Milwaukee Bucks: 3 intriguing lineup combinations worth testing in 2021-22

One of the biggest complaints around Milwaukee Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer, even during the championship run, were some of the lineup combinations that he would use in certain situations.

Good or bad, there were certainly moments where I’d look at the lineup on the floor and wonder what his thought process was for a certain group. That’s not to say I disagreed, I would just like to know why he went with a jumbo lineup of Brook Lopez, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Bobby Portis in the playoffs. But hey, they weren’t terrible in an extremely small sample size either!

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Regardless, there’s a new batch of Bucks for Budenholzer to experiment with throughout training camp, preseason, the regular season, and postseason! I’m sure most fans immediately begin thinking about what lineups a certain player can fit in to when they first acquire them and who they’ll fit in best with — or not fit with.

I think there are some very interesting combinations that Budenholzer can run out there, from both an experiment aspect but also to see if the guys you acquired can fill the roles you need them to. The NBA has turned into a position-less game and it’s more likely now than ever that you’ll see some pretty fun combinations from Budenholzer — just like the jumbo playoff lineup.

The Bucks are arguably a deeper team this year compared to the championship-winning team, so there figures to be a couple of lineup combinations that could surprise us. These aren’t necessarily the wackiest lineups, but ones that fans should keep an eye out for throughout the regular season.

Milwaukee Bucks fans should be intrigued about Semi Ojeleye playing with Giannis Antetokounmpo

This might not be the sexiest lineup idea, but it’s one that will have a lot of attention from Bucks fans early on. For better or worse, Semi Ojeleye was signed as someone who could fill the “P.J. Tucker role” after the Bucks seemingly let Tucker walk to the conference-rival Miami Heat.

I have belabored the “Ojeleye is a near facsimile to Tucker” point numerous times on this space, but for those that are unaware. Ojeleye and Tucker are within an inch and five pounds of each other’s listed height and weights. They’re both extremely strong, can guard bigger wings and tweener forwards, and shoot inconsistently from behind the 3-point arc.

Big caveats being that Tucker is obviously a better and more versatile defender and that Ojeleye is likely a better shooter than Tucker (listen, it’s a low bar but it’s true). They aren’t the same player, but Ojeleye will be asked to fill that role.

So it’s important to see how Ojeleye will fit next to Antetokounmpo when the Bucks go small. The main small ball lineup that consisted of Tucker, Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton, Jrue Holiday, and Pat Connaughton had a +18 net rating in 100 minutes of playoff basketball, according to NBA.com/stats. How Ojeleye fits in with that specific five-man lineup (or any other variation of the Giannis-at-center lineup) will essentially dictate how successful his tenure with the Bucks will be and, ultimately, if they bring him back in 2022-23.

Milwaukee Bucks fans should be intrigued by a Grayson Allen, Pat Connaughton, and Donte DiVincenzo lineup combination

While there has been some controversy surrounding the logjam that the Bucks currently have at shooting guard, it could be interesting to roll several candidates all out at once. From a basketball perspective, a lineup with Grayson Allen, Pat Connaughton, and Donte DiVincenzo could actually be interesting once a couple of things break right.

Most importantly, the Bucks need DiVincenzo back healthy and playing at the level he was during stretches of the regular season when he was hitting his threes with consistency and confidence. He’s the best player of this three-man group and if he’s not healthy and playing his best, this group won’t be as effective. That being said, the reason I think this group could be so fun is that they’re all basically the same person from an athletic profile. I mean, it’s almost a bit scary how similar they are.

From an on court skillset perspective, these three are generally able to guard multiple positions pretty effectively. Allen can handle combo guards and most wings, DiVincenzo can defend most wings and all guards, while Connaughton has shown the ability to guard players much bigger than him to the point where Budenholzer plays him as a power forward at times. They also all take a lot of gambles on defense for steals, deflections, and blocks. Tell me it wouldn’t be incredibly entertaining to watch these athletic dudes running around on defense trying to get into every passing lane.

Which two players that could join this three-man group is also an interesting question. DiVincenzo isn’t the most reliable primary ball-handler, so someone like Middleton would be helpful to take the pressure off from that point. Also to add a consistent shooter and someone to create their own offense who can also pass and defend multiple positions as well. Holiday would also be a fun option, especially defensively, but we’ll go with Middleton to maximize shooting.

Then as a big, it’s easy to say Antetokounmpo, but the more fun option would be Portis. He should an improved ability as a switchable big man near the end of the championship run, so he could hold his own on defense. And then it’s another consistent shooter that could open up more space and also crash the offensive glass with DiVincenzo and Connaughton. Who knows if we’ll actually see this group but if we do, I think it could be a very fun experience for all involved.

Milwaukee Bucks fans should be intrigued about George Hill and Jrue Holiday playing together

All of the talk surrounding the George Hill signing was about how he’ll stabilize the backup point guard minutes for the Bucks and how he’ll keep things steady when Holiday is off the floor. Well, I am here to flip that notion on its head and tell you to be excited for what Hill can do when Holiday is on the floor.

I’m sure it’s not something that they’ll go to often, but I can absolutely see these two sharing the floor in a closing situation along with Antetokounmpo, Middleton, and whichever role player best suits the matchups that game.

Neither Hill nor Holiday have been seen as true point guards, especially in recent years. Holiday played more shooting guard than point guard in his final couple of years in New Orleans while Bucks fans have seen Hill share the floor with Eric Bledsoe to close games in years past. Heck, the Bucks had Holiday play the two this past year and they did really well in the limited minutes.

This is to say, both have experience playing off-ball and don’t need the ball in their hands to be effective on offense. Especially in lineups with Antetokounmpo and Middleton, those are two more options to handle the ball and create offense, so having that off-ball experience is crucial.

On defense, we know what Holiday brings to the table. He can guard pretty much anyone and is arguably the best one-on-one defender in the league. Hill is a bit of a different story. He’s a bigger guard at 6-foot-4, 188 pounds but at 35 years old, how much of a step has he lost at that end? Bucks fans will remember his defense pretty fondly and he was a solid bridge defensively in the minutes Bledsoe was off the floor.

Against other reserves, there shouldn’t be too much of a worry with how he’ll hold up but against starters, especially closing games, the Bucks might have to hide Hill a bit more with the other defenders they’ll have around him.

There are so many more lineup combinations that we could see Budenholzer pull out of his bag this season, but these are just a few that could be very interesting and something to watch for when the season starts up.