Milwaukee Bucks: Utilizing Eric Bledsoe’s disruptive defense

Eric Bledsoe‘s first season with the Milwaukee Bucks was filled with ups and downs, but his disruptive, point of attack defense offers a clear positive.

As the Milwaukee Bucks prepare for the 2018-19 NBA season, Eric Bledsoe provides one of many puzzles that the team’s new head coach, Mike Budenholzer, will be tasked with trying to solve.

Having arrived in Milwaukee early in the season as the centerpiece of a trade between the Bucks and Phoenix Suns, Bledsoe managed to cram a lot into his first season with his new team.

It seems to safe to say the Bucks got to experience the full range of possibilities and performance types that come with an obviously talented player whose career has never quite reached the levels it arguably should have. The worst of Bledsoe made it easy to understand why that’s been the case, while the best of his play provided plenty of reason to continue believing.

More from Bucks News

• Bucks 2023-24 player profile: Can MarJon Beauchamp take a leap?
• Piecing together the Milwaukee Bucks’ dream starting 5 in 5 years
• Predicting Thanasis Antetokounmpo’s 2023-24 stats for the Bucks
• Grade the trade: Bucks land reputable backup guard in swap with Pacers
• New workout video should have Milwaukee Bucks fans excited

On that front, there wasn’t much better than the impact Bledsoe could often make on the defensive end of the floor.

By no means did Bledsoe fix any of the Bucks’ more significant woes on that end — that was a task beyond any single player — but he was able to provide something different to his teammates which enabled him to make positive plays in an individual sense at the very least.

It would be easy to describe Bledsoe’s defensive approach as aggressive, but let’s avoid that specific term considering the particularly negative connotation it developed on that end of the floor for Bucks fans after years of unnecessary trapping and double teams. Instead, let’s opt to label it as tenacious.

Bledsoe’s defensive approach meshes perfectly with his physique, and the advantages he boasts over most of his point guard peers. The 28-year-old’s frame isn’t dramatically different to that of an NFL linebacker, and for a player who measures in at just 6’1″ on an NBA court, his muscular 205lb frame is striking.

When an Instagram post of Giannis Antetokounmpo looking particularly strong and bulky alongside his brothers went viral in recent weeks, Bledsoe was quick to chime in with a comment about how his star teammate was beginning to resemble him.

Channeling that strength and physicality, Bledsoe embraces contact defensively. While picking up opponents, he leaves little to no room for them to operate, smothering with his lengthy wingspan and standing firm against those who try to brush him out of the way. Importantly, Bledsoe’s combination of strength and speed also allows him to fight around screens to stick with his man more often than not too.

Of course, none of this is to say that Bledsoe’s individual defense wouldn’t also need to be reined in a little in a more conservative scheme for the Bucks, but at a bare minimum he has translatable traits which give him the potential to be highly effective regardless of the philosophy.

Unlike many stellar defenders, much of Bledsoe’s most impactful play is in fact captured by the box score. He’s long held a reputation as one of the league’s best chasedown block artists, likely a leading factor in his “Mini-LeBron” nickname.

Last season, Bledsoe averaged 0.6 blocks per game, which may not seem all that impressive on the surface but quickly jumps off the page on further exploration. Per Cleaning the Glass, Bledsoe ranked in the 98th percentile among point guards in block percentage for the 2017-18 season. Amazingly, he’s never been below the 83rd percentile for any of his eight seasons to date either.

Along very similar lines, Bledsoe also finished last season in the 98th percentile among point guards in steals percentage, marking the fourth season where he’s finished in the 96th percentile or better in that category.

More traditional statistics illustrate Bledsoe’s impressive ability to pick his opponents’ pockets too, as he averaged 2.0 steals per game, good enough for third best in the league behind just Paul George and Victor Oladipo.

Unsurprisingly, that also coincided with elite rankings in the NBA’s hustle stats, as Bledsoe ranked sixth in deflections per game (3.3) and 10th in loose balls recovered per game (1.4).

So, while much has already been spoken about for just how impactful Giannis Antetokounmpo could be within a functioning and stable defense, the same applies for Bledsoe.

Coach Budenholzer and his assistants are lucky to have tools of that caliber at their disposal as they try to rework what has been one of Milwaukee’s greatest weaknesses, and if they can succeed in that project, the Bucks’ best defenders may also get some long overdue praise for their efforts on that end of the floor.