Milwaukee Bucks’ Future Is Still Bright

Even after a disastrous start to the season, hope is on the horizon for the young Milwaukee Bucks.

It was July 2 at 10 a.m. Sitting in my car at a stoplight, I opened up Twitter and aimlessly scrolled through the last hour of tweets. As I got to the top of the page I came across a tweet that made me double take. I let out an audible scream of joy; the Bucks had somehow signed Greg Monroe.

My reaction was echoed by countless other Bucks fans across the state that morning because for the first time in franchise history the Milwaukee Bucks were able to sign a big-name free agent. This was it; this was going to be the move that would propel the Bucks to the next level.

Milwaukee had stolen a coveted center away from the likes of the Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks and things were changing for the Bucks.

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With the addition of Monroe, the excitement of the impending return of Jabari Parker, and the surprise success of the previous season, the Milwaukee Bucks had something that they haven’t had for a long time: expectations.

Flash forward to Jan. 12 and the Milwaukee Bucks find themselves nearly halfway through the 2016 season with a record of 15-24. How does a team that won 41 games last season and battled the Chicago Bulls in a six-game series add Monroe and Parker and seemingly fall apart?

Let us examine.

All of the noise made by the Bucks this offseason made it easy for people to gloss over some other crucial changes that were made to their roster. Leaving town were three role players who didn’t seem to fit the Bucks’ long-term plans, Zaza Pachulia, Ersan Ilyasova and Jared Dudley.

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In total, these three trades saw the Bucks receive nothing more than cap room and future second-round draft picks. What these moves did was free up cap space for them to re-sign Khris Middleton to a five-year deal and give John Henson a four-year, $44 million extension.

At the time these moves were looked upon without much questioning. Sure they were losing veteran leadership in the locker room, but the Bucks had Monroe to take the spot of Pachulia and Jabari would be taking up minutes the that Dudley/Ilyasova were getting.

What nobody could have foretold was the drastic impact the changes made would have on the Bucks’ second-ranked defense from 2014-15. Sure, many knew that Monroe was not a rim protector by any means, but Pachulia only had 21 blocks in 73 games played last season.

Parker’s defensive shortcomings have been well documented since he was drafted, often looking lost on defense prior to him tearing his ACL last season. But still, Parker is an athletic young player who has the ability to adapt to the swarming and trapping defensive style implemented by the Bucks. Why wouldn’t he be able to fill in for slow footed players such as Dudley and Ilyasova?

All of these were thoughts shared by Bucks fans and many national writers who predicted the Bucks to be one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference during the 2015-16 season.

Unfortunately for the Bucks and their fans, the transition has not been as smooth as they imagined before the season started. As a matter of fact the transition has been a disaster this season, which has seen the Bucks’ second-ranked defense last season fall to DEAD LAST in the NBA in defensive efficiency.

Apparently the communication and understanding of team defense brought by Pachulia, Dudley, and Ilyasova was that important to the success of the 2015 Bucks.

Their defensive shortcomings have been on full display recently, giving up 123 and 117 points to the Spurs and Bulls, respectively. The Bucks gave up 115 points once in regulation during all of last season. So far this season, through 38 games, the Bucks have already given up 115 points or more during regulation a whopping 11 times.

The long, fast, and active trapping defense that reaped havoc on the NBA last season has been an absolute gift to offenses this season. Bucks players are consistently losing their defensive assignments and giving up wide open shots, most notably three-pointers, to opposing teams.

In a league that is becoming heavily reliant on the three-point shot, the Bucks are allowing teams to make 13.7 threes per game, the most in the NBA.

The most alarming and concerning part of all of this, is that the Bucks starters are the worst culprits of the entire team. The lineup that consists of Michael Carter-Williams/Middleton/Giannis Antetokounmpo/Parker/Monroe has a defensive rating of 115.3.

This is the worst defensive rating by any combination of lineups the Bucks have put on the court this season … and also happens to be the lineup that has played the most minutes this season.

The core group that the Milwaukee Bucks felt could grow together and make a title run in the future can not stop anyone from scoring, a very concerning problem for the future of this young team.

But not all hope is lost for the future of this team.

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On the flip side, that same lineup has posted a very impressive offensive rating of 106.0 which has allowed them to stay competitive with their abysmal defensive rating. This statistic becomes even more notable when you take into account a lot the noise made by national writers this offseason.

Many said the Bucks may not live up to expectations because of a lack of spacing from an offense that features the low post minded Monroe surrounded by only one proven shooting threat in Middleton. This has not appeared to be a problem and if the group could have played just average defense, this season may have been heading in a different direction today.

This team is still learning to play with each other and still features a lot of young players who have yet to play a full season together. So even though the Bucks may not have a chance to make the playoffs this year, it would be a huge sign for the future of this team if they can improve defensively the rest of the season.

Given all the excitement from the offseason this season has been a major disappointment for the Bucks and many fans expecting the team to grow on a surprise season last year. But this doesn’t mean anything has changed for the future of the Bucks. They still have Giannis and Parker, two young players most teams would kill to have.

As long as the Bucks front office doesn’t panic and alter the core of this team because half a season has not gone to plan, nothing this team does this season can be a complete failure.

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Rome wasn’t built in a day and the Milwaukee Bucks will not be either. The best is yet to come Milwaukee.