Milwaukee Bucks: Five Crazy Predictions For The 2016-17 NBA Season

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Feb 27, 2016; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Detroit Pistons center Aron Baynes (12) takes a shot against Milwaukee Bucks forward Steve Novak (6) in the second quarter at BMO Harris Bradley Center. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports /

Steve Novak Continues His Four-Year Trend Of Shrinking Games

Steve Novak appeared in 81 games in the 2012-13 NBA season. He got in 54 games the year after that, 35 games in the next season, and finally appeared in 10 games a year ago. The trend will continue this next season.

Novak has a few things working against him. The first is that he’s really not good at doing things besides shooting at the NBA level, and a lack of skills is never a good thing for an NBA player. Coaches love players who are able to do lots of things well.

The second thing working against Novak is the depth at his position. In this new, smaller NBA, he’s too slow to guard most small forwards. Novak was never really a small forward anyway–the only season he spent the majority of his time at that spot was 2007-08.

That means he’s a power forward now, so he competes with big guys for minutes. Although the Bucks don’t have a stable of guards and wings, the team is absolutely stacked with bigs.

Novak needs to find minutes behind Jabari Parker, Mirza Teletovic, Michael Beasley (who is a small forward but should probably also play power forward), Giannis Antetokounmpo (who could play either power forward or center in small lineups), Thon Maker, Henson, Plumlee and Monroe.

It just doesn’t seem likely that he’ll get much time there. Novak could find himself in garbage time games or potentially in spacing lineups, but his lack of defense and passing might preclude him from those spots too, especially considering Thon could get those garbage time looks.

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