Milwaukee Bucks: Third time really could be the charm for Ersan Ilyasova

Returning to the Milwaukee Bucks for a third time, Ersan Ilyasova is already making his presence felt early in the season.

A loss on Thursday against the Boston Celtics brought the Milwaukee Bucks’ franchise-record tying, season-opening win streak to an end, but that was arguably not even the most impressive streak that was broken on the night.

Enjoying a strong start to his third spell with the Bucks, Ersan Ilyasova was a key contributor in Milwaukee’s 7-0 start, perhaps in part because a seven-game winning streak was no big deal to the Turkish veteran.

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Combining his return to the Bucks with a spectacular close to last season with the Philadelphia 76ers, Ilyasova had won 23 consecutive regular season games prior to Milwaukee’s four-point loss to the Celtics.

Of course, the story of Ilyasova’s impact extends far beyond team success, but that remarkable run does provide a glimpse of the upsurge in form that has coincided with teams acquiring the 31-year-old in recent seasons.

As the game has evolved in the time since Ilyasova left the Bucks in 2015, his brand of intelligent and measured contributions have grown in value.

Ilyasova’s combination of size and strength, along with his versatile skill-set, mean he provides his teams with a variety of lineup options, something which has already been evident in his time in Milwaukee. Against the Celtics, Ilyasova got his first taste of meaningful minutes as a small-ball center, while as my colleague Jordan Treske has already highlighted, Ilyasova, alongside Brook Lopez, has been essential in the success of the jumbo lineup that has worked well so far.

A master of charge drawing, Ilyasova’s positional awareness is the primary driver in unlocking that kind of versatility, as he generally presents as both quicker and stronger than opposing players likely expect, all the while never straying too far from where he needs to be.

That has already parlayed itself into some early season charges, as Ilyasova has already tallied four charges drawn. Adjusted per 36 minutes, that evens out at 0.77, good enough for the third best mark in the NBA behind just Kemba Walker and Semi Ojeleye.

As the Bucks have began the season as a surprisingly dominant rebounding team, Ilyasova has also been central to the team’s league-leading 54.3 boards per game. Ilyasova is averaging 6.6 rebounds per game off the bench, which when adjusted per 36 minutes equates to 10.2 rebounds, and what’s tracking as the second best mark of his career to date.

With the Bucks boasting an incredibly positive net rating of 12.2 with Ilyasova on the court, it goes without saying that the former second round pick’s influence extends beyond his contributions in terms of hustle, defense and rebounding.

Offensively, Ilyasova is more than holding his own for the Bucks too. With Giannis Antetokounmpo missing due to concussion, Ilyasova stepped into the starting lineup against the Toronto Raptors and led his team in scoring with 19 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field, and 3-of-6 from three-point range.

On the whole, Ilyasova is averaging 9.3 points per game and shooting 51.9 percent from the field (a career-high, if it sustains), with room for improvement still to come in terms of his 34.8 percent success rate from distance.

Back with an organization, and in a city where he’s clearly always felt at home, playing under a coach who believes in him, and on a team with arguably more talent than he’s ever been a part of; all of the ingredients are in place for a very successful season for Ilyasova.

Ilyasova is back with the Bucks as a very different player on a very different team than what Milwaukee’s fans have watched in the past. This time it really might be different for Ilyasova and the Bucks.