Milwaukee Bucks: Getting to know veteran point guard Jeff Teague

Exploring Jeff Teague’s fit and role with the Milwaukee Bucks

What’s clear is that Teague has fully transitioned into a reserve role at this stage in his NBA career.

Teague’s time with the Celtics was riddled with inconsistencies and flashes of the kind of lead ball handler he used to be. However, working towards Teague’s advantage upon coming to Milwaukee is his familiarity with Budenholzer and Teague spoke on how Budenholzer got the best of him and those Hawks teams from the mid-2010s to HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto in October of 2020:

"“Bud was just a guy who would let you be yourself, but he also had a system, and that system was five out, try to penetrate, get to the rim, and shoot threes. At first, it was an adjustment for me coming from an older style playing with Mike Woodson and Larry Drew. When he got there, he just let you be yourself, but he also had a way of reeling you in. I think he did a really good job with our group in getting the most out of us. “"

Teague’s experience playing under Budenholzer already gives the veteran point guard a head start in trying to find his footing upon coming to Milwaukee.

Supplanting the role that D.J. Augustin briefly held with the Bucks before being shipped off to the Houston Rockets as part of the P.J. Tucker trade, Teague won’t be asked to more than set up the Bucks’ offense, knock down shots and apply defensive pressure on the ball.

That’s far easier said than done and we’ve seen previous Bucks backup guards like George Hill and Augustin struggle to find their marks, respectively, in a reserve role. Hopefully Teague can avoid a similar period of adjustment upon coming to Milwaukee.

But like Hill, Teague can rely on bringing a certain defensive disruption at the point of attack that Budenholzer will hope strengthen the Bucks’ second unit. Even at his age, Teague’s advanced metrics (2.1 steal percentage and 1.1 block percentage) still points to him being a bothersome defender for opponents.

The bigger question is what kind of offense can Teague bring at this stage in his game, especially when it comes to his paint penetration. The fact that Teague averaged a career 39.4 2-point percentage during his brief stint with the Celtics points to how ineffective of a finisher he has been and the Bucks will have to hope that’s contained to his time in Boston.

When we’ll see Teague make his Bucks debut remains to be seen, but hopefully he’ll provide some cover at the backup point guard position moving forward.