Milwaukee Bucks: Takeaways From Loss To Denver Nuggets

The Wheel Keeps Spinning

In the words of our own Jordan Treske: Spin that wheel! With the Bucks still looking far from at their best on the court, and now further depleted without Michael Beasley for at least a few games, Jason Kidd reverted to a couple of his infamous lineup changes on Wednesday.

With Kidd believing that Beasley’s absence required an adjustment to the balance of both the starting lineup and second unit, Malcolm Brogdon and Rashad Vaughn were called upon to start in place of Matthew Dellavedova and Beasley.

Considering the disparity between the recent play of Dellavedova and Brogdon of late, it was hard to dispute the coach’s decision to return the rookie to the starting lineup, particularly at a time when he now finds himself among the undisputed frontrunners for Rookie of the Year.

It was the selection of Vaughn that was considerably more puzzling, though, with Kidd explaining the move as evidence of a reluctance to reduce his bench options for when Giannis Antetokounmpo sits. As a result, more obvious replacements like Khris Middleton and Mirza Teletovic were forced to await their chance.

Although Vaughn has shown flashes of more positive defensive contributions of late (or at least so many fans and coach Kidd have been saying), still struggling to show any glimpse of offensive ability remains a highly troubling problem. In other words, the former UNLV Runnin’ Rebel’s selection in that group was akin to the kind of placeholder start that Bucks fans used to associate with Johnny O’Bryant.

While that idea can be fine in theory in the hope of balancing a roster, it was exposed painfully on Wednesday when Milwaukee fell into a deep, deep hole early on and had already left themselves too much to do to recover.

Tying their season-low for first quarter points with only 15 in the period, Vaughn was benched after only five minutes of play, having offered no box score contribution other than a missed field goal, and with his team already down by 11.

The fact that Vaughn never returned would seem like acknowledgement of a failed experiment, but as it has become practically impossible to predict Milwaukee’s starting lineup, that’s no guarantee that he won’t get another chance on Friday.

Considering the Bucks showed signs of life later behind Middleton’s stellar play, the time for overthinking rotations has passed Kidd by. This team currently isn’t good enough to be worried about balancing their rotations, as if they can’t hold their own early on, the game will be quickly beyond them.