Milwaukee Bucks: Takeaways from 115-106 loss to Chicago Bulls

Deadweight minutes

Having offered a real spark to start the season, DeAndre Liggins has completely fallen flat with the Bucks. At his best, he was a one-way player without anything to offer offensively, and more recently his defense has been equally lacking too.

Considering the Bucks have recently received positive minutes from Sterling Brown and Sean Kilpatrick, and Rashad Vaughn has even chipped in with his own contributions at times, Liggins getting 17 minutes of playing time is completely farcical.

If Jason Kidd wanted a player on the floor who would pick up opponents the full length of the floor, harry and harass on ball, and hustle to maximize his contributions, he should simply have dished out more minutes to Matthew Dellavedova. Delly can offer all of what Liggins can, while also being a more effective screen setter, and as he did on this occasion, dishing out five assists and making a triple.

Even with that, there would have been plenty of minutes to go around for others. Kidd had taken to giving Kilpatrick credit for providing a spark off the bench in the games prior to Christmas, so not turning to him for the same in a game that he’d later bemoan the level of energy and effort is entirely illogical.

Of course, the added layer to that is having Kilpatrick with the Bucks and not playing him is yet another example of wastefulness when it comes to two-way contracts.

In Liggins’ case, he’s certainly not doing enough to warrant as many minutes as he played on Tuesday, and in fact, his recent contributions should probably have him just about clinging on to his roster spot.