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Do The Milwaukee Bucks Miss Brandon Knight Already?

By Justin Woodard

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When the Milwaukee Bucks traded Brandon Knight to the Phoenix Suns back in February, they were 30-23 and playing really good basketball. With Michael Carter-Williams as the starting point guard the Bucks are a below .500 team and they are still struggling to shoot the jump shot effectively.

It doesn’t really help that Jabari Parker is still struggling with injury woes after finally returning from an ACL tear, and Knight has continued his success in Phoenix. Despite missing most of the second half of last season with an injury himself, Knight has been great to start this season.

Through 10 games to start this season he is averaging 20.2 points a game, 5.0 assists per game and 4.3 rebounds per game. And to top it all off, he recorded his first triple-double of his young career on Monday, Nov. 16 with 30 points, 15 assists and 10 boards against the Los Angeles Lakers.

Despite the below .500 record with Carter-Williams as the new starting point guard in Milwaukee, things haven’t been as bad as they may sound. MCW played a huge role in their playoff win on the road last year making things interesting for the Chicago Bulls.

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He nearly had a triple-double himself in that victory at the United Center on April 27, 2015. He scored 22 points to go along with 9 assists and 8 rebounds. And despite missing a few games to start this season with a sore ankle, he came back strong in the double OT victory against Cleveland this past Saturday.

He was the clear floor general of a young Bucks team, especially in the extra frames on his way to 17 points to go along with 4 assists and 5 rebounds. When the trade went down many Bucks’ fans were confused. Why would they trade arguably the best player on the team at that time for a point guard who can’t shoot in this ever-growing jump shooters league mentality?

Well, head coach Jason Kidd finally gave us a little insight into the real reason for trading away the budding young star.

It was easy to compare Knight and Carter-Williams because they play the same position, but maybe now we can begin to track the seasons of Knight and Middleton to see how they compare. The Bucks rewarded Middleton in the offseason with his new contract so it is up to him to prove to us he can still be that clutch shooter.

It’s easy to think this team should be better than they are to start this season considering the way they competed with the Bulls before bowing out in Game 6 last post-season, but to be honest, this team is basically brand new all over again, and guys are still getting used to playing with each other.

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In just 11 games this season Middleton is averaging 13.9 points a game and he is shooting above 40 percent from beyond the arc, but he has yet to have a huge scoring game so far. He has scored double-digit points in every game but one so far this season, and he had 14 points in limited game action due to foul trouble in Tuesday night’s loss to Washington.

Middleton isn’t expected to be the only guy to put the ball in the basket though. Big man Greg Monroe was rewarded in the offseason as well, and he is expected to bring 15-20 points on a nightly basis. Giannis Antetokounmpo continues to get better, and we can only hope Parker comes back stronger than ever with a minor setback to his journey back to the court.

O.J. Mayo has yet to play a game this season due to a nagging hamstring injury, and the team in general has dealt with injuries since the opening tip of the season. Reinforcements will be back soon according to those close to the team though.

Let’s not panic yet Bucks’ fans, this season has still just begun and this young team should be fun to watch play together and grow as a unit.

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