The Milwaukee Bucks have been one of the most successful teams in the NBA in recent years.
They won the championship in 2021, and they have been a perennial playoff contender ever since. However, some fans have been concerned about the team’s roster this offseason after a humiliating defeat at the hands of the eighth-seeded Miami Heat. They have lost some key players in Jevon Carter, Joe Ingles, and Wesley Matthews, and some have argued that the front office just has not made any major moves to replace them.
There’s a lot to be said about the holes that do remain in the roster, but much of the discourse misses the value that the team already acquired via the NBA draft and their other moves thus far. It’s by no means a complete offseason or a finished product, but this writer is of the opinion that the Bucks’ front office is, at the very least, close to one. All things considered, this iteration of the Bucks’ roster is not as lacking as is advertised by many on social media.
Here are a few reasons why the Bucks roster as it currently stands is already good enough to contend for a championship.
Reasons the Milwaukee Bucks roster is good as is: No. 4 – They have a solid supporting cast.
You can say what you want about their ostensibly declining on-court production well past the 30-year-old mark — at the end of the day, Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday are still both All-Star-calibre players even at this point in their careers, and they are great complements to Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Middleton, who has admittedly lost a step in his athleticism, is still a proven three-level scorer who can get hot from the outside and in the mid-range, while Holiday is a lockdown defender who can also create his own shot. Both players have shown as early as a few months ago that they are still capable of taking over games, and they are great complements to Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Even past the Big 3, Bobby Portis, Brook Lopez, and Grayson Allen are all solid role players who can contribute to winning basketball in a variety of ways. There are legitimate arguments to be had for trading a few of their peripheral secondary players, to be sure, but the truth is that we’ve seen this iteration of the Bucks do more with less.
What they lack in star talent, they make up for with cohesion and variety. The Bucks’ roster, as it currently stands, just has no glaring holes for this writer outside of the backup point guard position. This is not something we could have said before the acquisition of defensive-minded wings with size like Andre Jackson Jr. and Chris Livingston. These young Bucks can score and defend both at the rim and out on the perimeter, thanks to their most recent draft day haul to shore up their youth movement. They have good playmakers and defenders at nearly every position, and they have the floor-spacing to keep their stars open enough to make plays.
Even then, the Bucks have a track record of reviving the careers of aging veterans, which the free agency class this year is still chock full of. They still have one final roster spot left to plug, and it will be interesting to see who they ultimately decide on.
It is still a factual statistic that when completely healthy, no team in the association has beaten the core of Giannis, Khris, and Jrue yet dating back to their championship season. That’s not to disparage the feats of teams that have outed the Bucks, but it’s just a fact. As far as supporting casts around the league go, you could do a lot worse than the unit backing up the Greek Freak in Milwaukee.
Reasons the Milwaukee Bucks roster is good as is: No. 3 – They have a proven culture and identity.
Say what you want about their postseason blunders year after year, but the Milwaukee Bucks’ sustained regular-season success does and should count for something when you evaluate this team.
The Bucks are a team-first team with an established culture of accountability. Through the years, they’ve given us clear evidence that each player is not afraid to sacrifice individual stats for the good of the team. From the coaching staff to the locker room, the winning expectations for the organization mean that all its members are held to high standards and are expected to perform at a high level.
And at the end of the day, there’s a lot of credit to be given to their past head coach in Mike Budenholzer. He’s turned the franchise culture around in his stay here, and the difference between the Budenholzer-led Bucks and the team under the Jason Kidd regime is night and day.
The roster we see before us today is one that knows that defense wins championships and is one that is never lacking in effort on the court. They’ve learned how to be dogs, as P.J. Tucker put it, and will continue to be dogs long after the departures of Tucker and Budenholzer. And that’s culture.
For all his well-documented foibles in the playoffs (for they were many), Budenholzer is a proven winner, and he has a great track record of reviving players by getting them to buy into well-defined roles in which to thrive. He has also proven his skill in getting the most out of his team, which is why guys like Pat Connaughton have been able to produce so well deep into the playoffs.
As it currently stands, there’s just no reason to think this locker room culture of grit and accountability is going away any time soon. On the contrary, Bucks fans should be excited about how a guy like Adrian Griffin is going to build on it with his new schemes and ideas.
Reasons the Milwaukee Bucks roster is good as is: No. 2 – They have a superstar in Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Giannis Antetokounmpo is the best basketball player in the world because he is a dominant force on both ends of the court. He is a physical specimen with incredible athleticism, but he is also a skilled player with a well-rounded game.
On offense, Giannis is a nightmare matchup for opposing defenses. He can score in a variety of ways, from driving to the basket to shooting from the midrange. He is also a gifted passer, and he is able to create scoring opportunities for his teammates, which means that the Bucks will always be able to put themselves in a position to win even when their superstar isn’t scoring the basketball.
Defensively, Giannis is one of the best in the league. He is a lockdown defender, both inside and out, who can guard multiple positions. He is also a prolific rebounder, and he is always in the right place to make a play.
In addition to his physical and athletic gifts, Giannis is also a winner. He has led the Milwaukee Bucks to the NBA Finals once, and he won the championship in 2021. He is also a two-time MVP and a Defensive Player of the Year.
Giannis Antetokounmpo is the best basketball player in the world because he is a dominant force on both ends of the court. He is a physical specimen with incredible athleticism, but he is also a skilled player with a well-rounded game. He is a winner, and he has the stats to back it up. At age 28, he is still only going to get better. He is a generational talent, and he is sure to make his mark on the NBA for years to come.
Giannis is one of the three best players in the game of basketball today, and he is still in his prime. He is a triple-double threat every night, and he can take over games on both ends of the floor. This only means that as long as Giannis is a Milwaukee Buck, the team will always have a chance to win a championship. It’s really that simple.
Reasons the Milwaukee Bucks roster is good as is: No. 1 – They’ve already shaken things up.
Sometimes you just don’t get what you want. The truth is there were 29 other teams who would have loved Collin Sexton or Damian Lillard on their rosters, too. And given the team’s asset situation, that probably means 29 other offers that would have been better than Milwaukee’s.
Regardless of how the remainder of this offseason turns out, moves have already been made, even if they weren’t necessarily the league-breaking superstar migrations that some were hoping for. The Bucks got a fresh new head coach in Adrian Griffin, and he can hopefully breathe some new life into a system that was largely exposed by a league that had been rapidly catching up to it for years now.
This writer has always been of the opinion that this team’s problems throughout the Mike Budenholzer era have been more indicative of systemic deficiencies than actual flaws in roster construction. With a former Nick Nurse assistant now at the helm, it’s all a matter of waiting to see how much this changes things.
They also went all-in on replenishing their once-dwindling youth movement, adding athletic and defensive-minded guys like Andre Jackson Jr. and Chris Livingston. The former could be a sneaky good playmaker who can put opposing scorers in jail, while the latter could end up being the steal of the second round.
In conclusion, this writer believes that the Bucks still have a good chance to contend for a championship this season. They have a solid roster, a proven culture, and a superstar in Giannis Antetokounmpo. They may not be the favorites, but they should not be counted out.
Admittedly, it’s hard to argue that this iteration of the Milwaukee Bucks is going to win the NBA championship this year. But that’s more a result of the league developing all around them than their own roster build. As currently constructed, these Bucks are, at the very least, going to contend. And at the end of the day, the Bucks’ offseason is not over yet. They could still make some moves before the season starts and again at the trade deadline later on in the regular season. If they do, they could become even more dangerous.
Stay tuned for more news on the Bucks as the offseason progresses.