The Milwaukee Bucks’ Crowded, Complicated Point Guard Situation
By Ti Windisch
The Milwaukee Bucks have solved their first point guard problem. Michael Carter-Williams will be the Bucks’ starting point guard from here on out, like it or nah. The more interesting situation is now about Milwaukee’s backup floor general for the rest of the Bulls series, and hopefully beyond it in this post-season.
The Bucks have three options to choose from for the backup position: Jerryd Bayless, Jorge Gutierrez and Tyler Ennis. Bayless currently holds the role of reserve point guard, which was solidified in the minutes distribution in Game 1 of Milwaukee’s playoff series against Chicago. Bayless played 23 minutes. Neither Ennis nor JG13 saw any.
The pertinent question that this article attempts to answer is not if Bayless is the first point guard off of the bench, but if he should be.
It’s a difficult question to answer, mostly because Jason Kidd hasn’t utilized Ennis or JG13 much this season. Instead of using their skewed per game stats, I’m going to compare the three point guards’ per 100 possessions statistics.
| Player | Season | Age | G | MP | FGA | FG% | 3PA | 3P% | FTA | FT% | TRB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | PF | PTS | ORtg | DRtg | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jerryd Bayless | 2014-15 | 26 | 77 | 1717 | 15.3 | .426 | 3.6 | .308 | 4.1 | .883 | 6.3 | 6.9 | 1.8 | 0.4 | 4.0 | 4.8 | 17.8 | 99 | 104 | |
| Tyler Ennis | 2014-15 | 20 | 33 | 411 | 17.8 | .361 | 5.3 | .279 | 0.9 | .714 | 4.3 | 9.0 | 2.2 | 0.6 | 5.2 | 4.5 | 15.0 | 83 | 105 | |
| Jorge Gutierrez | 2014-15 | 26 | 20 | 175 | 12.0 | .537 | 0.9 | .000 | 3.8 | .692 | 7.3 | 6.4 | 1.8 | 0.0 | 3.5 | 7.3 | 15.5 | 105 | 105 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 4/19/2015.
Tyler Ennis just doesn’t hold up next to the other two guards. I like T-Dot and think he has a lot of potential (showcased in his first and only career start, which saw Ennis stack up eleven assists in 36 minutes) but he’s not ready to see any significant minutes in the playoffs yet.
Ennis in action. Mandatory Credit: Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports
He’s shot a putrid 36.1 percent from the field and 27.9 percent from three-point line on 5.3 threes per 100 possessions, which is way too many for a sub-30 percent long-range shooter. Although T-Dot dishes more assists than Bayless or JG13, he also turns the ball over more than either of them. He may have a bright future, but he shouldn’t see meaningful minutes this post-season.
Jerryd Bayless has been better than T-Dot, but I’m not sold on him being the only point guard to come off of the bench for Milwaukee. Bayless’ field goal percentage of 42.6 is better than Ennis’, but not by much. It’s not good because so much of Bayless’ scoring comes from the woefully inefficient long-two. He takes the majority of his shots, 32.6 percent of them, from longer than 16 feet from the rim but still in front of the three-point line.
Many of those long twos come with plenty of time left on the shot clock, and one or more of Bayless’ teammates standing open in more efficient scoring areas longing for a chance to take a better shot than the one Bayless will certainly take.
Bayless in motion. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports
It’s frustrating for fans and teammates alike, it unnecessarily speeds up the Bucks’ offense and it often kills any momentum Milwaukee has going. I liked Bayless’ game a lot more earlier this season, but he seems to have become more trigger-happy and less sensible in his offense lately. I don’t like that one bit.
Surprisingly enough Gutierrez leads the group in most of these statistics. His field goal percentage is by far the best among them, and although JG13 is a non-factor from long-range right now he still shoots almost 54 percent from the field. He averages the least assists (by a mere 0.5 less per 100 possessions than Bayless) but also the least turnovers and most rebounds of the group.
His offensive rating is far better than Ennis and noticeably better than Bayless, and his defensive rating is slightly below Bayless and tied with Ennis. His weakest areas are the aforementioned three-point shooting, his free throw shooting, and his fouling.
JG13 (and his magnificent beard) at work. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports
JG13 hasn’t been good from the charity stripe this season, and he’s currently shooting just under 70 percent. That’s not awful, but it’s certainly not good either. I wouldn’t say shooting around 70 percent makes him a noticeably worse player though; that’s just about five percent under the league average percentage of 75.
The fouling and three-point shooting are more legitimate issues, but I don’t think either of them are crucial detriments to JG13 either. Michael Carter-Williams has played great lately without having an effective outside game, and in the limited minutes Gutierrez would see I doubt he would foul out of many games.
I’d really like to see JG13 get some playoff minutes for Milwaukee this season. I highly doubt Kidd would ever take Bayless completely out of the lineup (although I wouldn’t mind him trying it for at least one game) but Gutierrez should at least crack the rotation. He was brought in because of his familiarity with Kidd, and he’s played exceedingly well.
Why not give him a shot to contribute in some meaningful playoff games?
Next: Bucks vs. Bulls - Game 1 Grades And Reactions
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