Milwaukee Bucks: The Matthew Dellavedova injury could not have come at a worse time

When the Milwaukee Bucks lost the services of Malcolm Brogdon for 6-8 weeks, Matthew Dellavedova needed to step up. Unfortunately, Dellavedova got injured at the wrong time.

This season has been difficult for Matthew Dellavedova of the Milwaukee Bucks. He missed 15 games in November and December with knee tendinitis. The timing of this injury was poor, as it was just a week after the Bucks traded for Eric Bledsoe.

In the 17 games back under ex-coach Jason Kidd, he only played more than 20 minutes three times  In these games, Dellavedova did his job. He only scored double-digits once in this period, scoring 10 points in a loss to the Toronto Raptors.

Dellavedova had six games of five assists or more, with his best being 10 assists in another loss to the Raptors. However, Kidd was fired and Joe Prunty stepped in as interim coach.

At this point, Prunty needed to bring something different to the table. As such, Dellavedova started playing more. In the seven games he played before his injury, Delllavedova played 20 minutes or more five times.

In this time, Malcolm Brogdon injured his left quadriceps tendon, ruling him out for 6-8 weeks. With Brogdon out, it was time to show the new coach why he deserved even more playing time. Unfortunately for Dellavedova, he sprained his right ankle just two games later and in expected to miss 3-4 weeks.

Why this is such poor timing

Dellavedova being out now is poor timing for a number of reasons. Firstly, from a team point of view, the second and third string point guards are out at the same time. That much is obvious.

This means the coach has to reach further into his bag of tricks. If the Bucks can survive with Bledsoe leading the team for the majority of the time, then this will not bode well for the Australian. No player wants to see his minutes decrease and if the team keeps winning, this may be the case.

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However, the second reason is more compelling. Most teams who qualify for the playoffs tend to have their rotations settled. Now that young phenom Jabari Paker has returned from injury, coach Prunty is going to want to see which lineups work.

Parker appears to be a critical component of the future of the Milwaukee Bucks. In the time when the coach wants to experiment, Dellavedova is sitting on the sidelines, rehabilitating his sprained ankle.

Fortunately for Dellavedova, the All-Star break falls in his 3-4 weeks off the court, so he will not miss as much basketball as he would have at any other time of the season.

Another silver lining to the cloud of injury and rehabilitation is Dellavedova appears to be coming back strong if his Twitter feed is to be believed.

He does also appear to be in good spirits.

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Let’s hope for the sake of Dellavedova and the Milwaukee Bucks that the backup point guard comes back from injury sooner than expected and shows why he deserves more minutes.