What Will Spacing Look Like For The Milwaukee Bucks This Season?

By Aaron Edwards | Sep 12, 2015

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Apr 3, 2015; Boston, MA, USA; Milwaukee Bucks guard

Michael Carter-Williams

(5) reacts after his three point basket against the Boston Celtics in the second half at TD Garden. The Bucks defeated the Celtics 110 to 101. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

Spacing is the dream child of modern, analytics driven NBA basketball. It’s an excuse for a group of elite players not playing well together, and the justification for “over-performing” teams that make deep playoff runs. And knowing what this new era of Bucks management is after (presumably the owning of the future), spacing is something that’s going to be important.

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So now on to the real question. Will the Bucks have any this season?

The idea of good spacing really is pretty simple in theory; spread out your players over as much of the half-court as possible. If every player is efficient in the area where they play then the defense can’t easily double and stop your first and second options.

This is why three-point shooting has become such a precious commodity. Because if you can stretch your offense out to the three-point line, then you bring defenders out as well and create more space to operate in the post.

The epitome of bad spacing can be seen in last year’s Pistons squad. Conventional thinking would say take three great basketball players (such as Josh Smith, Greg Monroe, and Andre Drummond), put them on the floor and watch them score. The problem is when you look at where their shots came from.

Drummond and Monroe were both big men whose shots were limited outside of ten feet. Josh Smith came in as a stretch four who could occasionally knock down threes, but was expected to operate from 15ft to three-point range. Smith’s percentages from that range are less than half what they were within ten feet of the basket. 60-70 percent of his shots have come from within three feet his entire career up until his stint in Detroit.

It was a plan destined to fail because the three highest paid players who controlled the offense all operated within ten, and efficiently within three feet of the basket. There was no spacing, and the team imploded. Take new Buck Greg Monroe’s career shooting stats as the prime example.

Good spacing on the other hand is beautiful to watch. It stretches defenses thin and increases offensive efficiency. But the model for perfect floor spacing isn’t that simple. It’s about maximizing offensive efficiency but letting your best players have space to operate. And every team is made up differently.

Let’s look at the make-up of the Bucks come October.

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