The Milwaukee Bucks aren’t an NBA Championship contender just yet
By Zamir Bueno
While the Milwaukee Bucks have the best record in the NBA, they’re not a legit championship contender just yet
There is a growing sentiment within the NBA community that the Milwaukee Bucks have become championship contenders this season. Kaelen Jones of Sports Illustrated wrote an article last month alluding to this:
"There are worthy opponents who could hold their own with Toronto. At its best, the 76ers’ triple threat of Jimmy Butler, Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons perhaps poses enough star power necessary to compete with the Raptors"
However, one can argue that Giannis Antetokounmpo and Eric Bledsoe will prevent the team from winning the championship this season. The Milwaukee Bucks are currently running a system that features some aspects of the LeBron James offense.
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Giannis 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 is being forced to spend time off the ball in a spot up shooter/ bystander role. Eric is averaging 56.3 touches per game which is 15.5 fewer than last season.
Unfortunately, Bledsoe isn’t very good off the ball because he is a below average shooter from behind the arc (33.5 percent). This is significantly below the league average in 3-point percentage for this season (35.3%).
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.
Although Mike Budenholzer has used Giannis as his primary ball handler/playmaker this season, there are some possessions when he uses him as a decoy. A prime example of this was midway through the first quarter of a home game against the Utah Jazz when Eric Bledsoe dribbled the ball to the 3-point line.
Once this happened, Bledsoe decided to attack the basket because Ricky Rubio chose to play tight defense. As Eric approached the basket, Rudy Gobert who was guarding Giannis came over to provide help defense on him. Even though two players were guarding Eric Bledsoe, he chose to take a heavily contested layup instead of passing the ball to Giannis for the wide open 3.
Bledsoe was aware that Antetokounmpo wouldn’t have made the shot because shooting is his biggest weakness. Giannis has regressed as a 3-point shooter as he is currently shooting 16.7 percent from behind the arc which is 14 percent less than last season.
The lack of shooting from Giannis and Bledsoe will force the Bucks to play at an offensive disadvantage in the playoffs. This is because the defense can afford to leave the player who doesn’t have the ball wide open and provide help defense elsewhere.
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Therefore, Budenholzer should remove Eric Bledsoe from the starting lineup (which I’ve mentioned before) in favor of a better shooter because it lessens the opposing team’s ability to provide help defense. If he declines, the Milwaukee Bucks will end up losing to Boston or Toronto.