Jerami Grant of the Portland Trail Blazers torched the Milwaukee Bucks in their meeting Monday night, finishing with 35 points on 18 attempts from the field. The most concerning stat, however, is that Grant shot 19 free throws, one more than the entire Bucks team combined. As frustrating as that stat appears on paper, it underlines a much larger problem for the team as a whole.
The Milwaukee Bucks are an undisciplined defensive team
The Milwaukee Bucks have been bad defensively so far this season. They rank 20th in the league with a defensive rating of 118.4. This is a very disappointing number, given the high hopes on that end for this team when they moved on from veterans, acquired Myles Turner, and focused on getting younger and faster this offseason. The major issue is their inability to defend without fouling, especially at the wing position.
AJ Green averages 3.1 fouls a game and almost 4 fouls per 36 minutes. For reference, the league leader in fouls per game is Kyshawn George (4.4 fouls). A lot of the issues Green has had specifically are due to his lack of size and the people he has been asked to guard. It is no surprise that he had the worst plus/minus (-31) of the game against the Blazers, and Jerami Grant had the best (+39).
It is not just Green; the Bucks rank seventh in fouls per game this season, trailing Indiana, Washington, Phoenix, Boston, Detroit, and Minnesota. The trend with those teams seems to be that you foul a lot but are an elite defense (Detroit, which ranks fourth) or you foul a lot and are a terrible defense (Washington, which is last in the league).
The Bucks have so far shown a lack of discipline, and the previous five games (all losses) are a prime example. They need to be more disciplined nightly.
Finishing defensive possessions have been poor so far this season as well. The Bucks average 40.9 rebounds per game. In comparison, the league's leader, the Houston Rockets, averages almost 10 more boards a game (50.3). For a team with Myles Turner, Giannis, and Bobby Portis, that number you think would be much higher. When your defense can't force consistent stops, and when you finally do get a stop, you are beat to the ball, that spells disaster for a team, especially when they foul this often.
Giannis appears to be on track to return, and that can't come soon enough for a reeling Milwaukee Bucks team. Antetokounmpo covers up so much on both ends of the court. The question is whether these defensive flaws can be rectified to get back in the race in the Eastern Conference? One thing is clear: contending teams don't have these issues, and they'll need to be fixed if the Milwaukee Bucks plan to do anything of significance this season.