NBA Season Preview 2018-19: Bucks have gotten deeper
By Kane Pitman
Point Guard
Starter — Eric Bledsoe
Reserves– Malcolm Brogdon, Matthew Dellavedova
On paper, the Bucks point guard position is strong, but as they were quick to find out last season, health can derail that luxury. After acquiring Eric Bledsoe via an early season trade with Phoenix, the perception, or more so reality, quickly became that Milwaukee were all in on contending in the East.
Malcolm Brogdon, the reigning Rookie of the Year and original projected starter exploded out of the blocks to average 16.2 points, and 4.8 assists on 48.7 percent shooting from beyond the arc over the seasons first 10 games. With Khris Middleton suffering through his annual sluggish start, Brogdon was clearly the Bucks second-best player behind Antetokounmpo.
While he remained a reliable scorer with the second unit, he was never able to regain the same assertiveness from early in the season, before a serious quadriceps injury sent him to the sidelines for 30 games in the lead up to the playoffs.
Matthew Dellavedova suffered through a tumultuous season of his own, a combination of knee and ankle injuries sidelining him for 44 contests. This was an especially difficult pill for the Aussie to swallow, after he had missed just 37 games in his first four seasons in the league.
Delly was able to return for the postseason but struggled for impact, albeit having one of the first rounds most memorable moments as shown in the tweet below. With two years remaining on his hefty $38 million dollar contract, he will be looking to reassert himself as a reliable back up option in the Bucks rotation.
https://twitter.com/NBA/status/988110773556776960
The unquestioned starter in the projected rotation is Bledsoe, who himself has some demons to erase after a postseason to forget. The physical guard was comprehensively outplayed by the lesser known Terry Rozier in the first round, and will be desperate to atone for a costly disappearing act this past April.
As mentioned, the rotation is solid on paper, but the theme will be redemption for this trio in 2018-19.