As a young player, new Milwaukee Bucks center Kel'el Ware is bound to make mistakes. For instance, with the Miami Heat last season, Ware led the entire NBA in defensive goaltending. That leaves room for improvement, and if he can cut back on those, it would strengthen his growing reputation as an incredibly versatile defender.
Ware has the right mindset but has room to grow
No one can fault a defensive player for being active around the hoop. Sometimes, it's easy to mistime a block and have it result in a goaltend. It happens. It can, at times, be useful to let an opposing player know that there is a threat looming close by and make them think twice about driving in next time. Yet, it gets to a point.
Ware had 21 defensive goaltending violations last season, the most in the league—coming in second was Washington's Alex Sarr, who had 14. It was the fourth time a player has recorded over 20 of this particular violation in a single season since 2021-22. Nick Richards had an unbelievable 26 of them, while Nic Claxton had 22 in 2023-24. Claxton had 21 in 2024-25. That leaves room for improvement.
Obviously, goaltending will happen, but Ware's goal for this coming season should be to trim last year's number significantly. If he can finish the year a lot closer to 10 than 20, he will be in good shape. Let's turn those goaltends into blocks.
Ware has the tools to be an excellent defender
At just 22 years old, Ware is still sharpening his skill set every day. As he does, his defense should start to make him even more formidable. At 7 feet, 230 lbs, he moves incredibly well and can be a great individual defender as well as a help defender. That versatility will make him a useful piece in Milwaukee's defensive schemes.
It wouldn't be surprising if Taylor Jenkins put him on the floor with Myles Turner often similar to Giannis Antetokounmpo and Brook Lopez to really put pressure on offenses.
For now, though, the big man appears poised to come off the bench as Turner's backup. He will be tasked with holding things down defensively when Turner is catching his breath by defending inside while also holding his own in space. If he does that while cutting back on the goaltends, Ware has all of the tools to quickly become a formidable defensive force at the NBA level.
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