The Milwaukee Bucks have spent the last few months tweaking their roster to add more quality role players, which has created some question marks.
With so much talent in town, fans have questioned what Coach Mike Budenholzer’s shortened playoff rotation could look like. The regular season has been about experimenting with players to see who goes where, which may give Budenholzer an idea about which players need more or less time in the playoff rotation. With that said, let us look at three players who may get more time on the floor down the stretch and into the postseason.
3 Bucks’ role players whose minutes could increase down the stretch: Jae Crowder
It’s been an unorthodox season for Jae Crowder. After voluntarily sitting out the first portion of the season awaiting a trade, the veteran landed with the Bucks in February. Since then, the team has managed his minutes closely, having averaged 18 per game in his 13 appearances thus far, as they did not want to just immediately throw him into the fire. As the playoffs near and Crowder gets more and more up to speed, his minutes are seemingly bound to increase.
It would not be surprising at all to see Crowder inserted into Milwaukee’s starting five before the playoffs begin. Alongside Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jrue Holiday, Khris Middleton, and Brook Lopez, Crowder would help form a lethal defensive-minded group. The Bucks took a similar approach last season when they swapped Grayson Allen out of the starting five for Wesley Matthews. Similarly to Matthews, Crowder would provide more defensive intensity over Allen and give the Bucks a big wing to throw at opposing scorers.
Whether or not he starts, the Bucks will certainly look to get Crowder more involved. His minutes could surpass 30 on average easily, which would obviously be more than he is at right now. He will be on the floor in some big moments for Milwaukee as they will utilize him as much as possible to slow down other big wings.