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

Expectations, energy and effort

Humiliated by a rebuilding divisional rival for the second time in two weeks on the Bucks’ home court, Bucks fans could have been forgiven for hoping that their head coach would be able to provide some answers following the game.

Instead, Kidd’s familiar brand of post-game thoughts only produced further questions.

In a truly incredible comment, as relayed by Matt Velazquez of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Kidd spoke about the level of expectation around his team.

"“You guys can write that we’re a super team and that we’re really good and we’ve got the ‘Big 3’ or the ‘Brew 3.’ We’re a young team that’s learning how to play the game at a high level with expectations that are a little bit too high. Understanding that no one in that locker room has ever won, so we’re learning how to win as a team.”"

Claiming expectations are too high after a second home loss in a short span of time to the Chicago Bulls is laughable in its own right, but if Kidd has an issue with the expectations for his team, he should probably take a look inside his own house.

The expectations were set on media day, when Kidd, Jon Horst and the ownership spoke about the benefits of continuity and what the team could achieve as a result, when the players spoke about 50 wins and being a top-five defense, when ownership expressed a desire to see progress this season on the team’s journey toward becoming a championship winning team.

The Bucks are lucky enough to have the second best player in the Eastern Conference, who might even be one of the five best players in the NBA. They have a 20 points per game scorer paired alongside him in Khris Middleton, they added Eric Bledsoe, a dynamic point guard to free up the pressure on the rest of the team, Tony Snell is the ideal role player for the modern NBA, Malcolm Brogdon’s contributions earned him Rookie of the Year honors last year, and another heavyweight will return in the next six weeks or so in the form of Jabari Parker.

With a roster as talented as that group, and having finished sixth in the East and scared the Toronto Raptors in the playoffs last year, what part of finding themselves in the mix for the eighth spot in the East approaching the halfway point of the season suggests more shouldn’t be expected?

Milwaukee’s players have improved individually this season, and yet the team as a whole isn’t delivering. As he has done on almost every occasion when his team has lost a game they should have won, Kidd again proportioned the majority of the blame for this loss on energy and effort.

"“Chicago came out with energy and effort for 48 minutes, and we just couldn’t match it.”"

“Energy and effort” has become a source of frustration among Bucks fans as it’s been viewed as a way for Kidd to avoid speaking about the more obvious schematic issues that his team has.

Perhaps in some ways that has allowed a simple element of that supposed cause of Bucks’ defeats to be overlooked, though.

If the team keeps falling short in terms of energy and effort in spite of the coach’s persistence in discussing the topic, does that not mean that his message isn’t getting through to the players? If the players were sufficiently motivated, would they be having such difficulty in providing energy and effort?

In other words, whether you decide to take Kidd at face value or not, there are problems to be found and endless questions to be asked. As Kidd nears 300 games as Bucks head coach, having more questions than answers is damning. After a loss to the Bulls, it would be tough to describe the answers that are there as all that positive either.

Next: Milwaukee Bucks reportedly interested in trading for Warriors’ JaVale McGee or Zaza Pachulia

The Bucks will return to action on Thursday when they’ll host the Minnesota Timberwolves at the Bradley Center.