Poor Post Play Hurt The Milwaukee Bucks Offense

The Milwaukee Bucks offense was an abject failure for the duration of the 2015-16 season. Much of the blame falls on the team’s inability to efficiently score from the post.

The Milwaukee Bucks did not have an effective offense in 2016. Milwaukee ranked 25th among NBA teams in points per game, 26th in offensive rating and 23rd in pace.

The Bucks didn’t score much per game or per 100 possessions, and their offense was slow.

Much of that is attributed to Milwaukee’s inability to hit three-pointers at a reliable rate. The Bucks finished dead last among all teams in three-pointers attempted and made, and 21st in three-point percentage.

None of this is news to anybody who watched more than a handful of seconds of a Bucks game. What may be news, however, is that three-point shooting is not the only thing Milwaukee struggled with.

More from Bucks News

To counter their lack of shooting–and to exemplify the strengths of their newly-inked, esteemed free agency addition Greg Monroe–the Milwaukee Bucks ran a significant portion of their offense through the post.

Only three NBA teams posted up more than the Bucks did over the course of the 2015-16 season, both by percentage of possessions and total number of possessions, per Synergy data provided to NBA.com.

Although the Bucks posted up a ton (883 times, to be specific) the team was not very effective at scoring from the post. Milwaukee ranked 13th in post field goal percentage, 27th in free throw percentage from post-ups, 24th in turnover frequency from the post, and 19th in post scoring frequency.

Mar 30, 2016; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Milwaukee Bucks center Greg Monroe (15) during the game against the Phoenix Suns at BMO Harris Bradley Center. Milwaukee won 105-94. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

That last statistic is extra disappointing. Post scoring frequency is a percentage of post possessions that resulted in at least one point. Thanks to Milwaukee’s low rate of free throw attempts from the post, despite Monroe’s frequent cries that he very much deserved them, the Bucks scored on just 42.8 percent of their trips to the post.

Unsurprisingly, most of Milwaukee’s post trips came via Greg Monroe. Moose posted up 407 times over the course of the season, which was third-most in the NBA according to Synergy data provided to NBA.com.

For all those trips, Monroe didn’t generate much offense. He ranked 88th in points per post possession, scoring just 0.01 points per possession more than Khris Middleton.

Miles Plumlee, Johnny O’Bryant and Jabari Parker all ranked significantly better than Monroe did in points per possession from the post. All of them scored at least one point per possession from that area, where Monroe managed just 0.86.

Some of the blame for that certainly rests on Monroe’s shoulders, but everything comes back to the lack of spacing in the end.

Obviously Monroe should’ve passed to a wide-open Jabari Parker beyond the arc there, but this Vine shows the problem with running an offense through the post without having shooters on the floor.

Defenses are okay with allowing bad shooters to take shots, even if they’re of the catch-and-shoot variety. Outside of Monroe himself, just two Bucks to take at least 15 catch-and-shoot shots made more than 40 percent of them–Jerryd Bayless and Khris Middleton.

Those two are also the only Bucks who made more than 40 percent of their catch-and-shoot threes. Maybe leaving Jabari hanging wasn’t the worst thing Moose could’ve done in the above clip–Parker made just 25 percent of his catch-and-shoot threes last season.

Giannis wasn’t much better, converting on 26.7 percent of his catch-and-shoot threes. Of course it’s preferable for those two to keep taking those shots, even if they miss.

More from Behind the Buck Pass

Neither of them provided any meaningful spacing though, allowing defenders to sag onto Monroe and make his life tough in the post.

Only DeMarcus Cousins attempted more field goals per game than Greg Monroe did with a defender within two feet of them.

Just 17 percent of Monroe’s total shots came when a defender was more than four feet away, while 41.7 percent of them came with someone within two feet of him.

Next: Prospect Watch: Marquese Chriss

The Bucks atrocious spacing let defenses sag, hard. Greg Monroe and the rest of the Milwaukee Bucks post offense paid the price for shooters not being able to shoot in Milwaukee last season.