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Milwaukee Bucks: Replacing Malcolm Brogdon and Matthew Dellavedova

By Josh Cornelissen

Photo by Ned Dishman/NBAE via Getty Image
Photo by Ned Dishman/NBAE via Getty Image /
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The Milwaukee Bucks are facing the next month-plus without Malcolm Brogdon and Matthew Dellevadova. How does Milwaukee replace them in the rotation?

In sports, fans will often refer to their team as “cursed” when things do not go their way. The Milwaukee Bucks are certainly not cursed, not with their abundance of talented players and a true generational superstar in the fold.

But they certainly are not allowed to have nice things for very long. Just as Khris Middleton returned from injury last season, Jabari Parker went down for a year with a torn ACL. This season, just as Parker returns, the Bucks lose not one but two key rotation pieces for extended time.

Neither Malcolm Brogdon nor Matthew Dellavedova were the difference-makers on this team, not with players such as Middleton and Giannis Antetokounmpo. But each played a defined and established role, and are now unable to fill those roles.

Brogdon battled nagging injuries for a few weeks to start 2018 before suffering a more significant injury. What was initially diagnosed as a quad strain was discovered to be a partially torn tendon in his quad, and Brogdon is now one week into a 6-8 injury recovery.

The injury appeared to occur on a fast break layup against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Feb. 1, where Brogdon “heard something pop” despite a lack of contact.

For his backcourt mate Matthew Dellavedova, the injury bug came back around just two games later against the Brooklyn Nets. Dellavedova suffered a Grade 3 ankle sprain and is expected to miss the next 3-4 weeks before being re-evaluated.

Together, the two players averaged 50 minutes per game — a substantial hole to fill for a team without proven depth beyond them. That also means 14.6 shots to spread around, 17.7 points to replace and 7.0 assists for other players to make.

The first major question for the team is how to replace Brogdon in the starting lineup, but thankfully that question is also the easiest to answer. Last season Tony Snell was the season-long starter at the 2-guard, and is a seamless fit stepping back into that lineup.

Snell has logged 741 minutes this season with the other four starters — Eric Bledsoe, Middleton, Antetokounmpo and John Henson — and Milwaukee is a whopping +15.7 points per 100 possessions in those minutes, per Cleaning the Glass. That lineup is Milwaukee’s most-used lineup, and provides a level of familiarity and comfort for the rotation.

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The questions more difficult to answer come behind Snell, with the bench rotation for the backcourt. In the first full game without both guards, interim head coach Joe Prunty picked Jason Terry to run the point for the bench. Terry logged over 19 minutes against the New York Knicks Tuesday night, the most for him in a single game since Dec. 2.

While Terry has played some point guard at times over the course of his career, he lacks the playmaking chops to effectively fill that role. His season-high in assists is just three, and he had two against the Knicks. Per-36 minutes, Terry is averaging just 2.3 assists, the lowest number of his career.

The poor fit for the role he was asked to fill played out in more ways than simply assist totals. While Terry was on the court Tuesday, the Bucks were outscored by 17 points, in a game they won by 14 points. The next-worst player was Tyler Zeller, a -8 in six minutes just hours after he was traded to the team.

But the options beyond Terry remain equally as grim. Xavier Munford is with the team on a two-way contract, appearing in three games thus far. The former Rhode Island Ram was one of the best players in the D-League last season and the G League this season.

Munford deserves more run, both because the Bucks need to see if he can help them during this injury crisis and because they need to evaluate whether he is worthy of a full contract. The clock is ticking on the 45 days he is allowed with the club.

With Snell moving to the starting lineup, Sterling Brown is now in line to see increased minute totals as he mans both the 2 and the 3 at times off the bench. A more direct recipient of minutes is Sean Kilpatrick, who stepped in and not only took minutes but took shots as well, putting up 16 points on 11 shot attempts in his 17 minutes.

The other avenue to covering minutes and shots in the rotation is Jabari Parker, who now has three games under his belt in his return from injury. Milwaukee, 3-0 since Parker’s return, has slowly increased both his minutes and his workload as he shakes off the rust.

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Parker played 20 minutes in the most recent game, a win over the New York Knicks where the Bucks outscored the Knicks by 11 points when he was on the court. Parker has scored between 10-12 points in all three games. As he rounds into form he will take on more of the scoring load, taking it off the shoulders of players such as Terry and Brown.

If the starting spot will be filled by Tony Snell, and the minutes will be filled by Terry and Kilpatrick, and the shots filled by Parker, then the playmaking will have to come from Giannis Antetokounmpo. While Bledsoe and Antetokounmpo are a dangerous combination, staggering the two can allow Antetokounmpo to run more of the offense when the team’s point guard is on the bench.

“Point Giannis” is capable of the task, with great court vision and the length to wrap passes around unsuspecting and impotent defenders. His ability to generate offense for others in addition to himself can lift bench units that have struggled even with Brogdon and Dellavedova available.

If either Dellavedova or Brogdon suffer a setback, a difficult stretch becomes truly dangerous with the playoffs quickly approaching. The team may need to keep its eyes peeled on the buyout market; veteran point guards looking for work will be excited to play with Antetokounmpo.

Next: Biggest winners and losers of the 2018 NBA Trade Deadline

In the end, the team expects both back before the start of the postseason, when it will need them the most. For now, the Milwaukee Bucks will survive without them, and hope as always that Giannis Antetokounmpo can see them through.

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