Milwaukee Bucks: 3 reasons Giannis Antetokounmpo is the forgotten man

Reason No. 1 Giannis is the forgotten man for the Milwaukee Bucks: The team seems worse, but is it?

The Milwaukee Bucks have been known in recent years for historic regular-season dominance, followed by playoff disappointment. It seems after a couple of go-arounds, fans and media alike are basically over the Milwaukee Bucks Experience. Of course, that’s incredibly short-sighted.

Almost any champion in NBA history had hurdles to overcome and a multi-season arc to achieve greatness. Michael Jordan was the star who couldn’t get it done until he did. LeBron James was a pass-first second-fiddle with no killer instinct until he was. Even Steph Curry’s Golden State Warriors dynasty endured a first-round defeat the year before they put all the pieces together and won their first championship.

One of the most important parts of learning to win is learning how to lose, and that’s a path the Milwaukee Bucks have spent valuable time walking.

This season it appears they’ve taken a step back. Their defense is worse, no longer the league-leaders in defensive rating. However, a big reason for this is that head coach Mike Budenholzer finally set aside his strategic rigidity, incorporating more switching defensively rather than simply dropping to protect the rim.

There’s a learning curve with such a drastic adjustment, and the time to develop this strategy is during the regular season, just the way they have.