After another season, and another first round exit, the Milwaukee Bucks head into the 2018-19 season with renewed hope, and a fresh start.
Rewind all the way back to June 2014: The Bucks new ownership group has pulled off the brash move to acquire not long retired Jason Kidd from the Brooklyn Nets, on a three-year deal to take over Larry Drew as head coach.
It was a controversial early power play from the freshly minted joint ownership group of Wes Edens and Marc Lasry. Drew, still contracted for a further two seasons, had no clue what was brewing behind closed doors, in fact, remarkably, GM John Hammond was also left out of the initial discussions.
For a franchise mired in mediocrity for the best part of two decades, it was a truly stunning and unexpected move, during an uncertain time for the team’s future in Milwaukee.
Despite the questions surrounding the ethics of the move, Kidd had for all intents and purposes struck gold in Milwaukee. Giannis Antetokounmpo had shown glimpses of impending stardom, while former Duke standout Jabari Parker had just became a Buck in the NBA draft. The nucleus was beginning to form, and Bucks fans hoped the masterful mind of future Hall-of-Famer Kidd would be just the tonic.
2014-15 was a stunning year for Milwauke, as they made a monumental 26-win improvement en route to the playoffs. The remarkable jump was fueled by the NBA’s second-best defense, a defense that appeared to both steel Kidd’s resolve moving forward as much at is was found to be fools gold.
Michael Carter-Williams, Khris Middleton, John Henson, Tony Snell are just some of the names that many believed would form the basis of — at minimum — a top-10 defense for year’s to come. Yet, the uber aggressive kamikaze style trapping scheme that Kidd refused to waver from failed to deliver. In fact, it became a source of ridicule around the league over the three seasons that followed.
- 2014-15: 99.3 (2nd)
- 2015-16: 105.7 (22nd)
- 2016-17: 106.4 (19th)
- 2017-18: 107.1 (17th)
Offensively, the team continued it’s rise among the league ranks with each season, as Antetokounmpo underwent a meteoric rise from baby-faced question mark, to ripped MVP candidate. The offensive improvement flew directly in the face of modern basketball however, as the old-school Kidd remained fixated on running a heavy isolation offense, that often faltered in the halfcourt, and existed largely within the 3-point arc.
Despite the Houston Rockets and Golden State Warriors revolutionizing the game with strictly lay-ups and 3-point shots characterizing their offense, the Bucks never ranked higher than 24th league wide in attempts from beyond the arc under Kidd. This astonishingly appeared by design, as the reluctance to let fire from deep was an instruction from the top. “That’s what they want me to do. That’s my role: to drive and not look for the 3-point shot,” Parker said after a 2016 game according SB Nation.
Then there was Thon Maker, a 37.8 percent 3-point shooter as a rookie, seemingly struggling for confidence shooting the ball in his second season. Kidd offered these comments on Maker last season via the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
"“I thought he did a great job of finding his sweet spot tonight, inside the three-pointer,” head coach Jason Kidd said. “It was just like shooting at shootaround, just catch and shoot. He made a lot of shots tonight inside that three.”"
Despite principles that appeared more suited to the 90’s than today, the Bucks were able to field the league’s seventh-best offense in 2018. Rather than x’s and o’s determining that outcome, it was the insanely efficient Antetokounmpo — now comfortably a top-10 player — that led the stumbling Bucks to a record right around .500 before the move was made.
With a 23-22 record and pressure beginning to mount, the Bucks fired Kidd in a move that many would argue was plenty too late. The mid-season axing was a clear sign of intent from Bucks ownership, who had clearly lost patience with their guy — and rightly so.
The mid-season turbulence resulted in assistant Joe Prunty taking the reins and the Bucks predictably stumbled their way to a yet another first-round exit. Despite the disappointing result, the roster remained one of the more talented in the East. Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton, Eric Bledsoe, Malcolm Brogdon, and Thon Maker providing enough talent on paper to allow the coaching job to become a hot commodity.
Perhaps learning from past mistakes, Edens and Lasry avoided untried options like Etorre Messina, James Borrego and Becky Hammon to instead take an old hand, a proven veteran in the ranks — Mike Budenholzer.
Coach Bud was a safe choice for the role, and that is in no way a criticism of the selection. Milwaukee is a squad screaming for direction, begging for some structure on both ends of the floor, and Budenholzer was a stellar choice for this reason alone. For a team barely keeping their heads above water despite an abundance of individual talent, they now appear poised to make a definitive jump in the standings.
Defensively, Bud’s Atlanta Hawks were top-10 in three out of his five seasons, and you can expect the Bucks to finally be able to tone down the aggressiveness and let their natural tools take effect.
The offensive side is where the real intrigue lies, with the irresistible Antetokounmpo now poised to thrive in a scheme no longer allergic to spacing the floor. When you consider he connected on a simply absurd 70.2 percent of his field goal attempts from within five feet despite often going against two or three defenders, genuine room to operate for the ‘Greek Freak’ will wreak havoc on the league.
Known for his heavy motion offense, Budenholzer will properly be able to unleash under utilized outside threats, to both command respect and open lanes for Giannis. Aside from the 60-win 2015 season, Bud failed to deliver a top half of the league offense with the Hawks, but don’t be discouraged by this, as his new squad is ready to explode with a little help.
Adding to the intrigue will be the additions of Ersan Ilyasova and Brook Lopez, two steady veterans who will, you guessed it, space the floor for Antetokounmpo. Via GiveMeSport, Bucks GM Jon Horst had this to say about the two key summer additions.
"“With Brook and Ersan, you have guys that have great size, that can shoot the three, not only effectively percentage wise but also attempt wise,” he said.“They compete on both ends of the floor and have high basketball IQ and hopefully, if we’re right, I think what you’ll see is guys that really fit the way that Bud wants to play and the way that we want to play in building the team around Giannis [Antetokounmpo].”"
Think about Giannis working in the pick-and-roll with Lopez, who remains on the perimeter with his feet set. Does the defense close in on Giannis with Lopez, Middleton, Snell and Ilyasova waiting on the perimeter? Think about Middleton escaping the tough shot mid-range express and working around screens to get wide open looks from beyond the arc circa Kyle Korver in 2015.
Think about a defensive lineup of Bledsoe-Snell-Middleton-Ilyasova-Antetokounmpo.
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It appears there has been a definitive change in direction from the Bucks brass over the course of the last year, and rightly so. Everyone in Milwaukee may want to ignore the dark shadow looming in the distance, but it’s there, and it’s only getting closer by the day. Antetokounmpo is set to become a free agent in the Summer of 2021, meaning the Bucks have three seasons to get it right.
Firing Jason Kidd may have been a bitter pill to swallow for ownership, but it was a landmark moment in the current day Bucks story. It was an absolute u-turn on a direction that had clearly flat lined. With a new coach, new roster, and a new arena, the Milwaukee Bucks appear poised to finally step out of mediocrity and make their mark on a wide open Eastern Conference. From there, sky is the limit.
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