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Milwaukee Bucks: The Eternal Point Guard Question

By Jordan Treske

Jan 20, 2017; Orlando, FL, USA; Milwaukee Bucks head coach Jason Kidd talks with guard Matthew Dellavedova (8) against the Orlando Magic during the first half at Amway Center. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 20, 2017; Orlando, FL, USA; Milwaukee Bucks head coach Jason Kidd talks with guard Matthew Dellavedova (8) against the Orlando Magic during the first half at Amway Center. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Milwaukee Bucks upgraded their point guard position this year, but are they any closer to finding their point guard of the future?

At this time last year, not many questions stood out more for the Milwaukee Bucks than what to do with their point guard situation.

The writing was on the wall for the Michael Carter-Williams experiment, Tyler Ennis had shown limited flashes in his playing time and despite a productive season last year, Jerryd Bayless was on the cusp of entering free agency. Change was clearly coming for the Bucks last offseason, the question was just how much.

We got first our dose of change with the Bucks selecting guard Malcolm Brogdon with the 36th overall pick in last year’s draft.  Shortly after the start of free agency, Bayless left to sign with the Philadelphia 76ers and the Bucks responded by finding his replacement in Matthew Dellavedova, signing him to a four-year, $38 million deal (which would later turn into a sign-and-trade deal with the Cleveland Cavaliers).

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Both Carter-Williams and Ennis were dealt before the beginning of the season, leaving both Brogdon and Dellavdedova to share all the point guard minutes for this year. That’s a partnership that’s helped improve the team’s point guard play overall, but to date it’s one that has also left one player shining more so than the other.

In his first season, Brogdon has caught everyone by surprise, both on a local and national level.  A legitimate Rookie of the Year candidate, Brogdon has helped shore up the team’s long standing shooting woes and his impact on both ends of the floor has given the Bucks a big boost (Brogdon’s posting a net rating of +4.2 points per 100 possessions, per NBA.com/stats).

While long billed as an ideal fit, Dellavedova has seen the lion’s share of struggles between the two. He’s currently going through the worst shooting season of his career, going by both his three-point percentage (33.8 percent) and his true shooting percentage (49.1 percent).

There have been some bright spots for Dellavedova, however, as he’s been very steady as a playmaker this year, averaging 5.2 assists per game and posting a 2.84 assist-to-turnover ratio.

Of course, what fueled the Bucks to bring in the like-minded point guards over the summer was the sensation that was Giannis Antetokounmpo assuming lead playmaking duties for the Bucks during the second half of the season last year.

As we’ve learned this season, though, so much of what Giannis has done can’t be classified by any traditional role or even position at times.  Although that’s been to his benefit as he’s become this versatile, swiss army knife-type weapon, it’s also come at the expense of both players and it’s hurt the Bucks at critical times (i.e. Dellavedova’s clutch game stats).

No matter the case, the Bucks have clearly made progress in restocking a position where the Bucks had borderline NBA-level talent mostly compromising it last year.

With that said, questions still remain whether Dellavedova and yes, Brogdon, are fit to take on the mantle of the team’s starting point guard of the future. For example, what both Brogdon and Dellavedova bring with their high-IQ and poise at the position, they lack in their athleticism, respectively.

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Creating shots off the dribble has been a notable sore spot for both Dellavedova and Brogdon, with Delly averaging a 40.8 percent effective field goal percentage on pull-up attempts whereas Brogdon is averaging a 43.1 percent effective field goal percentage off his pull-up attempts.

On top of that, the duo’s ability to finish around the rim has been far from ideal, with Delly finishing 42.9 percent of his attempts in the restricted area and Brogdon hitting 52.4 percent of his attempts in the restricted area this year.

Those two key areas stand as great concerns and as we’ve seen at times throughout the year, it’s given opposing defenses ways to go about exploiting their weaknesses, such as pressuring them relentlessly on the ball.

In finding players cut from the same cloth like Brogdon and Dellavedova, it’s become apparent over the course of the year just how desperately the need for a dynamic, change of pace point guard has become for the Bucks, in terms of filling out their foundation for the future.

On both a realistic and financial level, finding a player that fits that mold for the Bucks either lies via trade or through the draft. Sure, we can easily point to players that may have served as answers for that in the past at this point, but most, if not all, only serve to fix the problem temporary, not permanently.

Next: Milwaukee Bucks: Player Power Rankings (Feb. 16-Mar. 1)

For now, searching for players who may fill those needs for the Bucks is a discussion for another day. Despite the strides the Bucks have made to improve their point guard play this season, their work is far from finished on that end.

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