Milwaukee Bucks: 3 takeaways from preseason loss to Dallas Mavericks
3 takeaways from the Milwaukee Bucks preseason loss to the Dallas Mavericks: An overall successful preseason for the Bucks
Despite the ugly preseason record, the Bucks had an overall successful 2021 preseason campaign. When you’re a team that’s competing for the championship like the Bucks are, preseason is about three things: making sure your top guys are ready, making sure everyone is healthy, and getting the young players and fringe guys as many minutes as possible.
The Bucks took care of the first task by slowly ramping up the majority of the starters in the last few games, specifically Antetokounmpo and Holiday. Middleton sat out the final preseason game but looked good in his minutes in the two games he played in. Lopez played a lot of minutes, even when the big three were sitting out the first couple of games, but appears as solid as ever.
It seems as though Budenholzer has figured out he will be starting Grayson Allen to begin the season and he had some bright spots in the preseason. The rest of the rotation is a little in flux with the multitude of injuries to key rotation guys like Bobby Portis, Semi Ojeleye, and Rodney Hood, but George Hill got in some good minutes.
The final task may have led to the Bucks getting a new member to the rotation in Nwora, who had a very strong overall preseason even if his 3-point shooting failed him in the final game. He should get a chance to prove himself in the rotation when the games matter in a few days, especially if guys like Hood and Ojeleye aren’t ready right away.
Beyond Nwora, Sandro Mamukelashvili got a lot of minutes in due to Portis and Ojeleye missing all of the preseason and could be leaned on for spot frontcourt minutes early on in the season. It’ll be a tough balance for the rookie to develop while also fill in for a championship-contending team’s rotation but he looks like a solid late second-round pick. The Bucks still have some decisions to make on the back end of their roster and to fill out the Wisconsin Herd roster, but the defending champs are locked in ahead of their regular-season opener.
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That regular-season opener is coming up fast on October 19th as the Milwaukee Bucks will square off against the Brooklyn Nets at Fiserv Forum.