Milwaukee Bucks Roundtable: Regular season return

What stands out as your biggest takeaway from the Bucks preseason?

Ben Sewell (@pencil2292): In a preseason where we went 1-3, there’s a few things I’m not overly impressed with. My biggest takeaway however is Brogdon’s lack of impact on these games. Averaging 5.3 points per game, shooting 36 percent from the field is just not going to get the job done this season.

I’m willing to take the first 3 games as “its only preseason” but that last game against the Pistons where Kidd dragged him early really highlighted to me his slow start. Fingers crossed it’s just a minor form slump and not an indication of his season ahead.

Adam McGee (@AdamMcGee11): The biggest takeaway is probably that key individuals have looked pretty good, even while the team has looked pretty bad. That tells us a couple of things.

The most obvious is that Giannis is completely essential to this team functioning, but the second is that it’s important to note that it’s not just him. Thon Maker‘s energy leading to a win — after three losses when he didn’t play — isn’t a coincidence.

Essentially, even with a superstar, the Bucks’ success will be tied to cohesion as a group as much as anything else. When they look out of sync, things get really bad. When everything clicks, they can beat any team in the NBA.

Mike Bossetti (@mikebosports): How important Thon Maker is to this team. His importance could be noticed just as much in the three games he did not play as the one that he did. When Thon Maker was on the court the Bucks were +25, when he was off an abysmal -57.

Rohan Katti (@rkattijr): My biggest takeaway from the preseason is how well the starters were playing. The last preseason game against the Detroit Pistons was the only game where all five opening day starters were playing, and each one of them seemed to have elevated their individual games to fit the team.

At points during his preseason games, it felt like Giannis Antetokounmpo was playing in a street ball game where no one could match his level. He showed the capability of finding new passing angles, and Giannis looks to have found an improved ability to find open shooters after penetrating.

Jordan Treske (@JordanTreske): Even under the banner of it being preseason, I echo what some have already said about the team’s preseason being very underwhelming.

There were various factors involved obviously with Giannis missing the team’s first two games, being without Thon for the first three games and having to deal with the shortened training camp. Nonetheless, it wasn’t reassuring to see the Bucks showing little signs of life at times and against teams that they should look superior than, even with all that considered.

Other than that, I think it showed what we already know or expected for those same exact reasons.

Tim Wray (@TRW24): As always, preseason was a mixed bag for the Bucks. The first three games were fairly forgettable (although we almost had a Rashad Vaughn game winner) and whilst that shouldn’t be cause for panic, I can’t say that I wasn’t a little relieved to see a regular-season Bucks lineup completely blow the Pistons starters off the court during the third quarter of the final game.

Granted, the fairly underwhelming preseason wasn’t aided by a shorter training camp, starters and key rotation pieces missing games, and the need to get a decent look at the (former) candidates for the final roster spot, which usually took over the fourth quarter of games.

That said, perhaps the only tangible thing I’ve taken from the Bucks’ preseason is that the defensive scheme is still determined to make every opposing team look like the Houston Rockets from behind the arc. On the flip side, it was encouraging to watch the Bucks jack up over 30 three-pointers against the Pistons, a mark they reached only 11 times last season, for an 8-3 record.