Milwaukee Bucks: O.J. Mayo Continues To Struggle

In a contract season, O.J. Mayo has failed to be a productive bench player for the Milwaukee Bucks.

O.J. Mayo is an important piece of the puzzle for the Milwaukee Bucks this season. Mayo (or Juice, as he’s affectionately called) is the main veteran leader in Milwaukee’s locker room. And aside from a few flashes of immaturity earlier in the season, he’s been a good voice for the younger guys on this team to look up to.

That’s important, and valuable. Many people have attributed the Bucks struggles this season to the lack of veteran leaders, and although Juice alone hasn’t been able to make up for the loss of some three veteran voices, he’s tried.

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Providing that leadership can boost up a player’s profile in a huge way. If a single player can help galvanize an entire locker room, they’re providing more value than simply what they do on the court. Rajon Rondo has been playing very well in Sacramento, but considering he’s also leading that team he’s even more valuable than just an effective point guard.

But how much can leadership really make up for if a player is struggling? The Milwaukee Bucks are going to have to do some deep thought on that question, considering the awful season O.J. Mayo is currently having on the court.

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Mayo is scoring just 9.1 points per game, on 37.4 percent shooting from the field and 29.4 percent shooting from three-point territory. All three of those numbers are career-lows for Mayo, who had never shot below 40 percent from the field or 30 percent from beyond the arc in a season before.

He’s also never averaged less than 10 points per game in a season, despite having four seasons in which he played less minutes per game than he currently is. To be fair to Juice though, he is on pace to set a career-low for shots taken per game this season.

To be even more fair, he’s also struggled with injuries at times this season. Still though, the Bucks expect–and need–more than this from Mayo.

Although fortunately Jerryd Bayless has been the bench shooter that Milwaukee hoped Mayo would be this season, he could use some help.

Bayless is currently the only Bucks bench player totaling more than ten points per game. Guys like John Henson and Johnny O’Bryant could certainly do with adding more points off of the bench, but neither of them was really expected to do any sort of sixth man type scoring.

Mayo was, and considering he plays significantly more minutes per game than Henson or O’Bryant his scoring drought is especially disappointing. The lack of steady points coming from Mayo has a lot to do with why the Bucks bench is 28th in points per game, league-wide.

It’s not too late for Juice to turn things around, especially if he can get healthy over the All-Star break. The Bucks are more than halfway through the season, but Mayo has played in just 29 games for Milwaukee.

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The difference between this season’s Mayo and the Mayo everyone is used to seeing may be as simple as the difference between an injured and uninjured Juice. It will be impossible to really tell, but if Mayo is able to bounce back after the break it becomes easier to write off his struggles as injury problems.

It will also become a lot easier for the Milwaukee Bucks to make the playoff push that Milwaukee has become so rabid about since the team’s three-game win streak.

Next: The Milwaukee Bucks Player Of The Week

The chances of actually making the postseason dropped heavily after the Bucks dropped back to back games against the Rockets and Pelicans, but a productive O.J. Mayo would be a big boost to Milwaukee’s tenuous playoff odds.

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Leadership Is The Only Thing O.J. Mayo Is Currently Adding To The Milwaukee Bucks

By Ti Windisch | Jan 25, 2016

In a contract season, O.J. Mayo has failed to be a productive bench player for the Milwaukee Bucks.

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