3 Negative signs for the 2023-24 Milwaukee Bucks through 10 games
By Corey Moen
No. 2- Players outside of Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo aren’t stepping up
It’s been a struggle to watch the Bucks operate as an offense this season. Sure, it’s fun watching Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo put up eye-popping stats, but at some point, that catches up with you.
Antetokounmpo (29.5 points) and Lillard (22.8 points) are the two highest-scorers on the team. The next closest is Bobby Portis with (12.4 points.) Khris Middleton (11.4 points) is on a minute restriction. So he’ll take a bit to round into form, but Portis, Lopez, Malik Beasley, and Beauchamp are four players who should be expected to make more of a contribution offensively.
Milwaukee’s bench scoring was a concern last year, and it’s the same case this season. The weakness of this team could be they might not have enough bench scoring. Outside of Portis, how many players on Milwaukee’s roster do you realistically expect a 20-25 point performance?
Recently, Milwaukee has had more success playing Andre Jackson Jr. and A.J. Green, so maybe it’s not a matter of finding one to two consistent bench scorers. What Adrian Griffin might try to do is mix-and-match different bench units to see which five play the best together.
If that doesn’t work, find someone on the bench who will give the team a spark.