Milwaukee Bucks: Why the team’s offseason is meaningless

If Mike Budenholzer refuses to move Eric Bledsoe to the bench, no offseason moves will matter for the Milwaukee Bucks as they’ll face the same issues as last season

There has been a significant amount of conversation around the league about whether the Milwaukee Bucks are willing to pay the luxury tax to re-sign their players. Dan Feldman of NBC Sports wrote an article detailing what would happen to their luxury tax bill if they re-signed everyone:

"If Lopez signs for the non-taxpayer mid-level exception (which projects to start at about $9 million), the Bucks could maintain Bird Rights for Middleton, Brogdon and Mirotic then exceed the cap to re-sign those three. But Milwaukee would be hard-capped at a projected $138 million. Stretching Leuer could help the Bucks stay under that line."

However, one can argue that the team’s offseason moves will be meaningless if coach Budenholzer decides to keep Eric Bledsoe in the starting lineup. Coach Budenholzer incorporated many aspects of the LeBron James offense into his offensive system last season.

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An example of this was when Giannis Antetokounmpo dribbled the ball to the 3-point line and analyzed 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.

This offensive system forced his teammates to spend more time off the ball in the role of a bystander or 3-point shooter. For example, Bledsoe saw a significant increase in his 3-point field goal attempts when Budenholzer took over as head coach.

In the year before Budenholzer became the head coach, Bledsoe took 36.4 percent of his field goal attempts from behind the arc. Upon coach Budenholzer’s arrival, Bledsoe saw a 2.4 percent increase in his 3-point field goal attempts.

Unfortunately, the increase in 3-point field goal attempts wasn’t beneficial for Bledsoe as he shot 32.9 percent from behind the arc. Eric Bledsoe’s 3-point percentage was 2.6 percent below the league average of 35.5 percent. Therefore, his defender would routinely leave him wide open when he didn’t have the basketball to become a help defender.

One example of this was midway through the first quarter of Game 6 against the Toronto Raptors when Bledsoe stood in the right corner in the role of a bystander as Khris Middleton had the ball at the top of the key. This allowed his defender Danny Green to leave him wide open and stand near the right low block.

Green’s decision allowed him to analyze the rest of the floor and see if any of his teammates needed help with their assignments. Consequently, it will be difficult for the team to win a championship with Bledsoe in the starting lineup.

Therefore, the team would be better off if coach Budenholzer moved Bledsoe to the bench as it forces opponents to guard everyone on the floor. For example, if the team put Sterling Brown in the starting lineup, defenders would have to stay closer to him as he has a career shooting percentage of 35.7 percent from behind the arc in two seasons.

Brown’s shooting percentage is 0.1 percent [( 36.1 + 35.5 )/2 = 35.8] worse than the league average for the past two seasons. Not only would the move help the starters, but it gives Bledsoe a chance to thrive as he is at his best with the ball in his hands (which is one of his strengths).

As a consequence, coach Budenholzer can bring Bledsoe into the game when Giannis needs to rest and run a pick and roll offense. If coach Budenholzer refuses to make this change, none of their offseason moves will matter as they’ll face the same issues as last season.