With All-Star forward Khris Middleton sidelined for several weeks, there’s been plenty of debate about what the Bucks’ rotation should be until he returns, but which lineups have worked the best so far this season and historically?
The Milwaukee Bucks received some unfortunate news Monday when it was reported that Khris Middleton would miss some time with a leg injury:
Khris Middleton will miss 3-to-4 weeks with a left thigh contusion, per league sources. https://t.co/vyu3vKjOq0
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) November 11, 2019
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Luckily for the Bucks, the injury doesn’t appear to be all that serious despite the fact it will likely keep Middleton out for about a month. However, there shouldn’t be any rush to bring him back before he is 100 percent healthy with the Bucks on the cusp of perhaps the softest part of their schedule.
Between now and December 14, the Bucks will face just three teams with records currently above .500: the Pacers, Jazz, and Clippers.
One of those teams, the Pacers, have had the easiest schedule in the league thus far. As for the Jazz, I’d imagine the Bucks are looking forward to getting even at Fiserv Forum in a couple weeks after that heart breaker in Salt Lake City.
That being said, there are certainly worse times to lose a key player to injury for a month of the season, and Middleton’s absence should free up minutes to experiment with different lineup combinations and develop some of the Bucks’ younger players by giving them slightly larger roles.
There are plenty of questions surrounding which players should receive opportunities for larger roles both in the starting lineup and coming off the bench.
Rotational wings like Donte DiVincenzo and Sterling Brown have impressed thus far in their limited minutes while veterans such as Wesley Matthews, Pat Connaughton, and Kyle Korver have failed to fully hit their stride in the first 10 games.
Bigs like Ersan Ilyasova and Robin Lopez have each had their share of struggles in reserve roles while players like D.J. Wilson, Thanasis Antetokounmpo, and Dragan Bender have yet to receive any significant minutes.
In an attempt to solve these rotational questions moving forward, I have created an illustration of what I believe the Bucks’ rotation should be until Middleton returns using the Rotations tool from EarlyBirdRights.com.
Using lineup data from NBA.com/stats, I began piecing together which lineups could be the most effective in Middleton’s absence while keeping in mind the developmental opportunities available for the younger guys in order to formulate a conclusion about which combinations and minutes distributions would benefit the Bucks the most in both the short and long term.
So without further ado, let’s explore my methodology for creating the Milwaukee Bucks’ ideal rotation in Middleton’s absence.