Can The Milwaukee Bucks Sustain Their Early Success?
It has been a season full of surprise and positivity for Milwaukee Bucks fans, minus the early injury to prized rookie Jabari Parker.
Everything else has worked out great for the Bucks, who currently sit at 23-22, good for a playoff spot in the weak Eastern Conference.
If making the postseason wasn’t a plan in Milwaukee, then the team is doing a terrible job of execution. The defense has been shockingly good because of the versatility of weapons that they have at their disposal.
Stretch forward Ersan Ilyasova has always been a better-than-advertised defender inside, and Giannis Antetokounmpo is just a nightmare of a matchup for anyone that has to face him.
Antetokounmpo may be one of the only players in NBA history that can legitimately play all five positions. At 6-foot-11, he possesses the size and length required of a big man with the ball-handling and mobility of a guard.
He’s even played point guard in some rotations for head coach Jason Kidd, who hasn’t been afraid to challenge the preconceived notions of what a conventional lineup should look like.
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Playing Antetokounmpo at the 4 or 5 spot gives Kidd so many different options and lineups to work with and put into play.
With so many guards and forwards around the same 6-foot-7, 6-foot-8 height, the Bucks can put together rotations that are able to switch on defenders and ball screens and really cause the opposing team problems (a trend that is hot right now in the league, as the Golden State Warriors and Atlanta Hawks have had success employing a similar strategy).
In terms of offense, the Bucks haven’t been near as productive on that end of the floor as on defense. However, Brandon Knight has really been a find for a team that was looking for its point guard of the future.
Even though Knight may not be viewed by many as a traditional floor general, Knight is still a better passer than analysts and scouts have previously thought. Knight has the quickness necessary to get in the lane and break down a defense, and has been great at utilizing the bounce pass to get the ball to the big man or cutting player off the pick-and-roll.
Knight’s excellence in operating the pick-and-roll has been a big reason why he has put up great assist totals because he is still learning how to see the floor completely and work the drive-and-kick game more effectively.
Knight is a scoring guard at heart, and isn’t afraid to pull-up from any spot on the floor. His 40.8 percent shooting from behind the three-point line has been one of the few bright points in the Bucks’ offensive execution.
Having a weapon like Knight that can light it up from three is huge for an offense that lacks consistent outside shooting and relies on the transition game more than a traditional contender does.
The Bucks haven’t been able to execute properly in the half-court as much as one would want to see, as besides Knight’s pick-and-roll game, the other players on the team haven’t stepped up and been able to create offense for themselves late in the shot clock.
Can the Bucks sustain their current success and make a postseason run? I’m going with no because of the lack of versatility on offense. So much of their execution relies on Knight making the right play, and judging by his 3.3 turnovers per game, that isn’t always the case.
Jerryd Bayless has given the Bucks solid minutes, but he is also more of a scoring threat and has never been looked at as a true point guard.
Defensively, this team is as sound as it gets, and a lot of that has to do with Kidd’s personality and toughness with how he coaches. Once this team starts putting more together in the half-court game on offense, then their future will look a little brighter than this season does.
Parker helped with that when he was healthy because he was able to create his own shot, and had he still been healthy, my answer might’ve been a little different.
The Bucks are on the rise. Their time may not be now, but it’s coming.
*Statistics courtesy of Basketball-Reference.