Milwaukee Bucks: Best and Worst (January 6 – February 2)
By Adam Coffman
Worst: The Jason Kidd Lineup Experience
As the Bucks have faltered lately, Jason Kidd has taken the initiative to experiment with different rotations and lineups, with interesting results. The most obvious change has been to the starting lineup. One such example is how the Bucks recently went to starting Miles Plumlee over John Henson at center, prior to Plumlee’s trade to Charlotte.
This change truthfully didn’t mean much – both players had been non-factors on the offensive end and had struggled to make their presence felt otherwise. Even so, it is significant in that magnifies a trend where whoever does not start will inevitably find themselves on the receiving end of a DND-CD or precious few minutes in garbage time.
In addition to mixing up his centers, Kidd has gone away from using Mirza Teletovic for periods of time, particularly while the latter was stuck in a long-range shooting slump. Although Telly has somewhat recovered (up to 35 percent from behind the arc), he is still a very one-dimensional player.
Jabari Parker’s outside stroke (38 percent on 3.6 attempts per game) has made Teletovic nearly expendable, which makes it tough to justify playing the latter any extended amount of time given his defensive limitations.
Thon Maker has also seen some run as of late, even starting in two of the Bucks’ last five games. He’s looked raw at times, but the talent and growth is definitely there, so look for the team to try and find him more minutes down the road.
The Bucks’ rotations are never predictable, which could be taken to mean a number of things, but it’s safe to say consistently successful teams don’t operate under such a state of flux.