Milwaukee Bucks: 5 takeaways from 2017-18 schedule release

A little more time to rest

For years the analytics and sports science communities have published studies and fostered discussion about the need for increased rest. For the greatest athletes in the world, exerting peak effort again and again wore down the body, decreasing the product and increasing the chance for injuries.

The NBA didn’t just pay lip service, but followed through on a promise to effect change to protect its players and the product offered to fans. By moving the season start date up by over a week, the league can work more rest into its 82-game schedule.

Last season the Milwaukee Bucks began their season on Oct. 26, while this year they start eight days earlier on Oct. 18. As a result, the Bucks will see a reduction in the amount of back-to-back contests, playing just 15 this season after 18 last year — part of a league-wide reduction in such scenarios by 11 percent. The even more dreaded four-games-in-five-nights have been completely eliminated from the schedule.

Milwaukee also benefits ever-so-slightly on the margins. The NBA has emphasized even matchups over the past two seasons, trying to pair teams with equal amounts of rest. For example, a team playing a back-to-back has less rest than a team with two nights off and therefore has a potential disadvantage.

While it isn’t much, the Bucks will have the greatest amount of games where it has the rest advantage — four more than its opponents over the course of the season.