10 Milwaukee Bucks games have come and gone and had you asked me before the season what the Bucks record would be after 10 games without Khris Middleton and Pat Connaughton, having to play the 76ers in Philadelphia, the Nets and the Hawks twice, I would’ve felt good coming out of those 10 games 7-3. Well, our Milwaukee Bucks are 9-1 and only lost their first game just last night. Let’s look at some studs and duds from the beginning of this young season.
Milwaukee Bucks studs and duds from the first 10 games: Stud: Giannis Antetokounmpo
Let’s get the obvious one out of the way, Giannis Antetokounmpo is a stud. He is an absolute monster, on both ends of the floor, the best two-way player in the NBA and in many other’s opinions, the best player in the NBA. He was voted in a preseason survey done by ESPN as the best player in the league, he was praised by Demar DeRozan and now he’s showing off that he has continued growing and has a renewed hunger to be the best.
Through nine games (Giannis sat out Saturday night with knee soreness) Giannis is averaging 31.8 points, thanks in part to six straight 30+ point games which tied a career high for him. Giannis is averaging 12.2 rebounds, his highest since 2019-20, 5.3 assists, 1.4 blocks and 1.1 steals, all in less than 33 minutes per game!
Giannis is also quickly rising up several all-time Milwaukee Bucks leaderboards. Giannis passed Sidney Moncrief for most made free throws in franchise history, he passed Bob Dandridge for second most made 2-point field goals, trailing obviously Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Giannis is also hot on the heels of more franchise records, he needs just four assists to pass Paul Pressey for the Milwaukee Bucks all-time lead and is just five steals behind Khris Middleton for fourth all time in that category, once Middleton is healthy that could be a fun category to watch them go back and forth in.
We are truly fortunate to have the best superstar we could have ever asked for, Giannis is amazing on and off the court and he will be a staple of the stud portion of these evaluations.
Milwaukee Bucks studs and duds through ten games: Stud: Brook Lopez
It’s getting hard to choose between calling Brook Lopez Splash Mountain and Smash Mountain, Splash for knocking down tons of 3-point shots and Smash given to him by Marques Johnson and Lisa Byington for his domination of the defensive end. After Brook Lopez dominated the Oklahoma City Thunder I posed a question I was asked by a fellow contributor, “did Brook Lopez have the greatest back surgery ever?”
Brook Lopez is doing everything asked of him and more, and honestly, if he keeps this pace up, will be in the conversation of being an All-Star. Brook is currently averaging 14.6 points and 6.1 rebounds. He is shooting 49.6 percent on field goals and currently a career high 37.5 percent on 3-pointers, safe to say Splash Mountain is back.
However, the other side of Brook Lopez is also back, bringing on the Smash Mountain moniker once he crosses half court from offense to defense. Brook is currently leading the NBA in blocks per game at 2.5. To further assert the deserving of a nickname on the defensive end, Brook is far and away the leader in contested shots in the NBA. He has contested 11 more shots than the player in second, Ivica Zubac, and looking at contested two point shots, Lopez holds a 20 shot lead in the category, and Lopez has played one less game!
Call him Splash, call him Smash, call him both, whatever you call him, call him a stud.
Milwaukee Bucks studs and duds through 10 games: Stud: Jrue Holiday
I fully acknowledge that Jrue Holiday has had a few dud games offensively, however, even in his bad offensive games, Jrue Holiday finds ways to impact games positively for the Milwaukee Bucks. Opening night in Philadelphia is a perfect example, Jrue shot just 2-of-15, but contributed eight assists and two steals while playing defense on Tyrese Maxey and James Harden for 35 minutes, and in that time only turned the ball over once. Looking at the beginning of the season for Holiday if you look at any game he didn’t shoot well, he stuffed the stat sheet in other areas.
What still gets overlooked by NBA fans and the media but is not lost on opponents, is how good Jrue Holiday is defensively. Jrue can defend 1-3 with relative ease and did spend some time guarding Kevin Durant during the matchup with the Nets.
