Since Kevin Porter Jr.'s return, Ryan Rollins has not been quite the same force. Porter has established himself as the clear leader and primary engine of the Milwaukee Bucks' offense. Rollins has worked to make himself useful off the ball, but his overall effectiveness has faded. To maximize each point guard's contributions, Doc Rivers decided to try Rollins off the bench against Toronto. While he may have had the right idea, the strategy quickly proved to be a blunder. Please, Doc, don't do this again.
Benching Rollins was not the 'spark' Bucks needed
With Kyle Kuzma inactive due to illness, Thursday night probably wasn't the best time to split up the exciting Porter-Rollins duo. With AJ Green back in the mix, the Bucks rolled out a starting five of Porter, Green, Myles Turner, Jericho Sims, and Gary Trent Jr. Not a lot of shot creation involved.
Assuming Green was going to start regardless, Gary Trent Jr. served as Rollins' de facto replacement. He went 1-of-8 for three points and posted a team-worst minus-15 in the box score in Milwaukee's 111-105 loss. Stepping in for Kuzma, a starter in each of the last three games, Sims didn't provide much in the way of offense, predictably. Green was not himself in his first game back from a shoulder injury, contributing five points on five attempts. The Bucks could have used some extra juice.
Off the bench, Rollins was limited to 28 minutes. He did have his most points in five games, 17, on his most shots, 15, in that span, so maybe the switch accomplished what it meant to achieve. Materially, though, that's not much different than what he has been doing alongside Porter. And on this night, with Kuzma out, the Bucks desperately needed life. They needed their best players on the court for as much time as possible.
Porter led the team with 40 minutes. He brought his typical energy but was not especially efficient. He finished the night with 22 points on 7-for-18 from the field, 13 assists, and seven giveaways. Until Porter reins in his turnover problems, it's going to be a mixed bag of awesome and awful. That's just the way it is.
What's not acceptable is keeping the team's best weapons off the floor for the sake of a questionable rotation strategy. The idea behind separating Porter and Rollins is to create periods where they each have room to make plays and run the offense. The goal is maximizing both of them, not minimizing one or the other in an unbalanced timeshare.
The Bucks' closing lineup - Porter, Rollins, Turner, Green, and Bobby Portis - is arguably the one they should have gone with at tipoff. Whether that's true or not, keeping Rollins on ice with Kuzma inactive and Trent bricking shot after shot is all but coaching malpractice. Trent has been somewhat better lately but inconsistent if not atrocious at times this season. Yet he started at Rollins' expense and played more minutes than Rollins. What are we doing here?
It's not that moving one of Rollins or Porter to the bench wouldn't be a good strategy in the right context. Given the team's offensive struggles, something needs to change. Right now, this isn't it. The star-starved Bucks simply don't have the personnel to plug into the starting lineup in Rollins' place, especially missing a regular rotation piece in Kuzma.
Maybe a one-two tandem is something the Bucks can consider when Giannis Antetokounmpo comes back. Yes, bringing one of them off the bench was the plan in the preseason. So far, however, both Rollins and Porter have outplayed a bench role, while Trent and Sims have been unimpressive. Fans can only hope Rivers backs off this experiment rather than digging his heels in further.