Milwaukee Bucks: Will missing preseason hurt Eric Bledsoe?

MILWAUKEE, WI - OCTOBER 9: (Photo by Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images).
MILWAUKEE, WI - OCTOBER 9: (Photo by Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images).

Having essentially missed all of the Milwaukee Bucks’ exhibition slate, will Eric Bledsoe suffer the consequences as the regular season gets underway?

Ahead of Thursday’s preseason opener against the Houston Rockets, the Milwaukee Bucks will be able to reflect on a preseason campaign that was very close to perfect.

The Bucks looked to hit the ground running as they completed a clean sweep of all-comers, going 5-0, and racking up plenty of reasons for justifiable confidence along the way.

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Still, the preseason was only nearly perfect for a reason. Starting point guard Eric Bledsoe, one of Milwaukee’s consensus three best players and a key cog of how they play on both ends of the floor, logged just 12 minutes of exhibition action in total before injury disrupted his preparations for the new campaign.

Having originally been reported as a “small fracture of his ribs”, Bledsoe’s injury was eventually revealed to be a more nuanced fracture of the “cartilage between two of his ribs”. That left a tentative two-to-three week timetable for his return, although it was noted that pain tolerance would play a factor in that ultimately proving to be sooner or later.

On the eve of the curtain coming up on the NBA season, the outlook appears a little more positive, at least from a timing perspective. Just eight days after the original diagnosis was made public, Mike Budenholzer revealed on Saturday that Bledsoe was involved in “a significant part of practice, including contact.” Those comments, as relaid by Ben Steele of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, also saw Coach Bud sound optimism on Bledsoe’s potential involvement on Thursday:

"“I think Bled, the way he’s trending, it feels like we’re hopeful that he’s available.”"

Further positive feedback on Bledsoe’s practice performance came from veteran sharpshooter Kyle Korver, who said:

"“He looked great. Looked like he hadn’t missed a beat. Good shape. Was really aggressive in getting to the basket. Hit a couple threes. Made a couple great defensive plays.”"

Those murmurs likely warrant a little more attention than usual given the task facing the Bucks on Thursday, and the defensive masterclass that Bledsoe put in to help his team to two wins over the Rockets last season.

Without Bledsoe, and with Russell Westbrook now also at Houston’s disposal, the Bucks would face a tall order in slowing down the Rockets, making him a key player heading into that matchup.

Yet that is the short-sighted view of an issue that the Bucks must surely have some longer-term thoughts about.

Even if Bledsoe is in great shape and looking sharp in practice, that is not quite the same as getting meaningful game reps in over the past couple of weeks. It’s true that ideal preparations may not exist for any player — just consider the busy offseasons endured by many Bucks — but even any close approximation to such readiness doesn’t involve missing the bulk of preseason through injury.

Is that going to leave Bledsoe working off rustiness over the season’s first few games? It seems very possible. Beyond that, though, it’s crucial that neither the Bucks or Bledsoe allow the opening matchup, or just the general excitement that comes with the return of the season, to influence their decisions.

The injury may be a pain tolerance issue as much as anything else, but there’s no reason for Bledsoe to start what the Bucks hope will be an incredibly long and competitive season with a key player nursing an issue, and generally feeling less than 100 percent.

For as much as Bledsoe’s ups and downs are a source of great frustration, they also highlight his incredible importance to the Bucks. Two years running, Milwaukee has got a good look at what happens to the team when Bledsoe doesn’t play to his best.

As things stand, it’s tough to imagine Bledsoe being near the peak of his powers, if indeed he’s deemed fit and ready to play against the Rockets. That may leave the Bucks with an early challenge to navigate over the first couple of weeks of the season, but that’s just the nature of the NBA.

Milwaukee has the depth and quality to weather such a storm in the short term, therefore what’s most important is ensuring Bledsoe is allowed to get back up to speed and into his rhythm at the pace that will benefit both him and the team as the year goes on, rather than simply in the now.