Outside of the overarching question of “how healthy will the Milwaukee Bucks be for their regular season opener?” the next big picture question is what will the team do with its final roster spots, specifically a final standard contract spot and a final two-way contract spot. Several players are vying for those last couple of spots and they all got to play against the Memphis Grizzlies in some form on Tuesday.
It’s not the sexiest battle in the world since most of the players competing for that spot are likely G Leaguers and not guys who could make a serious impact on a championship-contending roster. However, they’re still on the Bucks training camp and preseason roster, so it’s worth taking a look at how it’s going so far.
To be clear, the Bucks don’t need to use their final roster spot on any of the guys in camp and could leave it vacant for salary cap and roster flexibility purposes. It would be to their benefit to leave it open unless someone truly stands out. It’s likely why Elijah Bryant was waived from his standard contract and brought back on a training camp deal, so they could keep that cap flexibility as opposed to locking themselves into a player who doesn’t help them much.
Assessing the Milwaukee Bucks’ battle for the final roster spots after the preseason opener
Purely looking at the box score, the current frontrunner has to be Justin Robinson and he’s the one with the two-way contract so it makes sense that he would get the first crack at big minutes to keep that spot. If I’m ranking the race so far, I would have it something like this:
- Justin Robinson
- Elijah Bryant
- Tremont Waters
- Javin DeLaurier
- Johnny O’Bryant
In the preseason opener, Robinson played around 25 minutes — the second-most behind Sandro Mamukelashvili — and looked pretty good against a Grizzlies team playing most of their opening night roster. Robinson poured in nine points and three assists, going 3-for-4 from 3-point range. He was a minus-1 on the night, but that was the second-highest out of anyone who played more than 10 minutes (Mamukelashvili and Pat Connaughton were each plus-2).
Justin Robinson (@5Alive_) is heating up. 👌🔥 pic.twitter.com/xF3VumrePa
— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) October 6, 2021
Bryant is likely the biggest threat to Robinson since he is the most NBA-ready of the group and has a prior relationship with the coaching staff (and even got playoff minutes when things got dicey). He also played over 20 minutes and had a pretty full but unspectacular line of two points, three rebounds, two assists, and a steal. Bryant is a much bigger body than Robinson at 6’5″ and 210 pounds, so that would also give him an advantage as a defender.
Bryant was going to be one of my players on the roster bubble before his eventual waiving and then being re-signed. He has prior success as a pro player over in Israel, another leg up on Robinson but is also a few years older.
Of the remaining three, Waters and O’Bryant played under 10 minutes each and combined for five points, an assist, and a steal. It’s not a great sign that on a night where the Bucks were missing a good chunk of their actual roster, those two couldn’t get real minutes. DeLaurier got just under 20 minutes, which is a bit of a surprise considering he has the most uncertain track record. It’s likely a case of needing some big man minutes with a short rotation and wanting to see what they have in such an unknown player (unless you’re an avid fan of the CEBL).
The race for the final two-way spot brings an interesting debate about roster construction, however. In Robinson and Bryant, there are two different ways you can look at this for the Bucks. In Robinson, you have a player who is younger, less proven in a professional setting, and likely doesn’t help the Bucks much this season. In Bryant, we’ve seen what his skillset is like and that he can play solid guard minutes in a pinch. That’s not to say Robinson can’t, but we simply don’t know right now because he’s played a total of 18 games and 137 minutes.
The Bucks will be carrying two rookies on the roster this season, in addition to Jordan Nwora who would still be considered a prospect. Therefore, you can either add another developmental flier in Robinson (who could give you spot minutes (but is mostly a Wisconsin Herd player) or Bryant, someone who isn’t perfect by any means but is more NBA-ready than Robinson.
Judging by the Twitter reaction, Bryant doesn’t have many fans among Bucks Twitter and there are a few reasons for that, both on and off the court. However, it’s not as if Robinson — or the other alternatives — are significantly better or that any of them will have very much impact on the Bucks’ championship hopes.
Right now, it would appear as though Robinson has the lead for the final spot, but there’s still plenty of (preseason) basketball left to be played for the Milwaukee Bucks!