Milwaukee Bucks: Matthew Dellavedova should start over Eric Bledsoe
By Zamir Bueno
The Milwaukee Bucks should start Matthew Dellavedova over Eric Bledsoe as he would be better suited for an off the ball role alongside Giannis Antetokounmpo
"“I think learning our players and putting them in the position to be the best they can be is what I will do over the next couple months. Really, we’ll be learning each other for parts of the season, too.”"
According to Matt Velazquez of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, this was said by the new head coach of the Bucks Mike Budenholzer in regards to how he would integrate himself into the organization.
However, one can argue that Budenholzer is putting some players in position to fail instead of succeeding. The Milwaukee Bucks are currently running a system that features some aspects of the LeBron James offense.
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Giannis Antetokounmpo dribbles the ball to the 3-point line and analyzes the entire defense. If one of the defenders is sagging off a shooter, he will pass the basketball to the shooter for an open 3-pointer.
On the other hand, if everyone stays home, he will study everything about his defender to determine the next course of action. If the defender decided to sag off of him, Giannis would take the open jumper. But, if the defender played him tight, he will attempt to drive towards the basket for a score, to draw a foul or attract a double team.
Distance is not the only aspect of the defense that Giannis analyzes as he also pays attention to the size of his defender. If he has a smaller defender, Giannis will back him down into the post to score or throw a cross-court pass to a teammate behind the arc.
The Milwaukee Bucks’ new offense is forcing some of Giannis’s teammates into new roles. A prime example of this is Eric Bledsoe who should be forced to spend time off the ball in a spot up shooter/ bystander role.
Although Eric Bledsoe is shooting 41.2 percent from behind the arc thru three games, he is likely to struggle for the rest of the season as he has a career shooting percentage of 33.8 percent. This is significantly below the league average in three-point percentage for last season (36.2%).
This puts the opposing team in a good position defensively when Bledsoe doesn’t have the ball because they can afford to leave him open to provide help defense elsewhere.
Therefore, Mike Budenholzer should move Eric Bledsoe to the bench and start Matthew Dellavedova at point guard. Dellavedova would be better suited for an off the ball role alongside Giannis Antetokounmpo because he has a career three-point shooting percentage of 38.8 percent.
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As a consequence, opposing team can’t afford to leave him open because he’ll make those shots more often than not.