Milwaukee Bucks 2017-18 Season Review: Sterling Brown

The worst of Brown

As a large swath of Bucks fans would wholeheartedly agree with, the most frustrating angle to Brown’s rookie season was his role within the rotation at the start and end of the year, or should I say lack thereof.

Aside from garbage time opportunities, former Bucks head coach Jason Kidd was reluctant to put Brown on the floor at the start of the year. But due to a variety of factors, whether it was because of injury or Brown’s play on the G League level, the Illinois native slotted into the team’s rotation at the turn of the calendar year, even being handed spot starts as well.

All of that carried over when Joe Prunty took over the coaching reins in late January and Brown continued to give the team a lift with his hustle and hard-nosed defensive effort, even as he fought through the rookie wall at that point in the season.

It was around mid-March, however, when Brown fell back out of the rotation under Prunty and outside of a few random cameos, Brown’s season ended exactly like it began by him being relegated to the end of the bench.

That decision was made more puzzling during their playoff series with the Boston Celtics in the first round, considering the Bucks were playing more small ball lineups with superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo slotting over at the 5-spot and could have used Brown’s services for stretches.

Again, Brown’s inconsistent play didn’t do him many favors in the eyes of Prunty down the stretch, but it was nevertheless a disappointing end to the rookie’s season that contained a number of flashes within it.