The 2024-25 season is right around the corner, and the Milwaukee Bucks are one of the most interesting teams in the NBA right now.
There may not be a single team with a wider range of realistic outcomes than this Bucks team, as they have plenty of reasons why they could struggle, but also plenty of reasons why they could potentially win a championship.
Health is a major factor for every sports team every year, and the Bucks are no different. They have had more than their fair share of injuries in recent years that have made health an even bigger question for them than most other teams.
Obviously, they will need to stay relatively healthy, especially come playoff time, if they want to have a real shot at a title. But putting health aside, there are several other key questions that could tip the scale when it comes to this season for Milwaukee.
Question 1: Can the Bucks' bench be more impactful?
Last year, the Milwaukee Bucks' Big 4 of Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard, Khris Middleton and Brook Lopez had the best net rating of any four-player lineup that played at least 400 minutes. Yet, the Bucks still had plenty of struggles. Why? Well, their bench struggled quite a bit.
Every single Bucks bench player besides AJ Green had a negative net rating last season, meaning that the team was outscored by the opponent when they were on the court. Meanwhile, every Bucks starter had a net rating of +3.4 or better. In short, the Bucks were outscoring opponents with their starters on the court, and they were being outscored with their bench players on the court.
The Bucks finished the season 19th in bench scoring despite having a top 10 bench scorer in Bobby Portis. Nobody after Portis was able to average more than 6.2 points per game, and the Bucks just did not have a lot of scoring juice off the bench.
But the biggest issues off the bench were a lack of defense and versatility. Basically, nobody off the bench was able to provide any consistent defense, as Bobby Portis and Jae Crowder struggled mightily on that end, and the young players showed flashes but were inconsistent.
The Bucks still won't have a ton of bench scoring outside of Bobby Portis (though their new players should be slightly better than what they had), but they did improve their bench defense quite a bit with their offseason acquisitions of Delon Wright and Taurean Prince.
Delon Wright is a much better point-of-attack defender than anyone they had last season, and Taurean Prince has the ability to defend multiple positions, something that basically nobody on the bench could do last season. There is also the hope that AJ Green and Andre Jackson Jr. can continue to improve on the defensive end as they develop.
The possibility of having Taurean Prince playing the power forward when the Bucks go small also opens up more lineup possibilities that they did not have last season. They can go with more Giannis at center lineups, switch more, and limit the amount of slower lineups they put on the court.
Milwaukee did not make any flashy offseason moves, but if the guys they acquired can bolster their bench defense to better support their amazing top four, it will make a major difference.