Milwaukee Bucks: 3 goals for Eric Bledsoe in 2018-19
1. Space the floor
Going 3-for-3 on vague goals, this one is the most easily quantifiable. Modern NBA offenses need open floors to open up shots near the rim, and few more so than the Milwaukee Bucks. Giannis Antetokounmpo is an elite offensive force inside, yet for years on the Bucks has had to deal with crowds of defenders as his teammates fail to pull them out of the paint.
Eric Bledsoe should have been part of the solution to the problem as a reasonably competent shooter from long range. With the Bucks, he shot 36 percent from deep in competitive situations, ranking about league-average for his position. The first step is ticking that number up toward 38 percent, forcing defenders to stay glued to him.
In addition, Bledsoe must learn to vacate the areas of the floor most used by his teammates. Antetokounmpo wants to work at the elbow, while Khris Middleton is in love with the mid-range himself, taking 52 percent of shots from there. If Bledsoe is moving inside the arc with anything other than the rim in mind, he is often crowding his defender into the same areas his teammates wish to be.
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Asking Bledsoe to spend 100 percent of his time beyond the arc will neither keep his defenders honest nor maximize his talents, as he is dynamic attacking the rim. But if he focuses on his outside shot, he’ll free up more offensive opportunities for the entire team, and that in turn will help him find his shot more often. Last season Bledsoe seemed to come to the team with his own idea of how to succeed; now the time has come for him to adapt and help others.