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Milwaukee Bucks: 5 New Year’s resolutions for 2018

By Josh Cornelissen

MILWAUKEE, WI - DECEMBER 22: Giannis Antetokounmpo #34 of the Milwaukee Bucks handles the ball during a game against the Charlotte Hornets at the Bradley Center on December 22, 2017 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
MILWAUKEE, WI - DECEMBER 22: Giannis Antetokounmpo #34 of the Milwaukee Bucks handles the ball during a game against the Charlotte Hornets at the Bradley Center on December 22, 2017 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images) /
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Photo by Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images
Photo by Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images /

2. Find a win-win with Jabari Parker

This time last season Jabari Parker was enjoying a breakout season, finally shaking off the rust of his rookie-year knee injury and providing Milwaukee with breathtaking offensive plays and week-by-week growth in his game. Then in early February he went down with another knee injury, and hasn’t played a game since.

Parker looks to return sometime in the first two months of 2018, and a Bucks team struggling to find bench scoring will welcome the addition. The prospect of Parker and Malcolm Brogdon running a bench unit should scare opposing teams, and it also opens up closing units of Brogdon-Bledsoe-Middleton-Parker-Antetokounmpo that could be unstoppable offensively and quite competent defensively.

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For Parker the close to the 2017-18 season will be an audition for his next contract, since he hits restricted free agency in July. Has his athleticism been sapped by the second knee injury, or can he still be the explosive player he was? How does he fit on a team with two star forwards already in Middleton and Antetokounmpo? Prior to his injury, Parker may have been in line for a max contract, but a lot has changed since then.

Unless he comes back and is better than he was before his injury, Milwaukee won’t be offering Parker a max contract. But could another team — Atlanta, Dallas, Sacramento — make such an offer? If they do, the small-market Bucks will be hard-pressed to match as they are pressed against the luxury tax, a threshold they have proven unwilling to cross.

This team doesn’t want to lose Parker for nothing, so it will be imperative to find a number they can afford. On Parker’s side, he understandably views himself as a star player, not a bench forward in line to make just $10 million per season. How the two sides handle contract negotiations will be a major part of the offseason, and this team needs to find a win-win resolution for both sides.

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