Milwaukee Bucks: 4 Implications Of The Center Swap With Hornets

The Milwaukee Bucks Have A Lot Of Centers

With the completion of the trade, the Bucks are now absolutely stocked at center. Five of their 15 players are best deployed at the 5, from sixth man Greg Monroe to rookie Thon Maker. John Henson and newcomers Roy Hibbert and Spencer Hawes will also compete for minutes.

Jabari Parker is entrenched as the starting power forward, and Mirza Teletovic is his backup. When both are healthy that leaves little to no room for any of the centers to slide over into extra-large lineups.

Add in the ability of Giannis Antetokounmpo to defend centers at times and Milwaukee’s best lineups probably don’t include any of their five centers.

That isn’t a major problem, as the looming return of Khris Middleton will fill out the wing rotation for a team that has been relatively healthy outside of Middleton all season.

Having more bigs gives the team flexibility to matchup better with any team they may face, and likewise provides insurance for injury and foul trouble.

While adding an extra center wasn’t an area of need, for this roster it isn’t an area of hurt either. Waiving the rarely used Steve Novak to take on both newcomers wasn’t a short-term loss either. This trade wasn’t about shoring up a weak position, but rather about the long-term numbers.