With Giannis Antetokounmpo hurt, the Milwaukee Bucks have been living and dying, though mostly dying lately, through Ryan Rollins' contributions. When he's on, the Bucks can put up a fight. When he's off, the Bucks are often getting blown off the floor. The Milwaukee Bucks are a team that is easy to guard for opposing defenses, and Rivers, who is calling the shots, knows it.
"I think we're really struggling scoring. They're taking Ryan [Rollins] out of it. We don't have the ability right now to get into anything else when he doesn't have it...
I think right now we're easier to guard. We're trying to run too many pick and rolls. We don't get off the ball, so we're thinking about it."
Bucks' offense has been stuck in park
Right off the bat, it's not surprising that the Bucks are worse without Giannis. Any team that loses a player averaging 31.2 points and 6.8 assists will get worse. However, the drop-off has been steeper than many hoped for. Over their last three games, all without Giannis, the Bucks' offensive rating is 27th in the league. You're not going to win many games that way, and indeed, they've lost them all.
Ryan Rollins has been tremendous this year, but opposing teams are starting to focus on him more with no Giannis Antetokounmpo. Against the Trail Blazers, the pesky full-court defense allowed him to score just 10 points on 14 shot attempts. With Rollins struggling, the Bucks needed everyone else to pick up some of the lack, but the offense was still largely out of sync in another blowout loss.
Bobby Portis and Cole Anthony logged solid numbers, but that was mostly done through them just taking it upon themselves. There was no strategy behind it.
Giannis returning, whenever that may be, isn't going to solve this issue alone. In the time he has been available this year, the offense has largely been stale. Giannis operates while others stand around and wait for a kick out. It's among the reasons why Gary Trent Jr. and AJ Green have both just been solid instead of exceptional. It's led to some wins, but it's not sustainable long-term.
Rivers needs to inject more into the offense through play calling.
Run some hand-offs for the shooters. Preach the importance of movement. Get out in transition. Use the pick and roll but don't overuse it. Do whatever it takes to make this offense more formidable. The comments from Rivers should certainly serve as a wake-up call to players as well. They all know they need to play better if they want to right the ship.
If Rivers thinks Giannis returning with this same approach will simply fix this issue, he's in for a rude awakening in the coming weeks. It's time to get creative.
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