The Milwaukee Bucks were just a really bad team last season. Now, they hope that they can make progress. How much progress is the real question, and that might require some time to surface.
What Went Wrong Last Season?
What didn’t go wrong? The Bucks were an empty husk of a team. They had virtually nothing to offer the rest of the NBA. The rankings of this team in various statistical categories were hard to look at. The team was 20th in the NBA in field goals attempted, three-point shooting percentage, turnovers, steals allowed (when on offense), and blocked shots allowed (when on offense). The team was anywhere from 21st to 25th in 13 other categories, several on offense and several on defense. This was a bad free throw shooting team, a bad rebounding team, a bad field goal defense team, a bad ball protection team, a bad three-point shooting team, and a bad shooting team in general.
And that was just the surface.
The Bucks were one of the five worst teams in the NBA in several additional categories: field goals made and field goal shooting percentage (26th). They were 28th in two-point shooting percentage, 29th in defensive rebounding, 28th in steals, and 28th in scoring, at under 96 points per game. The Bucks were also a bottom-five team in made three-pointers allowed, three-point percentage defense, and offensive rebounds allowed. This was a total disaster, the kind of disaster that leads to a 15-67 season. When Brandon Jennings and Monta Ellis were both on the roster in seasons past, Milwaukee couldn’t play much of any defense, but at least the Bucks could score. Last season, they had nothing to offer, and that’s why their scoring average was just over eight points less than their points-allowed average. That’s a horrible team. Things just couldn’t have been any worse for the Bucks.
Offseason Changes
The Bucks no longer have veteran point guard Luke Ridnour, forward Ekpe Udoh, veteran guard Gary Neal, low-post banger Jeff Adrien, or veteran shooter Caron Butler. Enter Jared Dudley, Jerryd Bayless, Kendall Marshall, Johnny O’Bryant, and the central new acquisition who will hopefully become the face of the franchise, Jabari Parker. It is Parker who is being looked to as the man who can revive basketball in Milwaukee. With a lack of star power elsewhere on the roster, it falls to Parker to ignite the offense and create shots when it’s hard for others to do so.
Dudley is a somewhat capable complementary player, and Bayless is a guy who can get hot at times but is ultimately a little too streaky for anyone’s comfort zone. Marshall is a point guard who needs to get a longer look from this organization, and this is where the other big offseason change comes in. New coach Jason Kidd replaces Larry Drew and will try to make the Bucks his big NBA project after one season with the Brooklyn Nets.
Projected Finish
The Bucks are still going to be bad. If they can win 22 to 25 games instead of 15 this season, they can say they’re headed in the right direction. They might top out at 22 wins, but that’s about all they can hope for, give or take a game.
Pick: 13th In The Eastern Conference