Head coach Mike Budenholzer has placed emphasis on defending the 3-point line more this season as it is one Achilles’ heel the Bucks have dealt with in games they’ve lost in years past. Jrue Holiday has taken that to the extreme. Opponents are shooting just 30.6 percent on 3-pointers when guarded by Jrue Holiday this season. That number is even more impressive considering Jrue has faced James Harden, Kyrie Irving, Trae Young, Cade Cunningham twice, DeAngelo Russell and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Jrue has gone up against a stable of budding stars, proven players and superstars this early season behind the arc, and guys are finding it difficult to make 3-pointers when guarded by him.
If Jrue Holiday can develop more consistency offensively, he is another player that will garner All-Star consideration.
Milwaukee Bucks studs and duds through ten games: Dud: Jordan Nwora
We as Milwaukee Bucks fans won’t ever be able to predict whether Jordan Nwora will have a good game or a bad game. Nwora is so hard to predict and it may cost him playing time when other wings are healthy. Not only that but MarJon Beauchamp is eagerly nipping at his heels for more playing time as well. Nwora was brought back on a two year deal before this season and if he wants to remain a Milwaukee Buck and see the floor regularly, not just in blowouts or load management games, he needs to be more consistent.
We have seen a couple flashes in the pan with Nwora this season, he’s made some big 3-point shots, he’s made some tough 3-point shots, however, it seems often that when Nwora has it made up in his mind that he is going to shoot, there’s no changing his mind. The other aspect of Nwora’s offensive game that he needs to control, and it’s been talked about, is taking care of the ball. Nwora has struggled with turnovers in his young career and through the first ten games already has a three and four turnover game.
It’s also been widely discussed by Budenholzer and Nwora himself that he needs work defensively, Nwora has the physical ability to defend well, at the very least at an average level and has shown at times that he can use quick hands to get some strips and steals. Things just haven’t fully come together for him at the defensive end.
What should be the fall back for Nwora while he works on polishing his playmaking and defense is his shooting, and that hasn’t gone well for Nwora through ten games. For the first ten games of this season Nwora is shooting just 33.9 percent on field goals, well below his first two seasons and 32.1 percent on 3-point shots, two percent below 2021 and 14 percent below his rookie season.
Luckily for Nwora he can’t be traded until 90 days after signing his contract so he still has about a month and a half to turn his season around before the Bucks can think about adding him to a trade deal. If not, expect to see a lot more of #0 on the floor for the Bucks.
Milwaukee Bucks studs and duds through ten games: Stud: Bobby Portis
We have to have nicknames now for everyone for this season, Brook Lopez has two, Giannis has too many to count, it’s time we give one to Bobby Portis, we can call him Bobby Board-is, after his 21 rebound performance against the Oklahoma City Thunder Saturday night, or we can call him Mr. Double Double. Through ten games Bobby Portis is averaging 13.1 points and 11.1 rebounds while adding two assists per game.
Bobby Portis and Giannis Antetokounmpo are the only players averaging double digit rebounds for the Bucks and are the only players averaging more than seven rebounds per game. Bobby Portis, thanks to the extra game played, sits one spot ahead of Giannis in total rebounds in the NBA. Bobby Portis currently ranks 6th in the NBA in rebounds! Bobby trails two players who have played more games than him and all five players ahead of him in rebounds have played significantly more minutes. That Bobby Board-is nickname might be tremendously appropriate for the proportion of minutes played to rebounds.
Bobby got off to a little bit of a slow start shooting the ball but has picked it up as of late, hitting two 3-point shots in each of the last three games. On the season Portis is shooting 46.6 percent from the field, where his fadeaway jumper looks smoother than creamy peanut butter and has raised his 3-point shooting to 34.1 percent and climbing. As mentioned in the last three games Portis is 6-of-16 on 3-point shots which is 37.5 percent, much closer to his average with the Bucks of 41.2 percent.
Stay tuned for more analysis on the Milwaukee Bucks.