Milwaukee Bucks: Why early injury woes are a blessing and a curse

There’s rarely a good time for a single injury, let alone a rash of them to begin a season. That is the situation the Milwaukee Bucks find themselves in very early in their title defense season. They anticipated being without Donte DiVincenzo as he recovers from offseason surgery, but to also be missing leading bench-scorer Bobby Portis as well as two key offseason additions in Semi Ojeleye and Rodney Hood, things could get dicey.

It wasn’t much of an issue in their opening night win over the Brooklyn Nets, where the Bucks got huge contributions from almost every member of the bench that was available. Even two-way guard Justin Robinson contributed after the team lost Jrue Holiday for the night with a heel injury. It was quite the performance from the Bucks’ lesser-known players to help fill in the gaps around their two remaining stars.

It won’t always look as pretty as it did against the Nets, there will be nights where their depth issues due to their injury woes take a toll. There will be nights where Pat Connaughton and Jordan Nwora combine for three made 3’s instead of seven or another night where George Hill only provides one point. That’s simply the nature of role players.

The blessing and curse of early injury woes for the Milwaukee Bucks

However, there is a bit of a silver lining with injuries coming so early in the season. Of course, the Milwaukee Bucks would much rather have their full complement of players available to them. But with such a deep roster, it allows the coaching staff to get a more clear picture of what guys will be able to contribute and if they can play in the rotation.

That starts with a player like Nwora, who got the chance to log over 26 minutes on opening night. It’s likely that if the Bucks had their full roster available, there wouldn’t have been those kinds of minutes available for the sophomore wing. Instead, head coach Mike Budenhozler had to rely on him for valuable bench scoring and even some flashes of defense (I still can’t get over that block on Kevin Durant).

But that can go a long way to building a player’s confidence, even if it came in unlikely circumstances. Nwora wouldn’t have gotten the opportunity to play that much, but he made the most of it and it helped him build a stronger belief in himself. He talked after the game about how he felt as though that performance in a regular-season game was a moment where he felt like he belonged in the league. He had great preseason performances, but to be able to do it in a game that counts towards their record and against a team that will be competing with the Bucks for a championship, does wonders for a young player.

Beyond Nwora, it was also helpful for Sandro Mamukelashvili to get minutes in a limited sample so early on. Sure, he got picked on by James Harden a few times, but it’s still important for him to get real minutes as opposed to garbage time minutes. General manager Jon Horst talked before the preseason that Mamukelashvili would have a chance to earn some minutes this year due to the Bucks’ lack of frontcourt depth — which is now underlined by injuries to Portis and Ojeleye.

Then there are the more veteran players, like Thanasis Antetokounmpo who got to prove he’s more than just a bundle of energy and flashed some solid defense and offensive skill in his 12 or so minutes. He won’t give you that all the time, but he showed he can confidently handle some more minutes this season as well.

Or even someone like Grayson Allen, who has a rotation spot secured at the very least, but was able to show a more diverse skill set than simply just his jumper after adding six assists on opening night.

That being said, it also makes for some tough choices for the coaching staff. It’s clear that Nwora has improved, Allen can handle more on his plate, and Thanasis can give them limited frontcourt minutes. That’s not even including role players like Connaughton and Hill, who have had up and down starts but will be in the rotation.

The Bucks were able to play a solid nine-man rotation, with eight guys playing over 20 minutes. Portis and DiVincenzo will have roles in the rotation once they come back and are fully available (the last part mostly applies to DiVincenzo). It wouldn’t be inconceivable to play an 11-man rotation in the regular season, but then Ojeleye and Hood will also be options.

When the Bucks are fully healthy, whenever that may be, if that ever happens, it will be interesting to see how the minutes shake out in Budenholzer’s rotation. Four guys didn’t play who could seemingly have a decent-or-better role depending on how they play.

There’s going to be a lot of competition for playing time, which is a good thing to help fight off complacency but also makes for some tough choices and guys who absolutely could play more will be forced into smaller roles. It bodes well for later in the season when the starters need rest days that there are so many options available to pick up the slack, but for the time being, not having almost a handful of rotation guys creates problems now and going forward.

It’s been said time and again (by me) that this is the best Milwaukee Bucks roster in decades and we’re beginning to see why that’s the case and we haven’t even seen the full roster yet.