Milwaukee Bucks: Carousel of shooting forwards to continue
By Adam McGee
The Milwaukee Bucks have been creative in trying to find frontcourt shooting the past two seasons, and that will need to continue next year.
Following their deflating exit in the Eastern Conference Semi-finals at the hands of the Miami Heat, the Milwaukee Bucks enter the offseason with a variety of problems, big and small, left to tackle.
Some of those issues are new, but many of them have been ongoing, and receiving patchwork treatment for a couple of years, such as Eric Bledsoe’s playoff woes, the Bucks’ wider lack of playmaking, and their issues in knocking down open jump shots in the postseason.
More from Bucks News
- Bucks 2023-24 player profile: Can MarJon Beauchamp take a leap?
- Piecing together the Milwaukee Bucks’ dream starting 5 in 5 years
- Predicting Thanasis Antetokounmpo’s 2023-24 stats for the Bucks
- Grade the trade: Bucks land reputable backup guard in swap with Pacers
- New workout video should have Milwaukee Bucks fans excited
One issue the Bucks have been dealing with for a number of years, while generally managing to come up with satisfactory temporary solutions for, has been their lack of floor-spacing forwards.
With Giannis Antetokounmpo as a locked in starter at the power forward, it may seem like the Bucks have less need for a stretch-4 than most teams around the NBA, but if anything time has shown it to be even greater.
Two years running, the Bucks have prioritized shooting forwards with their in-season deals, in part because the value of those players becomes even greater in the playoffs thanks to how they can unlock Antetokounmpo.
If the Bucks had a deadeye shooter capable of soaking up minutes at either forward spot, it would allow much greater comfort in small-ball lineups when Giannis moves over to center.
This was undoubtedly the logic that saw the Bucks’ splashy move at the 2018-19 trade deadline land them Nikola Mirotic. And then when Mirotic returned to Europe at the end of that run following underwhelming contributions, that cleared the way for the Bucks’ buy-out signing of Marvin Williams just after the 2019-20 deadline.
With Williams having done well for the Bucks, but since announcing his retirement, Milwaukee’s front office will again be forced into finding a solution at that spot, whether it be before the new season or further along the line ahead of a playoff run.
In fact, more generally the power forward position could become one of Milwaukee’s real weak spots in terms of depth.
Ersan Ilyasova’s contract isn’t guaranteed for next season and, given his age and reduced playing time with the Bucks last season, it seems highly unlikely that option will be picked up for anything other than trade purposes.
Going further down the roster, D.J. Wilson is also set to enter the final year of his rookie deal. To say Wilson has stagnated would be wrong, as it might suggest that major strides were taken at some point. The truth is Wilson could also end up being little more than trade fodder ahead of the new campaign.
All of this feeds into a larger depth issue the Bucks will have to solve, as my colleague Ben Rauman and I have both discussed in recent days.
But while the need may be at its greatest in the backcourt, considering that the starting positions won’t even be set in stone there for next season, the backup situation at the power forward spot remains alarming in its own right too.