Milwaukee Bucks: How Marvin Williams’ addition impacts existing frontcourt depth

Robin Lopez

As many anticipated when he signed with the Bucks last summer, Robin Lopez has played an integral role in being able to replicate their drop-back defensive scheme deep into their bench.

The Bucks are the top-ranked defense for the second straight year and they are allowing the fewest opponent paint points in the league by a comfortable margin. As his twin brother, Brook, continues to flourish as one of the league’s premier rim protectors, Robin has similarly provided incredibly stout rim protection under his reserve role where he’s allowing just 44.1 percent of shots taken within six feet this season.

Lopez’s defensive expertise has been welcomed by the Bucks and we’re only two games removed from him having his most impactful game as he suffocated Philadelphia 76ers All-Star big man Joel Embiid into having an incredibly horrendous performance throughout the Bucks’ 112-101 win last Thursday night.

With that said, Lopez’s role is still just a bit part within the Bucks’ overall rotation as he’s averaging 13.8 minutes per game across his 49 appearances, the fewest minutes he’s seen since his rookie season back in 2008-09 as a member of the Phoenix Suns.

Like Ilyasova, some matchups just aren’t made for having Lopez on the floor. And certainly, the Bucks being able to adequately play small ball lineups with superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo playing at the 5-spot has affected the role Lopez has had throughout the year.

It’s through that route where Williams figures to take minutes away from Lopez, but it’s incredibly likely that we’ll see the two share the floor and potentially into supersized lineups as Budenholzer teased before Monday night’s game in the aforementioned piece by Velazquez:

"“Certainly, Marvin is a very, very good player in a lot of different regards,” Budenholzer said.  “I think what he brings defensively stands out to us as someone who can guard multiple positions, brings a physicality, a strength to his game, in our minds where we can maybe stay bigger against teams that are playing smaller.”"

Whether Budenolzer realizes his dream of playing these jumbo-sized units again after doing so with trade deadline acquisition Nikola Mirotic last year remains to be seen, but Robin could figure into that when taking over for Brook for spot minutes.