Following their second round playoff exit, the Milwaukee Bucks will have to make some tweaks to their roster this offseason, most notably at the backup point guard position.
George Hill occupied the role for a significant portion of the season after signing a two-year deal in 2021 free agency, and he never managed to meet expectations. The veteran guard had what most would consider his worst season, averaging the second-lowest points per game in his career while also notching his worst 3-point percentage to date. Hill was largely a non-factor for the Bucks, but at this moment, he is set to be on the roster next season as Milwaukee’s front office handed him a second year fully guaranteed worth $4 million for 2022-23. Rather than keep Hill, the Bucks must look to upgrade at the position this offseason, and they will have several options to do just that.
How the Milwaukee Bucks can fix their backup point guard predicament during the 2022 NBA offseason
First and foremost, the Milwaukee Bucks will have to find a trade partner to take on Hill’s contract for next season. Set to make $4 million, the guard has an easily digestible salary for several teams, but the question is which would be willing to take him. Bleacher Report’s Greg Swartz proposed an interesting trade recently that would see the Bucks trade away Hill to the Memphis Grizzlies for a top-45 protected second round pick in 2024. If a deal like that is on the table, the Bucks should be willing to make it. It would be difficult to envision them getting anything too valuable in exchange for Hill, given how poorly he played this past season, so getting anything in return, even a pick in 2024, would be reasonable to shed his salary.
After trading away Hill, the Bucks would have to find his replacement, and the best option could very well already be within the organization. Of course, that is Jevon Carter, who signed with the Bucks via the buyout market during the regular season to give the team an extra body while Hill was on the sidelines with injury. Carter exceeded all expectations with the Bucks by playing the best basketball of his career. While everyone expected great defense from him, Carter also took his game to new heights offensively as he averaged 5.6 points while shooting 50.6 percent from the floor and 55.8 percent from three while handing out 2.5 assists per game, all of which were new career highs. It was shameful for coach Mike Budenholzer to give all of Carter’s playing time to Hill once the latter returned from injury, given how poorly he played.
If the Bucks were to move on from Hill, they would have an opportunity to right their wrongs by bringing Carter back and rightfully making him the new backup point guard. Carter proved during his brief time with the Bucks that he could be the perfect backup floor general with this team due to his pesky defense and electrifying offense, and they would be foolish to let him walk, which all signs currently point to as free agency approaches. Carter would certainly not command a huge amount in free agency, and it would likely be cheaper to keep him around than to keep Hill on the roster heading into next season.
While Carter would be the most logical option to take on Milwaukee’s backup point guard duties, there are several other options out there. One solid option is Dennis Schroder, who the Bucks did express interest in acquiring at the trade deadline, a move they should have made when they had the chance. While Schroder is not the defender that Carter is, he is a far better player offensively, and he could help fix Milwaukee’s lack of second unit production, which plagued them throughout the 2021-22 season. According to NBA.com/stats, the Bucks’ second unit ranked bottom-four in points, field goal percentage, and assists per game in the regular season, which proved to be an obvious flaw in the postseason. Schroder, a solid backup floor general, could have helped fix these issues mightily had they traded for him at the deadline, and he could help percent them next year.
A former Sixth Man of the Year runner-up, Schroder has been a quality player over the past three seasons by averaging 16 points, 4.8 assists, and 3.8 rebounds per game. Numbers like that could undoubtedly help solve Milwaukee’s lack of bench production. Milwaukee’s fatal flaw during this past playoff run was that they could not get consistent scoring from their supporting cast, and a player like Schroder could have helped tremendously in that regard. Nevertheless, the Bucks can not do anything about it now, but they should unquestionably have Schroder on their radar as he is set to hit unrestricted free agency this offseason. They were interested in him before, and that intrigue should only be amplified following George Hill’s pitiful playoff performance.
Ultimately, Milwaukee’s plan this offseason should be to trade Hill elsewhere and find a suitable backup through trade, free agency, or even the upcoming 2022 NBA Draft.
It will be interesting to see what the Milwaukee Bucks have in store over the next few months.