3 Takeaways from Milwaukee Bucks loss in preseason finale

Takeaways from Milwaukee Bucks preseason finale: Jordan Nwora is still a project

Tuesday night against the Chicago Bulls Jordan Nwora was the Milwaukee Bucks’ player of the game, however the Bulls were resting their two best players and the Bucks sat out the top eight or nine players in their regular rotation. Jordan Nwora had the opportunity to showcase his improvements and start to build a return on his new contract. He did so offensively, as expected, finishing with 25 points. To his credit, Nwora did apply himself defensively at least twice in that game, one being a possession where he played sound on ball defense and defended a dribble handoff after which Coby White missed a deep 3-point shot contested by Nwora. The other being a block that made it look like Nwora had been watching volleyball all offseason.

Wednesday night Nwora was just 1-of-5 from the field, making one 3-point attempt and two free throws to finish with five points. Nwora added two rebounds and a redeeming four assists.

Going to Wednesday’s matchup with the Brooklyn Nets who played all of their starters and rotational players, Nwora looked like the player we know needs work defensively. Jordan Nwora has the athletic capability to be a solid, even average defender yet something is holding him back in that area. Tuesday night’s game showed me that he is capable of playing good defense. It just needs to become a consistent habit if Nwora wants to crack the rotation on a night where all of the Bucks players are healthy.

The other aspect Jordan Nwora has got to clean up if he wants consistent playing time, is turnovers, turnovers were a thorn in the Bucks’ side most of last season and in the five preseason games Nwora played, he had three or more turnovers in three of them. Nwora has to take better care of the ball. Between defensive lapses and turnovers, Nwora finished a game low -22.

Nwora may still have the opportunity to earn more playing time with Khris Middleton likely to miss a little bit of time to start the regular season, but he has to make the most of every minute he is on the floor, both ends of the floor or he may find himself as an addition to a trade down the line.