Biggest Offseason Priorities and Targets for Milwaukee Bucks
The Milwaukee Bucks' 92-89 series-ending Game 6 loss to the Toronto Raptors was a microcosm of their 2016-17 campaign.
The Bucks battled back from a 25-point deficit, just as they fought through injuries to Khris Middleton and Jabari Parker during the regular season. Giannis Antetokounmpo led the way with 34 points, nine rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks while playing all but 1:21—not unlike how the first-time All-Star gave his all to drag Milwaukee back into the NBA playoffs after last spring's absence.
Ultimately, neither he nor his Bucks teammates had the stamina to finish the job at the BMO Harris Bradley Center on Thursday, let alone lead the organization out of the opening round for the first time in 16 years.
Milwaukee, though, need not despair over this early exit. The future is bright in Brewtown, though there will be plenty of work to do this summer to turn that potential into reality next season.
Get (and Stay) Healthy
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The Bucks had their entire core together for all of one game this season. In that one game—an 18-point home loss to the Miami Heat on Feb. 8—Milwaukee welcomed back Middleton from a hamstring injury and lost Parker to his second ACL tear in three NBA seasons.
That the Bucks cobbled together enough wins (42) to make the playoffs, with two of its three best players combining to miss 84 games, was one of the more remarkable accomplishments by any team in the NBA during the 2016-17 season. It also suggest that the ceiling for this group might be the roof, if not higher.
Parker put up borderline All-Star numbers (20.1 points on 49.0 percent shooting, 36.5 percent from three) before he went down. Middleton drained 43.3 percent of his threes while giving Milwaukee a bit more length on the defensive end after he returned.
The latter should be fine for the start of next season, barring some unseen catastrophe over the summer. Parker, on the other hand, might not be back in action until much of the 2017-18 season has come and gone, and he could need a while after that to completely regain his promising form.
Until the former No. 2 pick is prepared to play, much less shine, the Bucks will have to lean on the same team-centric approach on both ends that carried them into the 2017 postseason.
Ball Don't Lie's Ben Rohrbach detailed: "So, it really has been a collective effort rallying around the injury to raise the team's overall level of play. Tony Snell emerged as a capable shooter in Middleton's absence, and then moved alongside him when they lost Parker."
Rohrback added: "Kidd benched starting center John Henson around the time Parker went down, replacing him with rookie Thon Maker, whom Kevin Garnett recently claimed 'will be the MVP of the league one day.' That allowed Greg Monroe to continue coming off the bench, where he's played well this season as a mismatch nightmare for opposing second units. And second-round pick Malcolm Brogdon replaced Matthew Dellavedova in the starting lineup."
Those discoveries are great, but they will be even better within the framework of a full squad.
Tweak the Greek Freak’s Technique
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If Antetokounmpo isn't already a bona fide NBA superstar, he's pretty darn close, with such stature almost surely in his future. This season, he became the fifth player in league history to lead his team in points (22.9), rebounds (8.7), assists (5.4), steals (1.6) and blocks (1.9), per B/R Insights.
The one part of the game in which the Greek Freak didn't excel was with his shot. He converted 70.9 percent of his attempts within three feet of the rim but hit under 40 percent from every other relevant range, including an abysmal 27.2 percent from behind the three-point line.
As dangerous as the 22-year-old Antetokounmpo is now, a reliable jump shot would only make him more of a menace to basketball society.
"He's a talented player, said before, once he starts consistently making the jump shot, he's Magic Johnson, because he's 7-foot and can handle the ball and get to where he wants to go in one dribble and that's a tough combination to cover," Toronto Raptors head coach Dwane Casey said, per Bleacher Report's Seth Gruen.
Thus, if the Bucks haven't already hitched a shooting coach to their hard-working All-Star, now might be the time to hire one.
Re-Sign Tony Snell
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Perhaps Antetokounmpo could get some shooting pointers from Snell.
Like Kawhi Leonard—his former high school teammate back in Riverside, California—Snell has fashioned himself into an effective two-way player. He finished his first season in Milwaukee with career-best shooting percentages from the field (.455) and from three (.406) while adding his quick feet and long limbs (a nearly 7-foot wingspan) to the Bucks' disruptive defense.
Clearly, the Bucks unearthed a gem when they swapped Michael Carter-Williams to Chicago for Snell during the 2016 preseason. Now, they'll have to cobble together a treasure trove's worth of precious minerals just to keep him.
Snell will be a restricted free agent this summer. And in today's NBA, where 3-and-D wings like Snell are as important as they are scarce, there should be a robust market for his services.
The Bucks aren't as desperate for players of Snell's profile as other teams might be. Antetokounmpo, Middleton and Brogdon all fit that description to different degrees.
But you can never have too much shooting and defense, especially with head coach Jason Kidd at the controls. If the Bucks' ownership can handle sniffing the luxury tax, they would do well to green light any and every effort by general manager John Hammond to make Snell another staple of Milwaukee's long-term future.
Will Moose Get Loose?
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Much has changed for Monroe since he spurned offers from the Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks to sign with the Bucks nearly two years ago.
He fell from a regular starter to Milwaukee's second-string center, first falling behind Henson and Miles Plumlee, then watching rookie Maker ascend to the top spot. He became something of an afterthought, dubbed a defensive liability, before settling in as a key cog in the Bucks' second unit as both a low-post scorer and contributor to the team's trapping schemes on defense.
That mini-resurrection may change the way he and the organization see his impending summer. Where once Milwaukee might have been happier if Monroe declined his player option for 2017-18—and Moose might have been a sure shot to opt in—now there may be at least a smidgen of suspense for both parties.
Chances are, Monroe won't find much more than the nearly $17.9 million he could take home with the Bucks next season. The market won't be quite so flooded with free-flowing free-agent dollars in July, least of all for an old-school, back-to-the-basket big like Monroe.
"At the same time, you've still got to be able to get those ones closer to the basket," he told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel's Charles F. Gardner. "You've got to score in the paint, get some easy buckets and open the defense up."
Milwaukee likely sees the value Monroe brings to the table but won't know for certain if he'll be back until he makes a final decision on his current deal. If he leaves, the Bucks will be hard-pressed to find a comparable replacement in free agency due more to their lack of cap space than their chilly locale.
Just Add Water
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With or without Monroe, Milwaukee won’t be wanting for bigs to plug in.
Maker, a nominal starter since Parker’s injury, shot 37.8 percent from three while standing above 7-feet. Henson is under contract through 2019-20. Spencer Hawes has a player option for next season.
Maker, in particular, looks like another promising piece of the Bucks’ #OwnTheFuture movement, at just 20 years old. Brogdon, a Rookie of the Year contender, looks like a key piece on the perimeter after shooting better than 40 percent from three during the regular season and nearly 50 percent from that range in the playoffs.
Throw in Antetokounmpo, Parker, Middleton, Snell and another mid-first-round pick for general manager Hammond to spend on unearthing a gem, and Milwaukee has the makings of a potential juggernaut in the Eastern Conference.
What the Bucks need, more than anything, is time—to heal, to develop individually and to grow together. A little luck with the injury bug would help, too. But give Milwaukee an opportunity to germinate, and we just might have an answer to who or what will unseat LeBron James from his throne atop the East.
Josh Martin covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, and listen to his Hollywood Hoops podcast with B/R Lakers lead writer Eric Pincus.
