The Milwaukee Bucks begin their journey towards another NBA championship on Sunday.
While the stars of teams may get all of the attention and a large bulk of the credit for a team’s success, great teams are built with depth. Last year, Milwaukee had players such as P.J. Tucker and Pat Connaughton make significant contributions to aid their championship run. With that, these are the three most important role players that the Bucks will need to step up in their first round series.
3 most important role players for Milwaukee Bucks against Chicago Bulls – Wesley Matthews
One of the most notable moves that the Milwaukee Bucks made coming down the stretch of the regular season was a change in their starting lineup. The team swapped Grayson Allen to the bench for Wesley Matthews.
The move was likely made due to Matthews being yet another great defender to insert into Milwaukee’s starting lineup. After losing P.J Tucker in free agency after last season, the team has been in desperate need of a player that can fill those shoes. While Matthews may not bring exactly what Milwaukee got out of Tucker, he is most certainly a capable defender and one that can make a huge difference for the Bucks in this series.
Matthews will likely be asked to guard DeMar DeRozan, a matchup that could go a long way in determining how the series goes. According to matchups from NBA.com/stats, DeRozan has had the upper hand when defended by Matthews this season. In a little over 20 minutes matched up on DeRozan, DeRozan shot 16-of-31 (51.6 percent) from the field. Obviously, those are not the numbers that Milwaukee would like to see DeRozan put up in this series.
Those numbers could definitely drop because of the way that Matthews plays. Due to the tenacity that he brings every possession, Matthews may just be able to make life difficult for DeRozan on just enough occasions to make a difference in the Bucks winning the series.