Milwaukee Bucks looking to clean up unfinished business

Storyline 2: Will Eric Bledsoe become a pumpkin again in the playoffs?

Losing Malcolm Brogdon is a loss for the entire season, but primarily so in the postseason, where he was one of the few players the Milwaukee Bucks could rely on every game he played. At the opposite end of the spectrum was starting point guard Eric Bledsoe, who turned in an All-Defensive regular season and then turned into a pumpkin in the playoffs.

That makes two consecutive postseasons where Bledsoe has fallen apart when the games mattered most. Two seasons ago it was Terry Rozier abusing Bledsoe and looking for a few games like the future for Boston at the point guard position.

Rozier’s subsequent struggles last season (which the Charlotte Hornets apparently failed to observe) highlight just how bad Bledsoe was on both ends of the court in the 2018 NBA Playoffs.

Last season was no better, as he again lost contact defensively and fell apart on offense, shooting poorly when he did shoot and making poor decisions when he didn’t. His true shooting percentage in the regular season with the Bucks is 58.1 percent; in the postseason that drops to 50.0 percent. His points, rebounds, assists and steals all go down significantly in the postseason.

Milwaukee needs Bledsoe to maintain his level of play for more than 82 games this season. George Hill and Brogdon stepped in for Bledsoe in last season’s postseason; Brogdon is now gone and Hill is past his prime. The elite defensive ceiling for this team that they reached at times last season involves Bledsoe terrorizing opponents at the point of attack.

The Bucks gave Bledsoe a lucrative contract extension last spring before the playoffs, a vote of confidence that his struggles a year before would not rear their head again. They did and that is concerning for this team moving forward. Paid an average of $17.5 million over the next four seasons, the Bucks need Bledsoe to keep playing at a high level even after the stroke of midnight.