There has been a lot of change to the Milwaukee Bucks roster in recent seasons, but Bobby Portis continues to be a key piece off the bench. With Portis' scoring being needed more than ever, he needs to return to form with his tip layups and fadeaways for the Bucks to be successful.
Along with Giannis Antetokounmpo, he and Portis are the only players remaining from the 2021 title-winning roster. This offseason, the Mayor of Milwaukee agreed to a new three-year, $44 million deal to stay in Wisconsin, where the loss of Damian Lillard will require him and others to step up on offense. Hitting these shots could fuel that.
Bucks need Portis to find his stride again around the paint
In the 2023-24 season, Portis made 53.3 percent of his tip layups and 51.2 percent of his fadeaways. Those numbers dropped in the 2024-25 season to 36 percent on tip shots and only 40 percent on fadeaways. Milwaukee's change in the frontcourt to add Myles Turner will keep Portis as the sixth man, a role he knows well.
Portis had a solid season, averaging 13.9 points and 8.4 rebounds on shooting splits of .466/.365/.836 in 25.4 minutes per game. The 25-game suspension in the latter half of the season is always forgotten, as he just slotted straight back into the rotation as if he had never missed any time.
Jon Horst recently spoke about the desire for Milwaukee to shoot more 3-pointers in the upcoming season, having led the league in efficiency last year. Portis has never been a 3-point specialist, but has always been pretty consistent scoring from the perimeter. However, where this will impact Portis is on those tip layups around the rim from any missed threes. More threes will ultimately mean more misses, which then requires Portis to grab offensive rebounds or even tip-ins.
The fadeaway side of his game was frustrating early on in the early parts of the 2023-24 season, with it feeling like the Bucks lacked creativity in their halfcourt offense, which led to Portis shooting fadeaways to try to generate any sort of open shot.
Milwaukee will still need this from him this season, but with better efficiency, and more importantly, when Giannis Antetokounmposits. Giannis and Lillard were able to create offense for themselves at times, but with the latter now in Portland, other players will be relied on to step up on offense.
Milwaukee's roster for the upcoming season has great versatility throughout. Portis can easily play the five alongside Giannis, or could be used at the four spot with Turner or Jericho Sims at center. There are numerous lineups the Milwaukee Bucks can roll out, but Portis will still be integral to any success they achieve in the 2025-26 season.
Portis believes in the roster despite the people who are writing the team off. We know the energy and intensity he brings off the bench. Should he get the efficiency of his tip layups and fadeaways up, it could give this team an underrated boost.