With the Milwaukee Bucks set to kick off their 2020-21 season Wednesday night, let’s look at the five burning questions facing this year’s squad.
The excitement for this Milwaukee Bucks 2020-21 season is palpable heading into opening night.
As they ready to kick off their campaign against the Boston Celtics Wednesday night, the Bucks head into another year where expectations of reaching the NBA Finals and contending for a title is on the minds of all Bucks fans and observers around the league.
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After languishing in the playoffs in each of the last two seasons, the Bucks made some significant moves this offseason that they’re hoping will shore up their playoff deficiencies. Only time will tell whether that will be the case, but it gives a different twist on what we’ve come to expect from the Bucks over the Mike Budenholzer era.
So without further ado, let’s look at the five biggest questions facing the Milwaukee Bucks this 2020-21 season.
Will Mike Budenholzer experiment this Milwaukee Bucks season?
Upon hiring Budenholzer, the Bucks immediately turned a corner and have fashioned themselves into a contender in the East.
Bud’s first season saw the Bucks win 60 games and make it to the Eastern Conference Finals with ease before everything fell apart in four straight games. The Bucks’ 2019-20 season followed a similar path where they stood as the best team by far and away before the season shutdown. Milwaukee never regained their rhythm down in the bubble before getting absolutely walloped in five games by the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
Through their high-profile playoff woes, there have been constants to how the Bucks have been figured out in both cases.
The Bucks have seen their high-powered offense that runs through the two-time MVP, Giannis Antetokounmpo, break down as the Toronto Raptors and the Heat built up formidable walls to bottle up Antetokounmpo from getting to where he wants to go. That, in turn, puts the ball in the Bucks’ lesser players to make plays or hit shots and we’ve seen how that story has gone.
On the other side of the ball, the Bucks’ drop-back defensive scheme that takes the rim away from their opponents has catapulted them to the top of the league in the last two seasons. But it has made them incredibly susceptible to great 3-point shooting teams like the Heat were last season.
Under Budenholzer, Milwaukee has used the regular season to perfect their habits on both sides of the ball. But what last season glaringly showed is not having an effective counter or backup plan to turn to when things have gone awry. Antetokounmpo discussed this very topic earlier in the week as ESPN’s Eric Woodyard recounted:
"“I don’t think we change the way we approach it because it’s been working the last two years. We’ve won a lot of games and we’ve created winning habits,” Antetokounmpo said Monday. “Obviously, I think we’ve got to get better. We throw a first punch. We’ve got to throw a second punch and the second punch is gotta be better in the playoffs so you’ve got to basically do what you do in the regular season, you’ve got to carry over in the playoffs then you’ve got to do it even better.”"
What those changes or tactical variations look like, that remains to be seen. But being able to establish some more diversity into their system are massive questions the Bucks have to answer in taking the final steps in making out of the East and hoisting the Larry O’Brian trophy at season’s end. And there’s no question that Budenholzer is the biggest key to that.