Milwaukee Bucks: 2018-19 NBA season preview
Best-case scenario
The Milwaukee Bucks look like a new team from the jump, with an offense flowing from player to player and generating consistent open looks.
This team’s role-players thrive with the space to get shots off, and the likes of Tony Snell, Malcolm Brogdon, Ersan Ilyasova and Pat Connaughton all shoot 40 percent from long-range.
The offensive space is good for Giannis Antetokounmpo as well, who takes that next step as the Eastern Conference’s best player. He averages 28 points a night, adds a 3-pointer to his game, and leads the East in votes for the All-Star Game.
The defense improves as well, with Thon Maker stepping forward as a more consistent defender in a rotation with Brook Lopez at center. Eric Bledsoe settles down in his second season with the team and has a better year.
The Bucks finish fifth in offense and ninth in defense, good for 55 wins and the second seed in the East.
In the postseason Antetokounmpo is dominant in the first round and the team gets a strong draw in the second round and advances in seven games to the conference finals.
After a hard-fought series they go home with a bright future ahead. Antetokounmpo wins MVP and Budenholzer wins Coach of the Year.
Worst-case scenario
Mike Budenholzer comes in with a lot of hype, but it becomes apparent early on that the defensive issues on this team have to do with personnel, not coaching scheme.
Players such as Eric Bledsoe and Thon Maker continue to be weak spots and the rotation cannot plug all of the holes as they are once again in the back-half of the league.
Antetokounmpo plays well, but fails to add something new to his game over the offseason. He chafes under a new offensive system where the ball is out of his hands more often, and his counting stats suffer slightly.
Around them the Eastern Conference takes a step forward. The Indiana Pacers sustain the success of last season, Philadelphia takes another huge leap, and the Miami Heat — led by Jimmy Butler — are a step ahead.
Milwaukee struggles and is unable to distinguish itself from the East’s middle tier.
At the trade deadline it becomes clear that this current group is not working, and the Bucks make some changes.
They send Bledsoe and Lopez out in a deal for a more established center, but that’s simply reshuffling the deck chairs and the Bucks finish at the eighth seed, losing in five games to a fully-healthy Boston Celtics.
Antetokounmpo fails to make an All-NBA team and the team has to take another long look in the mirror in the offseason.