The Milwaukee Bucks played their final preseason game Wednesday night and now have off until opening night on October 20th. The Bucks dropped their final preseason matchup against the Brooklyn Nets and finished winless during the preseason tune up.
A few things worth mentioning about the winless preseason record: one, the Milwaukee Bucks played with a full team one time, the first game in Abu Dhabi, in that game the starter who played the most minutes was Jrue Holiday with 23. Two, it’s preseason, these games do not count for anything, they do not affect the standings and nobody gets a trophy for having the best preseason record. The last time the Bucks went winless in the preseason they won the NBA Championship, so their record holds no bearing on where they can go once the actual season starts.
That said, we’re glad basketball is back and with that, let’s get some takeaways from the Bucks preseason finale.
Takeaways from the Milwaukee Bucks preseason finale: Jevon Carter has earned the backup point guard spot
This one has been brought up as a takeaway from previous preseason games, and I am here to bring it up again. Jevon Carter has shined on both ends of the floor, playing consistent defense and knocking down shot after shot on offense.
Jevon Carter started alongside Jrue Holiday on Wednesday night, whether that is a sign that Carter has earned a greater role or if Mike Budenholzer was testing a defensively aimed lineup is purely speculation. Carter shot 6-of-12 including 3-of-6 behind the 3-point line, in addition to his 15 points Carter added four assists and three steals. George Hill was 3-of-6 from the field and 2-of-5 from behind the arc and added four rebounds and two steals.
However, in this game Jevon Carter played 28 minutes and George Hill 27, nearly even, now Grayson Allen’s absence from this game could be an explanation for both getting more minutes. Looking at the two head to head over the entire preseason, Jevon Carter has played over 109 minutes, just shy of 22 minutes per game and Hill has played just under 71 minutes in four games, under 18 minutes per game.
So while we may not have a large disparity of minutes between Carter and Hill when it comes to who is the Milwaukee Bucks’ backup point guard, it looks as though thus far Carter is the preferred option. It is also quite likely that there will be several instances where either one of these two are on the floor with Jrue Holiday in lineups where Giannis Antetokounmpo is playing the center position.
Bottom line, when it comes to needing a substitute for Jrue Holiday, Jevon Carter has been the first player off the bench.
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.
Takeaways from Milwaukee Bucks preseason finale: Jrue Holiday and Giannis Antetokounmpo are ready for the regular season
My final takeaway from the Milwaukee Bucks’ preseason finale on Wednesday night is that the Bucks’ two best players that will be available opening night are ready for the season opener against the Philadelphia 76ers. There does not appear to be any rust on these two and they both played very efficient basketball on Wednesday night.
Jrue Holiday scored 20 points on 8-of-15 shooting including 3-of-6 behind the 3-point line plus six rebounds and four assists. Holiday did also have seven turnovers and as previously mentioned with Jordan Nwora, turnovers are something the Milwaukee Bucks as a team need to clean up. Jrue Holiday did spend a chunk of time defending Kevin Durant, something that were Khris Middleton and Wesley Matthews healthy and available, would happen a lot less frequently.
Giannis Antetokounmpo led all scorers in this final preseason game, Giannis finished with 24 points on 6-of-21 shooting. Now you may ask “how can you say Giannis is ready for the regular season after missing 15 shots?” To me the bigger takeaway from Giannis Antetokounmpo’s preseason finale is his free throw number, 12-of-15 from the free throw line. Added with the 7-of-10 he made in his other preseason appearance that makes Giannis 19-of-25 from the free throw line in the preseason, a respectable, potentially opponent game-plan ruining 76 percent. Over four percent higher than his career 71.8 percent, I recognize two games is a tiny sample size up against Giannis’ career body of work, but consider the Eurobasket tournament, where Giannis made 84.4 percent of his free throws. It seems as though he has applied his unmatched work ethic to this area in the offseason.
In addition to his 24 points on Wednesday night, Giannis added 14 rebounds, four assists and three steals, all in 32 minutes of work. Take a second to imagine the monstrous stat-lines Giannis would put up if he played 38 minutes a game like some other players do.
Stay tuned to Behind the Buck Pass during the regular season for previews and takeaways for every game.