Milwaukee Bucks 2017-18 Season Review: Eric Bledsoe
By Adam McGee
The best of Bledsoe
The addition of Bledsoe gave the Bucks another player capable of shouldering a significant scoring and playmaking load, while also providing excellent defense when locked in. Neither of those things are insignificant by any measure.
In attack mode, scoring comes easily to Bledsoe as he’s an athletic and durable finisher around the basket. When he gets downhill there aren’t many players in the NBA quicker than him, and if anything he should seek out those kind of opportunities much more often.
Bledsoe’s shooting certainly fluctuated throughout the season, but it didn’t make for quite as uncomfortable of a fit alongside Giannis Antetokounmpo as many anticipated.
In fact, outside of Shabazz Muhammad who only played 11 games, no other player’s presence on the court influenced the Bucks’ fortunes more positively than Bledsoe according to the numbers.
With Bledsoe on the court, the Bucks posted a net rating of 4.7, while with him on the bench their net rating sank to -5.4. A swing of more than 10 points per 100 possessions certainly shouldn’t be overlooked, and even if the process was flawed, Milwaukee were a considerably better team with Bledsoe playing.
Bledsoe’s value was shown to be greatest on the offensive end as he led the team in offensive rating with an impressive mark of 110.9.
On the defensive end, Bledsoe offered the Bucks a new wrinkle as an aggressive point of attack defender, although his influence on that end wasn’t as consistent as it could have been. One notable positive was his ability to force turnovers, though, as his 2.0 steals per game ranked third in the NBA behind just Victor Oladipo and Paul George.