3 Burning free agency questions for the Milwaukee Bucks
Free Agency opens tomorrow evening and a flurry of moves are to be expected around the league. Looking at the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2021-22 season, some may say that the season ended in disappointment, others may say if Khris Middleton healthy during the Celtics series that the Bucks would have been defending their title against the Golden State Warriors. Regardless of the “what if” questions from the end of last season, the Milwaukee Bucks have work to do on the current roster, the question that remains is, what are the Bucks going to do?
Burning free agency questions for the Milwaukee Bucks: What will the Bucks do to upgrade at backup point guard?
George Hill had a down year last year in just about every category against his career numbers outside of his free throw percentage. While it is possible that heading into his 15th season that his 2021-22 numbers were an outlier for his career and that the injuries that limited him to just 54 games had an affect on that, is that really a risk the Milwaukee Bucks, a title contending team, want to take with their primary backup to Jrue Holiday?
Internal options currently are Luca Vildoza, who was brought in right before the playoffs and saw some short minutes during the series against the Chicago Bulls and showed some flashy passes. Another familiar option would be Jevon Carter, who after joining the Bucks after being bought out by the Brooklyn Nets, essentially did the opposite of George Hill and shot percentages from everywhere on the floor that were better than his career averages.
External options the Milwaukee Bucks could consider could include names like Dennis Schroeder, Tyus Jones and Ricky Rubio. The Bucks had interest in Dennis Schroeder near last season’s trade deadline and looked close to agreeing to a deal that would have sent Donte DiVincenzo to the Boston Celtics instead of the Sacramento Kings. Tyus Jones would be a valuable backup point guard, the same role he played for the Memphis Grizzlies last season and filled in admirably during games when Ja Morant was injured.
My favorite potential option of these three is Ricky Rubio, while Rubio did tear his ACL last December, that fact may drive down his free agency price and could allow the Bucks to use their mid level exception to sign the 31 year old. Rubio would bring experience and a veteran savvy in addition to valuable production, just about everything you could want from a backup point guard. For the Cavaliers last season before his injury, Rubio was averaging 13.1 points, 4.1 rebounds and 6.6 assists in just over 28 minutes per game, George Hill played 23 minutes per game last season, so the Bucks could hand those minutes to Rubio and a little more and give Jrue Holiday some rest, something he definitely needed during the playoffs but couldn’t get.