2017-18 Review:
With a legit MVP contender on their roster, the Bucks declared that they were contenders to reach the playoffs and they’d also try to get home court edge for the first round.
However, the team showed no improvements in comparison with the previous season even with Eric Bledsoe joining the roster. They ended up with the same problems as in the previous season, especially on defense: they were the worst defensive rebounding team of the league and they used a defensive system that was too aggressive and that consistently put them in trouble on the weak side.
In mid-January, Milwaukee’s front office had enough and fired head coach Jason Kidd. Weirdly, they decided to promote former assistant coach Joe Prunty to the head coach position for the remaining of the season.
|
W
|
L
|
Pace
|
Rank
|
Off rtg
|
Rank
|
Def rtg
|
Rank
|
Kidd
|
23
|
22
|
97.7
|
23
|
107.1
|
8
|
107.6
|
25
|
Prunty
|
21
|
16
|
99.3
|
15
|
108.7
|
10
|
106.6
|
15
|
Joe Prunty made some minor adjustments in order to simplify the defensive scheme of the team and it improved in both ends of the floor, but only marginally and hence insufficiently to really improve the team’s chances against their main rivals. Therefore, Milwaukee ended the regular season with the #7 seed in the East and had to face the #2 Celtics in the first round of the playoffs.
Milwaukee was able to force Boston to seven games in a tough series, but on Game 7 their coach Joe Prunty was completely outcoached by Boston’s coach Brad Stevens.
2018-19 Outlook:
Milwaukee’s front office believed the team was underachieving and so, they hired one of the most desired available head coaches in the league: Mike Budenholzer.
The Bucks are coming from three consecutive seasons where they’ve been unable to be an even decent defensive team and the expectation is that with Budenholzer they’ll be able to improve considerably on this area. On the other hand, Budenholzer implemented a great offensive system in Atlanta, similar to the one San Antonio used, with a lot of ball sharing and that worked well until Atlanta’s roster quality decreased considerably.
Milwaukee will have in Giannis Antetokounmpo, Eric Bledsoe and Khris Middleton their three best players of the team once again and with these three players on the court at the same time, the Bucks had a +6.4 net rating in 1430 minutes last season, so we can expect the Bucks to be very competitive with them on the court this season as well.
Giannis should once again be one of the best players in the league, while Mike Budenholzer will need to try to motivate Eric Bledsoe to play better defense. Middleton will need to improve his perimeter shooting, after a subpar performance last season.
Milwaukee’s big off-season moves were on the frontcourt. Brook Lopez joined the team and he should have an important role this season, as he’s a good scorer down low, something that the Bucks haven’t been able to do in the last few seasons. On the other hand, Ersan Ilyasova has returned to the team and he has been a positive impact player in every team he has played in the league.
But how will Milwaukee stop being one of the worst defensive rebounding the teams in the league? The Bucks were #30, #29 and #30 in this area in the last three seasons and Brook Lopez isn’t an elite rebounder and Atlanta wasn’t also a good defensive rebounding team under Budenholzer, which means that the Bucks will struggle in this area again.
Atlanta under Mike Budenholzer was one of the best teams in the league in assists per game by sharing the ball constantly and spreading the floor with good shooters. Let’s see what kind of approach Budenholzer has in Milwaukee, as their style on offense has been the opposite by being elite at scoring at the rim, while struggling on perimeter shooting.
Milwaukee has talent to do better than they did in the last two seasons, but they’ll have to quickly adapt to a new playing style. Offensively, the Bucks should change a few things, but the bigger challenge for them will be on defense. If the Bucks are able to be decent on defense, then they should fight for first round home court in the playoffs.