The Milwaukee Bucks have stumbled out of the gate in the 2015-16 NBA season, sitting at 4-5 after 9 games, with the four wins coming against mediocre competition. It's clear that this team is not quite clicking on all cylinders as of yet, but the season is in its infancy. Here are 5 reasons why the 2015-16 Bucks will be just fine.
The Starting Five Have Yet to Play Together
The team's projected starting lineup of Michael Carter-Williams/Khris Middleton/Giannis Antetokounmpo/Jabari Parker/Greg Monroe has yet to play together this season. Here's how they've faired so far in this young season:
Greg Monroe has been one of the top centers in the NBA, and Giannis' numbers have seen a considerable jump from his sophomore campaign.Both of those guys should continue playing at a high level. The rest of the starters haven't quite produced yet.
Shooting guard Khris Middleton has not been himself this season. After placing 9th in the NBA in WAR during 2014-2015, he has seen a huge regression in his numbers so far this year, shooting only .369% from the field compared to .467% last season. Middleton is the Bucks' sharpshooter, and as his shooting improves so will the team.
Point guard Michael Carter-Williams went down with an ankle injury during the Bucks' victory over Brooklyn last Monday, right as he seemed to be gaining a firm grasp on his role- play great defense and don't turn the ball over. In that particular game, he only attempted 2 shots, but distributed 5 assists, and collected 3 steals and 2 blocks.
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Power forward Jabari Parker returned the game after MCW's injury, a 91-87 victory on November 4 against Philadelphia. Jabari has played limited minutes so far this season, and hasn't played in the second game of back to backs. Jabari was the bright-spot in the 99-83 home loss to Boston on Tuesday, a game that featured a massive second half collapse, but the team was +23 when he was on the floor, albeit he only played for 24 minutes. As his minutes increase, the fortunes of the team will improve as well.
The Bench Will Get Stronger
One of the Bucks' strengths last season was their bench. So far this season, the bench has been underperforming, partly because the team's best bench players have been forced into the starting lineup, partly due to injury and partly due to slumps. At best, the bench has been inconsistent, and the lack of depth has kept the Bucks from putting together complete games, as they tend to look good for spurts and then regress for extended periods.
Backup point guard Greivis Vasquez, who is a career .351% shooter from three, is only shooting .189% from long range this season. He's only shooting .267% total from the field, and had two egregiously bad shooting performances- an 0 for 8 showing against Brooklyn on November 2 and an 0-10 showing against Brooklyn on November 7. He will undoubtedly come out of this slump and start providing solid shooting numbers at some point.
Backup center John Henson battled injuries earlier in the season, and has performed sporadically since. He provided a huge boost with a 22 point outburst against the New York Knicks on November 6, but hasn't scored more than 4 points in any other game this season.
O.J Mayo's absence has had a huge effect on the team's second unit. Mayo represents the last vestige of the win-now Herb Kohl era, as he was brought in during the 2013 off-season as a win-now replacement for the departing Monta Ellis. He let himself get out of shape under the sub-par Larry Drew regime, but performed much better last year under Kidd. O.J. is a stellar.377% three point shooter on his career, and he knows how to create shots for his teammates. At the age of 28, he is still in his prime, and provides leadership for the young Bucks team. His presence off the bench has been sorely missed, particularly in the embarrassing third quarter collapses during the last week's losses to Boston and Denver.
Jerryd Bayless has been the lone brightspot off the bench, providing consistent scoring from three (.516% on the season) and the free throw line. He heroically almost single-handedly lead the Bucks to victory against Denver, with 14 fourth quarter points.
Team Defense Will Improve
The Bucks have gone from 2nd in defensive efficiency in 2014-2015 to 26th in 2015-2016. The departure of Jared Dudley hurt the team defensively, as he was the equivalent of a coach on the floor, telling guys where to be and essentially quarterbacking the defense last season. Last year's center, Zaza Pachulia wasn't much of a shot blocker, but he did know how to play team defense, deflecting passes and getting to the right spots, as well as directing the younger players.
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With the Bucks' length and mobility, they're bound to return to their defensive glory. Sean Sweeney's defensive scheme is designed specifically to disrupt passing lanes and use the Bucks' length to create turnovers, and it's just a matter of time before the young guys and new acquisitions start to learn the system. Plus, having Carter-Williams and Jabari back full time won't hurt.
Team Rebounding will improve
The Bucks are dead last in rebounding so far this season. even behind the woeful Lakers and 76ers. Kenneth Faried's game-winning tip in on Wednesday perfectly epitomizes the Bucks season up to this point.
The Bucks have the tools to be a good rebounding team, as their entire starting five has great length and every one of them can routinely pull in 5+ boards. The problem this year has been with team chemistry and boxing out, as the Bucks often lose track of opposing players, resulting in easy second-chance points.
An increase in minutes form Jabari Parker should help. Jabari is not known for his rebounding abilities, but he did average 8.7 rebounds per game in his one season at Duke, and he has a nose for the ball, He's been well coached throughout his career and is fundamentally sound enough to box out in the paint.
It All Boils Down to Team Chemistry
The Bucks have yet to gel as a complete unit, but they have an extremely talented roster that will benefit from court time. Injuries have ravaged the team early in the year, while the subtraction of Zaza Pachulia and Jared Dudley has been a big setback in terms of team chemistry. As the season progresses, and the likes of MCW, O.J. Mayo, and Jabari Parker start seeing 30+ minutes a night, the team should begin to gel.
Kidd and his staff are adept at mixing and matching lineups to find one that is productive on any given night, and having a full complement of players available will create full game performances, and eliminate disastrous stretches, like the 16-0 run that the Celtics went on against the Bucks on Tuesday, or the 13-2 run that the Nuggets went on Thursday. Without those two big lapses, the Bucks would have likely won both of those contests.
As the season progresses, the team gets healthy and gets used to playing together, this team will start to string together wins on a regular basis.
