The Bucks tied their franchise-worst start to a season following their defeat to the Lakers on Wednesday. Taylor Jenkins changed things up again. One of the big changes saw Jaime Jaquez Jr. drop to the bench for Nate Ament. Jaquez continued his good start to the season despite the role change, but that move also put Kasparas Jakucionis' breakout on ice.
Jaime Jaquez Jr. a bright spot in a dismal start
Jaquez and Tyler Herro have tried their best to lead the Bucks to wins, but the rest of the roster has struggled to find any form of consistency and aid the two guys clearly leading the team now. The wing was hard done by being dropped for Ament, who had also earned a shot to start.
It was still a strong performance off the bench as he finished with 25 points, five rebounds, three assists, and two steals on 7-of-16 (43.8 percent) from the field. This was his first appearance off the bench in a Bucks jersey, and he carried on with the same aggression as he has when starting.
His defense was also better on Wednesday, as he held Lakers players to just 3-of-10 (30 percent) shooting from the field when guarded by him. He's still up for an extension, and averaging 16.1 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 2.8 assists is an impressive way to bolster his argument.
Jakucionis has shown glimpses but needs to remain patient
Jenkins is far from done messing with his rotations and starting lineups, but the difficulty for Jakucionis is that having both Jaquez and Ryan Rollins coming off the bench alongside him doesn't allow any room for another ball-handler.
Jakucionis hasn't helped himself by shooting just 23.3 percent from 3-point range so far, a significant drop from shooting 42.3 percent with the Heat last season on a similar number of attempts. His first few performances were filled with positives, but he has since found himself only featuring in garbage time.
Milwaukee needs patience with their young players, unlike in previous years. The problem with young players is that they are inconsistent and need opportunities to make those mistakes and grow. Where the Bucks are finding it tough is that the veterans they would hope to increase the trade value of have also started the season inconsistently, so Jenkins is stuck in a situation where, outside of Herro and Jaquez, everyone else is finding it tough to string performances together.
The starting five and rotation are far from set; we have seen that already this early in the season. Jaime Jaquez Jr. has been very impressive, but if he continues to come off the bench alongside Ryan Rollins, Kasparas Jakucionis will have to keep fighting to get back into the rotation.
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