MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN – APRIL 07: Damian Lillard #0, Giannis Antetokounmpo #34 and head coach Doc … [+]
The Milwaukee Bucks are at a crossroads heading into the 2024-25 NBA season. After two straight first-round playoff exits, many analysts have modified their notion of the Bucks from title contenders to title contenders. Now it is as much as Milwaukee to show these doubters flawed.
The Bucks’ disappointing eliminations to the Indiana Pacers final season and the Miami Warmth the 12 months earlier than highlighted their struggles. Well being was a recurring theme in each losses. 5 months in the past, they have been overwhelmed by the Pacers, whereas the season earlier than that, they have been upset by the eighth-seeded Warmth. In each collection, main accidents damage Milwaukee’s possibilities.
The usually sturdy Giannis Antetokounmpo has been hit by premature accidents on the worst doable occasions. Final season, a calf harm sidelined him for the complete postseason, and the 12 months earlier than, a again harm towards Miami stored him out of a number of video games and restricted his affect upon his return.
Khris Middleton’s well being is one other difficulty: He hasn’t been the identical for the reason that Bucks’ 2021 title, and has struggled to remain on the court docket. And now, issues are mounting in regards to the sturdiness of Damian Lillard, who’s coming into his thirteenth NBA season.
Milwaukee’s growing old roster and its well being points go hand in hand like a clock ticking down their championship window.
Almost the complete core of the group is over 30. Slightly than record each participant within the rotation who hits that threshold, it is simpler to focus on the few who’re nonetheless 20: Antetokounmpo (who turns 30 in December), Gary Trent Jr. (25) and Bobby Portis (29).
The query is whether or not the Bucks’ younger gamers will be capable of step up. Andre Jackson Jr. and AJ Inexperienced are the almost certainly candidates to be a part of the rotation, however each have loads to show.
These well being points and an growing old roster are fueling skepticism about Milwaukee’s title possibilities. In August, ESPN predicted the Bucks would end fifth within the Japanese Convention with simply 49 wins, behind the Celtics, Knicks, 76ers and even the Cavaliers. That is beneath the 50.5 wins projected by Vegas and a far cry from the dominance Bucks followers have come to count on.
But regardless of the noise, there are causes for optimism in Milwaukee.
All of it begins with Antetokounmpo and Lillard. Now coming into their second seasons collectively, the 2 gamers might want to discover higher synergy to wreak the havoc they envisioned when the Bucks traded Lillard. This offseason, they centered on methods to mix their elite particular person expertise and put defenses in inconceivable conditions.
A lot of that duty falls on head coach Doc Rivers. Rivers must design an offense that not solely maximizes his celebrity duo, but in addition places the remainder of the roster in positions the place they’ll thrive.
Protection is one other key query mark for this group.
Milwaukee made stable additions in Delon Wright and Taurean Prince, each of whom ought to assistance on the perimeter. However they nonetheless lack a very elite defender on the wing, a crucial piece for any group hoping to compete with the Celtics or 76ers within the playoffs.
Rivers has expressed a need for a extra versatile defensive system, however Brook Lopez’s lack of mobility may stop them from absolutely realizing that imaginative and prescient. Rivers and his employees must get inventive to masks a few of these limitations.
Finally, the Bucks enter this season with extra questions than solutions. There may be potential for issues to go effectively, however potential doesn’t win championships.
Milwaukee enters a marketing campaign with extra doubts about its future than at any time for the reason that starting of the Mike Budenholzer period. How this veteran group responds to that skepticism will decide whether or not it stays in title rivalry or whether or not the doubters have been proper all alongside.
