Milwaukee Bucks: Five former players that would have helped this team

3. Alvin Robertson

The Bucks are a phenomenal defensive team through an through, but one statistical category where they fall a bit flat is steals. With 615 steals last season, the Bucks were 17th in the NBA when it was all said and done. Now, they’re tied with the Miami Heat for the 20th place amongst their competition.

Insert Alvin Robertson, a former Defensive Player of the Year who led the league in steals three times and has the highest steals per game average of any player in NBA history at 2.7 per contest. Though he was a moderately talented offensive player as a 6’3″ shooting guard, Robertson’s bread and butter was picking his opponent’s pocket and putting on a show.

Though he was never much of a shooter, Robertson could finish near the rim and more importantly, find his teammates in the toughest of situations. During four seasons with the Bucks, Robertson averaged 12.7 points, 5.3 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 2.7 steals in just-under 31 minutes per game. Inserting a player like that on this Bucks team takes a historically impressive defensive unit and accelerates them to another level.

Starting at the two-guard, the aforementioned Matthews isn’t a world-beating player at this stage in his career. However, pushing him back to the bench and inserting Robertson would cause some floor spacing issues for the starting unit. Therefore, Robertson would make the most sense as a Sixth Man who played between the point guard and shooting guard positions in place of Matthews and Bledsoe throughout each game.

With a motor as high as Robertson’s, his playstyle is sure to translate across time.