Feb 27, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (34) drives against Los Angeles Lakers forward Wesley Johnson (11) during the first half at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports
Lessons Learned
1. The Bucks need a new leader. These four losses haven’t been exceptionally close games, but most of them were at least possible Bucks wins at some point in the fourth quarter. Where previously Brandon Knight would emerge to take shots and up the tempo to bring the Bucks back into the game, now there is a void.
A void that can and must be filled. No one played has stepped up to fill it yet. I may just do an article going into further detail about this at some point, but it seems like the three most obvious choices are Money Middleton, Giannis and MCDub. One of those guys needs to become clutch fast and just take over games for Milwaukee. As much as hero ball gets blasted, every good team has at least one guy they know they can go to with the game on the line. The Bucks need to rediscover who that guy is.
2. Jared Dudley shouldn’t play through injury. Really no player should unless the circumstances really dictate it (see Jordan’s literally sick game in Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals), but Dudley has tried to and looked..not good. I’m all for guys giving their all for the good of the team, but these aren’t must-win games for Milwaukee and there’s no need to rush Dudley back from injury. Let the man rest and maybe give the uninjured Miles Plumlee more than the zero minutes he got in the Golden State game.
3. Tyler Ennis is fun. I love how this guy (I call him T-Dot because he’s from Toronto and that’s what his social media name is) takes a bunch of shots and generally flies around the court, trying desperately to do something. He misses and turns the ball over a lot right now, but at least it’s fun to watch. Milwaukee might really have something in young T-Dot, who plays as though he’s a lot older than just 20. He takes a lot of Kobe shots right now, which honestly I don’t mind too much, mostly because if he starts making them and miraculously turns into Kobe-Lite I’ll have the time of my life covering this team.
4. Jason Kidd is too committed to the veterans. In Wednesday’s loss to Golden State, Zaza Pachulia and Ersan Ilyasova played a combined 60 minutes. John Henson and Miles Plumlee played a combined nine minutes. In a game that the Bucks were unlikely to win anyway, and a season the Bucks are using to rebuild, why play the guys who aren’t key pieces of the rebuilding process so much? Henson (and Plumlee to a lesser degree) could have a huge role on this team for years to come; he needs to see more minutes so he can develop further.
5. Giannis is developing into a really good rebounder. In addition to the laundry list of other things Giannis has gotten much better at this season, his rebounding has improved a lot from his rookie season. The Greek Freak went from 6.4 boards per 36 minutes up to 8.0, a pretty significant jump.
Interestingly enough he’s averaging the exact same number of offensive rebounds per 36 as last season, meaning that Giannis’ rebounding improvement has come largely on the defensive end of things. That makes sense considering how much Giannis has gotten better at all facets of defense (Giannis is ninth in Defensive Win Shares and tenth in Defensive Rating in the entire NBA this season, making him a truly elite defender) in his sophomore season.
Next: Looking Ahead