Milwaukee Bucks: Building an ideal rotation without Khris Middleton

Methodology

First off, I want to make clear some of the factors that went into my overall decision-making when formulating this rotation.

I am typically a proponent of rotations that stagger the minutes of the starters and star players so that all-bench lineups are few and far between. With Middleton unavailable, I made it a priority to ensure Giannis Antetokounmpo and Eric Bledsoe‘s minutes were staggered while still seeing enough time together on the court.

I also operated under the assumption that Eric Bledsoe and George Hill are the only players who should be getting any minutes at point guard and staggered their minutes as well.

Another factor I weighed was player development. Since the Bucks are entering a soft spot in their schedule for the next month or so, it’s an ideal time to start seeing what some of their young guys can do before they are set to sign new deals in the offseason. If they end up thriving in their roles, they could even be considered as movable pieces should the Bucks try to make some sort of splash at the trade deadline.

Finally, in order to determine which player combinations are ideal for the Bucks to utilize in their rotation, I looked at lineup data from NBA.com/stats. Because the Bucks have only played 10 games, I decided to mainly study two-man lineups since there is a larger sample size of minutes played together than five-man units.

Additionally, for two-man lineups featuring returning players, I also looked back at their 2018-2019 numbers to provide greater context. Unfortunately for lineups featuring a new player, there is only 10 games worth of data available, so the small sample size must be considered.

For instance, with Khris Middleton out, significant minutes are available in the Bucks’ wing rotation, so I looked at the net ratings of two-man combinations of Wesley Matthews, Donte DiVincenzo, Sterling Brown, Kyle Korver, and Pat Connaughton. This allowed me to understand if certain players played better or worse alongside other players.

In order to determine when player combinations should see the floor, I also looked at how each wing player played next to Giannis Antetokounmpo or Eric Bledsoe. Because I staggered Bledsoe and Antetokounmpo’s minutes, this allowed me to align the majority of rotational players’ minutes with the Bucks star they played the best alongside.

I used a similar process to research Bucks’ big man combinations.

After I compiled all of this data, I picked out some key takeaways that ultimately shaped my decision-making in creating the ideal Bucks rotation.