Milwaukee Bucks: Digging into the Bucks’ defensive evolution

There’s no shortage of reasons for why the Milwaukee Bucks are enjoying their best season in nearly two decades, but their transformation into an elite defensive unit has increasingly come into focus as the year has wore on.

Having recently passed the halfway mark in the season, the Milwaukee Bucks continue to hit every checkpoint in what’s increasingly becoming their best season since at least the 1980’s.

All across the board, the Bucks’ metamorphosis into a deep, fundamentally sound squad has been one of several developments this year that has shaken up the landscape at both the top of the Eastern Conference and the entire NBA in general.

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The free flowing, three-point-centric offensive system implemented under first-year Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer dazzled many and captured everyone’s attention, even before the team’s regular season campaign officially opened up back on October 17.

But as the season has trucked on and they have weathered the storm through various shooting slumps by some of the more prominent players on their roster, it’s been the Bucks’ defensive resiliency that has increasingly buoyed them during their fantastic run of form this season.

Bucks fans are well aware of the priority the team’s defensive play has been throughout the better part of this decade and that certainly hasn’t changed with the coaching change over to Budenholzer and his staff this year.

After all, Budenholzer came to Milwaukee fresh off his five-year stint with the Atlanta Hawks having experienced great success defensively (the Hawks finished with at minimum top-5 defense between the 2014-15 and 2016-17 seasons during the height of Budenholzer’s reign, per NBA.com/stats).

That defensive pedigree carried over quickly into the Bucks’ season as the principles the 2014-15 NBA Coach of the Year prioritized (i.e. getting back on defense and limiting points in transition, protect the rim at all costs) became the basis for their inclusion among the top tier defenses around the league. Case in point, the Bucks currently rank first in defensive efficiency, standing just ahead of the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Now, as the defensive scheme Budenholzer and co. have drafted up has become ingrained in the minds of Bucks players, some key developments regarding the team’s personnel have helped fortify their defense even further to this point in the campaign compared to the start of the year.

First, the addition of veteran guard George Hill, who the Bucks acquired via a three-team trade from the Cleveland Cavaliers back on December 7, has given the Bucks yet another long, athletic and high IQ defender within their backcourt and rotation. Secondly, the emergence of the Bucks’ 2017 draftees, D.J. Wilson and Sterling Brown, has only boosted the Bucks’ versatility and physicality on that end of the floor.

The end result of bringing Hill on to the roster as well as Brown and Wilson becoming mainstays within the team’s rotation has strengthened the team’s stout bench unit, something The Athletic’s Eric Nehm delved into this week.

But the Bucks’ increasing defensive flexibility goes beyond simple rotation changes as they have collectively become more enforcing in terms of disrupting their opponents’ offensive rhythm by making action plays on that end.

For example, the Bucks have turned up their defensive aggressiveness throughout the month of January, which can be seen in them upping the amount of turnovers they’re forcing on their opponents. Their opponent turnover percentage (16.5 percent) during their nine games this month currently ranks fourth in the league.

That surge has given the Bucks more opportunities to capitalize on their opponents’ miscues and their 22.4 points per turnovers throughout January only stands behind the surprising Sacramento Kings.

Of course, there’s a trade-off with ratcheting up the defensive pressure to the point where the Bucks have taken it recently as they have seen their ability to keep their opponents off the free throw line erode significantly in the new year (the Bucks’ opponent free throw rate ranks 23rd in the NBA during 2019).

Finding that balance between playing soundly to being an imposing defensive unit is certainly a challenge and it will be one of many things to watch the Bucks navigate throughout the second half of the season.

With that said, seeing the Bucks’ defense coalesce as they have to this point, through all its various shapes, forms and lineups, will only continue to raise the possibilities for how far this team can last for the season and the playoffs.