In September, if you told me that the Bucks would only have two wins through ten games of this NBA season, I would have thought that Giannis and Dame were traded in a blockbuster deal.
Fans are blessed it didn’t happen. But unfortunately, TWO wins through TEN games signals PANIC MODE.
Every missed shot, every uncontested three, every pass Damian Lillard makes to a player who shouldn’t be doing an iso post-up, etc. has created the feeling the end of an era is near.
Does that sound irrational? Maybe. Though there are only so many holes you can dig yourself out of.
Erich Nehm of the Athletic said, “Since 1970, 150 NBA teams have started 1-6 or worse. Only 12 of those teams made the playoffs, five of which did so with a losing record.” Head Coach Doc Rivers still feels optimistic about the team and has said, “We’ll make the playoffs.”
So, what is so wrong with the Bucks?
Time to Elect a New Mayor
It may be almost one week removed, but it still is technically an election year.
Fans of the Milwaukee Bucks have spoken—We the people need a new 6th man. Will management listen? Perhaps it will happen sooner rather than later?
If I had to point the finger at one player, it would have to be Bobby Portis. Once known as the Mayor of Milwaukee, Bobby has now become a shell of what he used to be. His flow with the Bucks over the past two seasons has changed dramatically. Between the ball stopping on offense and lack of lateral mobility defensively, BP has become a liability on both ends of the floor.
The majority of Bucks fans can agree, they love Bobby. The first part of his Bucks’ tenure was what made the championship run as fun as it was. But not trading him last year at the deadline was a major mistake.
Bobby is coming off a decent game against the Boston Celtics, scoring 15 pts in 23 minutes of action. Alas, we just cannot don homer goggles after games like these.
The plus-minus can’t tell the whole story in a game of basketball, but over consecutive games, it does paint a picture of where a player should be positioned in a rotation. Bobby’s average for +/- over the past nine games is -9. Still not convinced about the need for Bobby’s departure? He ranks 397th in the league for defensive rating out of 446 active players per 48 minutes.
Bucks GM Jon Horst has cooked before, let’s hope he can serve something up again. And fast.
Defensive Woes
Sometimes when you watch basketball, you get a pessimistic feeling about the outcome of a game.
During those times, it feels like a single three-pointer is worth more like 12 points than 3. That is how it’s felt for the Bucks this season. Aren’t you sick of every one of our opponents having some sort of historic three-point shooting night?
Milwaukee is giving up an average of 15 threes a game. Opponents are making these shots at a 37% clip, putting the Bucks at 25th in the league (bottom 20%) in 3-point defense. The Bucks are also allowing teams to shoot the ball 41 times from downtown each game— the league high is 41.9.
I don’t know if the coaching staff in Milwaukee knows this, but NBA teams shoot a lot of threes! Doc doesn’t seem to have a plan for the defense to improve. It would be nice for one of the many defensive-minded assistant coaches who were brought on, such as Dave Joeger or Rex Kalamian, would step up and create a better defensive scheme for this struggling team.
A Long Line at the ATM for Khash
The Bucks need to get to a point where their ‘Big 3’ is healthy if they want to seriously compete.
When the season started, some fans expected Khris Middleton to be sidelined for the long haul. Regardless of whatever the organization or Khris led you to believe, many suspected he would be out at least a few games to start the season.
But no one could have predicted that we would need Khris THIS badly ten games through. Nevertheless, here we are.
Khris is out indefinitely, and there is a real possibility we might not see him suit up until after Christmas. Hopefully, that’s not the case, as Khris is exactly what this team needs right now. He takes minutes in the rotation, and slides role players like Bobby and Pat Connaughton down the list. Though things look bleak, James Khristian Middleton is a man who was still able to put his team on his back and score 42 points in the 2024 playoffs.
The NBA marathon season continues, and most of the league has passed the 5-win mark. As for the Bucks? They’re going to have to make up a lot of ground, and fast.
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