Milwaukee Bucks: Turnover, Free Throw Differentials Problematic
By Dylan Hughes
A young–yet talented–Milwaukee Bucks team has had a pretty good start to the season seeing their expectations, but has still had some issues that they need to overcome in order to truly shock the NBA and finish with more than double their 15 wins from 2013.
Two problems the Bucks have had early on are turnovers and getting to the free throw line. These are two common issues a younger team can have.
Younger players don’t always know how to play pro ball as efficiently as it needs to be played, and don’t realize how much easier it is to win games while shooting a lot of free throws until playing with someone that has won a lot of games, something no one on the Bucks has particularly done.
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They will have to make the mistakes to fix them, and it’s just one of those things that comes with time.
The turnovers have been especially bad, having 27 of them just against the Washington Wizards on Nov. 1. On the season, Milwaukee is tied for seventh in the NBA with Philadelphia with an average of 16 turnovers per game.
In the small sample size of games the Bucks have played, they have actually won two of three games turning the ball over more than the opposition.
To be fair, one of the wins was over the Sixers–who are all aboard the tank train–and the one win while turning the ball over less was against an injury-depleted Pacers team that has their fair share of young, inexperienced talent on the floor as well.
In the free throw department, all of the Bucks’ losses have occurred while losing the free throw attempt battle (made more than Charlotte and Detroit in fewer attempts). In all three of their wins, they have somehow managed to shoot fewer free throws and still play good enough to win.
One of those wins includes the then undefeated Memphis Grizzlies, who turned the ball over less and shot and made more free throws than the Bucks.
Having limited attempts at the line, as I mentioned earlier, is just a trait of a younger team and will change when they play and grow together more throughout the season. The turnovers, however, actually have a source.
Point guards generally aim to have a high assist-to-turnover ratio. The best of the best create for their team more than the other team. Chris Paul, widely regarded as the best point guard in the league, unsurprisingly ranks first in assist-to-turnover ratio at 10.40.
Brandon Knight is pretty far from those numbers at only 2.25.
Knight is tied for third with John Wall with 26 total turnovers this season. Knight has had a great season overall, but that amount of turnovers is just something you don’t want from the guy running your offense.
Knight being more careful with the ball can make a huge difference, not only making the offense run more smoothly (tied with Charlotte for 25th in offensive efficiency ranking at 96.5), but giving the Bucks more opportunities to score, and the other teams less.
Not that anyone expects the Bucks to make the playoffs this season, but competing alone has to be something Jason Kidd and the organization is happy with for this season. Rebuilding is all about growth, and in sports, growth doesn’t happen in one day, one week, one month.
It may take a year, but the Bucks will get there. For this season, all they need to do is grow, and apart of their growth process will be working out these small kinks like turnovers and lack of free throw attempts.
They have gotten a little bit lucky early on with some of their wins, but they have competed more than some may have hoped or expected nonetheless. Their roster consists of some young players the league may be watching for a long time, but at first you just have to grow.
Right now, the Bucks and their players are in that phase.
As the season rolls along, we will have a good opportunity to see just how much these Bucks improve. Time and repetition can fix a lot of problems, and in Milwaukee, it’s just little things to fix. They will get there, and when they do, they have a good team on their hands.
For a team that won just 15 games last season, being already a fifth of the way there through seven games is a pretty darn good sign of improvement. They still have a long way to go, but I think it is less than a lot of people may think.