website because most preseason games aren’t aired on TV, you’re probably a pretty big basketball fan. If you care enough to do all of that for the Milwaukee Bucks, you must be a huge basketball fan, because I’m sure there are some Bucks fans that don’t even want to watch their preseason games.

But it’s understandable if you’ve gone out of your way to find a Bucks preseason game, because I’ve done it myself. Milwaukee’s going to be a fun team to watch this season, with their young squad that they hope will #OwnTheFuture. With a possible franchise player in Jabari Parker, a freak athlete like Giannis Antetokounmpo, and an anchor in the post like Larry Sanders, there is a good chance we see them in the playoffs within a few years. But let’s not predict anything like that just yet, because Milwaukee did only win 15 games last season.

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After a couple chances to see Milwaukee in the preseason, we can start to develop some sort of an opinion heading into this season. With a highly-praised prospect like Parker on the floor, people will want to see how he does. With a new coach pacing the sidelines, you got to watch out for who he’s playing, who he’s not playing, the system he runs, etc. Those are two fairly general things to look for, and now we have a fairly good sense, at least, of how things might go this season. Nothing is set in stone, however.

In Milwaukee’s first preseason matchup versus the Memphis Grizzlies, the action got off to a slow start for the Bucks.

Memphis opened the game on a 20-5 run, but the Bucks closed the first quarter on a little bit of a run themselves, trailing 24-15 heading into the second quarter.

Parker played the first 6:15 in the opening quarter, and failed to score on any of his three attempts. The starting unit altogether struggled in the first, with a combined four points between Khris Middleton and Brandon Knight.

About four minutes into the second period, Parker grabbed a rebound and hit a running bank shot for his first NBA bucket. Sanders was the true hero–for the quarter, at least–for Milwaukee, however, tallying six points and six rebounds to help bring the Bucks within seven at halftime.

The Bucks got as close as four to start the third quarter, but let Memphis go on a run before getting it back within six to close the quarter.

In the final period, Kidd allowed his youngest talent to play the entire quarter while the Grizzlies went deep into their rotation. Parker, Knight and Antetokounmpo all played the entire quarter while Jared Dudley, Jerryd Bayless, Kendall Marshall and Zaza Pachulia all clocked out early.

Parker took advantage of his minutes, converting on 4-of-5 attempts (three dunks, one layup). Knight tallied eight points and three assists, and Antetokounmpo managed four points with five assists in the quarter.

While it is only preseason, a win is still better than a loss, and the Bucks got that win 86-83.

Even Milwaukee’s brightest stars had to shake off some rust, as all players have to at the beginning of the season.

Parker had a good scoreline in his debut, with 14 points and eight rebounds, but only shot 6-of-15. Knight had 11 points and six assists, and John Henson had 12 points with seven rebounds. Sanders had a good first game of the season, posting 10 points (4-of-9) and 15 boards. Middleton also shined, with 17 points (7-of-12).

The Bucks returned to action the next night in Detroit, where Kidd decided to move all of his Game 1 starters to the bench. This obviously won’t be a starting unit to expect this season, as Kidd most likely just wanted to get his bench some more playing time, along with some rest for his (what will be) regular starters.

While there were new players on the court for tip-off, the minute distribution didn’t really show that. In the first quarter, all starters aside from Pachulia checked out after just more than seven minutes. The only bright spot for the Bucks was Middleton, who was 3-for-3 from deep in the opening period off the bench.

The bench saw some more time in the second quarter, where nothing worth mentioning happened. The team shot 31.3 percent and had six turnovers leading to nine points for the Pistons.

The turnovers carried over into the third quarter, where they had nine more leading to nine more Detroit points.

Man, this is getting repetitive. The Bucks had yet another uneventful quarter to close out the game, having six more turnovers. The team finished with a total of 23 and lost 94-80.

While it’s hard to make much of preseason competition, there’s always good and bad that can mean something.

The Good:

Brandon Knight has done a nice job balancing his time facilitating and scoring early on. With 13 assists in two games, he’s getting his teammates involved while also taking care of himself with 11 points in each game.

Jabari Parker has been aggressive early on, which is exactly what rookies need to do. You have to dive right in and start learning. Sitting back and being timid isn’t going to do you any good. Also, especially in the first game, Parker has carried over his collegiate play style, using his size to bully guys in the paint.

Khris Middleton has looked great as a scorer thus far. After 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting in Game 1, Middleton followed that up the next night 13 points on 4-of-6 the next night. Along with Knight and Parker’s offensive efforts, Middleton could be a nice compliment this season.

Is John Henson auditioning for the sixth man role? Henson had a strong second year in 2013-14, and he is certainly earning himself some playing time right now. There may not be room for him in the starting lineup, but in two preseason performances, he’s looked good enough to at least earn close to his 26 minutes per game from last season. Henson recorded 12 points and seven boards off the bench in Game 1, and 10 points (5-of-6 shooting) with five boards in Game 2.

The Bad:

Turnovers. After 21 in Game 1, the Bucks followed that up with 23 more against Detroit. Being a young team is no excuse. A turnover equals free points for the other team, and giving the ball away 20-plus times a game will cost you when the game is tight in the final minutes.

Kendall Marshall needs to pass more. Although we’ve only had one game to watch Marshall with significant time, he shot 2-of-8 from behind the arc versus Detroit. He did have five assists, but he needs to learn when to stop shooting.

Bench scorers not doing their job. O.J. Mayo and Jerryd Bayless have struggled in two preseason games, and will be expected to really come in for the second unit and score this season. Bayless is a combined 2-of-9 with seven points in two games, and Mayo was 1-of-9 with three points in Game 2 after sitting Game 1.

Whether the good carries into the regular season and the bad stays behind all depends if Kidd can detect this stuff early on. I’m not smarter than Kidd, and I saw all of this, so, he should be able to fix all of it.

But seriously, for a young team, there’s not too much to complain out. You’re going to have turnovers, but limiting them is key. If they fix that and start to develop roles throughout the preseason, they might be in pretty good shape come the end of October.

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