Milwaukee Bucks: 3 things we learned in Miami and rout over Chicago Bulls

Thanasis Antetokounmpo’s time to shine with the Milwaukee Bucks

As Budenholzer continues to find the right rotation early on in the season, he’s turning to every holdover that remained in Milwaukee from last season. Even someone who was largely relegated to garbage time minutes last year.

In just five appearances on the year, Antetokounmpo has reached half of his minutes total from last season (121), with the vast majority of those minutes coming this week against the Heat and the Bucks.

Supplanting D.J. Wilson as the Bucks’ backup 4 behind his superstar brother, Giannis, Thanasis has given the Bucks a dose of energy and has celebrated some milestones along the way. The elder Antetokounmpo knocked down his first NBA triple in the Bucks’ blowout win over the Heat.

More interesting, Antetokounmpo has taken on some interesting defensive assignments, such as covering Goran Dragic for extended possessions with Holiday on the bench. And not for nothing, Antetokounmpo has capitalized on his limited scoring opportunities thus far as he’s 6-for-11 on two-points shots, all of which has made an impression on Budenholzer to this point in the season.

Still, Antetokounmpo’s unbridled energy has come with some miscues. He has more turnovers (8) than assists (7) and has 11 personal fouls over his 61 minutes of game action.

Whether the good outweighs the bad over the limited minutes he will see moving forward, the fact that the Bucks are a +13 in the minutes that Antetokounmpo has seen the floor is encouraging. Even if it’s boosted by clean up crew minutes with games well in hand.

We’ll be back again next week to look at the three things that we’ll learn from the Bucks’ homestand this week, which will continue against the Detroit Pistons Monday night.