Milwaukee Bucks: When will Torrey Craig be unleashed?

The Milwaukee Bucks have yet to feature Torrey Craig in their regular rotation

Although Torrey Craig came to the Milwaukee Bucks with expectations to serve as a rotational defensive specialist off the bench, the 30-year-old disruptor has yet to be meaningfully used so far this season. In fact, he’s still not a part of head coach Mike Budenholzer’s regular rotation.

Craig hasn’t received much playing time at all, which hasn’t made sense for the most part, especially in certain situations. Most recently, he didn’t play a single minute during the 113-106 defeat to the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night.

It’s a shame that Craig wasn’t utilized for defensive purposes throughout the contest when you consider the outstanding role he played defensively for the Nuggets against the Lakers in the conference finals last year. Instead, Budenholzer decided to roll with 24 minutes of Pat Connaughton and seven minutes of Thanasis Antetokounmpo to match up with them. It’s inexcusable to say that Torrey Craig doesn’t deserve any of those minutes.

An argument could be made that he’s still getting back to game shape after dealing with hamstring issues along with a nasal fracture that led to undergoing surgery. However, Craig has been fully cleared for a week now. Even though he’s healthy, he didn’t feature against the Dallas Mavericks, Brooklyn Nets, or the Lakers – all teams that have numerous offensive weapons.

The Bucks have a defensive weapon hidden in their arsenal, and there’s no valid reason to why he hasn’t even been experimented with on the court.