With the 2023 NBA season quickly approaching, the Milwaukee Bucks have some minor tweaking to do with their starting lineup. We can all agree that Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jrue Holiday, Brook Lopez, and Khris Middleton will find themselves in the starting unit, but who will be the fifth?
It could be a variety of players that find themselves filling that void in the lineup. However, it’ll boil down to either veteran starter Grayson Allen, who started 70 of the 72 games he played in for Milwaukee last year, or offseason signee Malik Beasley. Both bring a lot to the table and can add a great element to the starting lineup. Yet, one of these players will be a better and more consistent fit in the starting lineup for the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2023-2024 season.
Should the Milwaukee Bucks start Grayson Allen or Malik Beasley?
The case for Grayson Allen starting: As mentioned above, Allen started all but two games for the Milwaukee Bucks that he played last year. It was a career-high for him in starts, as he surpassed his 2021 total of 61 starts. With over 130 games started for the Milwaukee Bucks in the last two years, Allen not only has more experience with the starting unit but also a better understanding of the proper floor spacing to have with a drive-heavy offense.
For as much as Allen brings to the table, he also misses the mark in other aspects. Defensively, he is the weak link in a lineup that features top-tier defensive players. He had the worst defensive rating on the Milwaukee Bucks in 2022 among the starters, per Stat Muse. With Adrian Griffin, who preaches defense, in charge, we could see Allen’s role as a starter take a bit of a back seat.
Where he saves himself some and keeps his name in that first-five unit is his shooting ability. At nearly 40 percent from three last year and almost 41 percent the year before, he’s proven to be a weapon on the perimeter for the Milwaukee Bucks. He’s even shown the ability to put the ball on the floor and score in the paint when ran off the 3-point line.
Although he’s been a knockdown shooter for the Milwaukee Bucks, he’s also found himself suffering from cold streaks from downtown. In last year’s Eastern Conference semifinals showdown with the Boston Celtics, he went a combined 5-for-24 from deep, which included four games of not registering a made three.
With streaky shooting and inconsistent defense, Allen could find himself on the outside of the starting lineup for the first time in his Milwaukee Bucks career.
Should the Milwaukee Bucks start Grayson Allen or Malik Beasley?
The case for Malik Beasley starting: When it comes to inserting Malik Beasley into the Milwaukee Bucks’ starting lineup, the idea seems a bit more foreign with his unfamiliarity with the group.
He’s started in fewer games than Allen has in his career (Allen has started 171 career games compared to Beasley’s 114 career starts) and has bounced around the league the last few years. He’s also coming off a poor playoff performance with the Los Angeles Lakers, where he averaged three points per game on 26.98 percent shooting from three, playing just one minute in the Western Conference Finals. With all of that being said, we could see Beasley leap-frogging over Allen for that fifth and final starting spot with the Milwaukee Bucks.
Beasley has shown that, when given the opportunity, he’s able to rise to the occasion. In the 2020-2021 season, he was putting up career numbers with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Through 37 games he played in that year, he started in 36 while averaging 19.6 points per game on 39.9-percent shooting from three and 44 percent shooting from the floor. His season was overshadowed by the 12-game suspension he was handed for pleading guilty in September 2020 in regard to a violent altercation.
Despite the off-the-court issues he’s had, he’s exhibited an ability to play at a very high level in the role of a starter. He also possesses a similar attribute that Allen has, being able to shoot the three. Over the course of his career, he’s hovered between 35-40 percent from three, which is a welcomed mark for a Milwaukee Bucks team that is always emphasizing players that are elite catch-and-shoot threats.
He also owns one of the top catch-and-shoot percentages in all of the NBA over the last few years. In 2022-2023, he averaged six 3-pointers attempted per game, which was third in the league at 35.7 percent. The year prior, he found himself second in the league in the same stat, shooting it at 38 percent. With Giannis, Jrue, and Khris all attracting tons of attention from opposing defenses, Beasley’s efficient and high-volume shooting numbers will boost the Milwaukee Bucks’ offense overall.
Similar to Allen, he has also been a liability on the defensive end, with a 115.1 defensive rating for his career. That will, without question, have to increase with Coach Griffin’s defensive strategy, but with his high-level scoring, it could force the new coach’s hand in going against his strategy.
Should the Milwaukee Bucks start Grayson Allen or Malik Beasley? It’s Beasley
Yes, going against an experienced starter who has proven himself for two straight years seems ridiculous. But when that starter has a much lower scoring ceiling and is a hindrance defensively, it doesn’t do any good having him out there in the starting five. Defensively, they are both fairly comparable, so it’s a matter of picking your poison with them on that side of the ball. However, Allen does get lucky at times, gambling in the passing lanes, whereas Beasley is a mismatch waiting to happen for an opposing offense.
Allen’s experience in the lineup, without question, gives him an advantage over Beasley, but with a new head coach, that could also mean a new change in the lineup. Beasley is no stranger to being in the starting unit, so it wouldn’t be an adjustment for him to have to be in the lineup on a nightly basis. But where Beasley starts to separate himself from Allen is in his scoring ability.
With both players being very capable catch-and-shoot players and strong at getting in the paint, it’s obvious to see the offensive impact both of them will have. However, Allen has shown he reaches somewhat of a ceiling scoring-wise, as he typically has hovered around 10 points per game in his career. When it comes to Beasley, sure, his scoring totals are a little bit more sporadic, but he’s displayed an ability to score at a high level. By adding another 20-plus point per game player, or at least one that is capable of putting up those numbers, it would deepen the offensive threat that Milwaukee would possess.
Since they are both equal on the defensive end, it’ll be their offensive play that separates who will be starting and who will be coming off the bench. I think that Allen might begin the year as a starter, but I see Coach Griffin and the Milwaukee Bucks going in a totally different direction as the season progresses and deciding to insert Beasley into the starting five.
Stay tuned for more Milwaukee Bucks news and analysis to come.