The Milwaukee Bucks enter the 2024-2025 season with a lot of question marks. They have failed to pass the first round of the NBA Playoffs for the last two seasons. To no fault of their own a season ago, Giannis Antetokounmpo missed the entire series against the Indiana Pacers with an injury and Damian Lillard also missed a couple of games with an injury.
Milwaukee did not make many fancy moves in the offseason. Patrick Beverley and Malik Beasley did not re-sign with the team. Delon Wright, Tauren Prince, and Gary Trent Jr. were signed as free agents by the Milwaukee Bucks in the offseason.
CBS Sports Questions the Milwaukee Bucks Defense Entering the 2024-2025 Season
A season ago, the Milwaukee Bucks started the season 30-13 before they fired A.J. Griffin as head coach in favor of Doc Rivers. The defense was not very good, but it was better under Rivers. Milwaukee should have kept Griffin around as head coach and none of it made sense.
CBS Sports writer Jasmyn Wimbish questions the Milwaukee Bucks defense entering the 2024-2025 NBA season. She previewed all of the teams in the NBA Central Division. Wimbish said about the Bucks defense this upcoming season:
“The Bucks are going to score a ton of points. Giannis and Damian Lillard are going to get theirs, they added Gary Trent Jr., a career 38.6% shooter from 3-point land, Khris Middleton is still there, and they added two other guys who can knock down 3s consistently in Delon Wright and Taurean Prince. Scoring won’t be a problem in Milwaukee. But just as it was a season ago, defense will again be a weakness for the Bucks, specifically at the point of attack. In a conference where Jalen Brunson, Tyrese Haliburton, Donovan Mitchell and Tyrese Maxey all play, the Bucks don’t have a credible answer to throw at any of those guys on defense. Lillard certainly isn’t doing it, and while Trent is good defender, tasking him with guarding the East’s elite point guards is a lot to ask.
The Bucks ranked 19th in defense last season, but with a sixth-ranked offense, they managed to win 49 games. And based on the moves the Bucks made this summer, it feels like they’re hoping they can continue to rack up points to where the defense won’t matter as much. That game plan got them to the No. 3 seed in the East last season, and had it not been for an injury to Giannis, maybe they could’ve made a postseason run. We’ll see if that same plan can carry them further this season, but it sure would be nice if they had someone like, oh say, Jrue Holiday. “
Jrue Holiday helped the Boston Celtics win an NBA title a season ago. He helped the Milwaukee Bucks win the championship during the 2020-2021 season.
Holiday was traded to the Portland Trail Blazers last NBA offseason before he was then traded to the Boston Celtics. In the trade that sent Jrue Holiday to Portland, Damian Lillard was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks in the same trade. The Phoenix Suns were also the third team in that trade.
Bucks Starting 5
The projected starting five for Milwaukee this season will be Brook Lopez, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard, Khris Middleton, and Gary Trent Jr. Bobby Portis Jr. will be the first player off the bench for the Milwaukee Bucks.
Delon Wright and Tauren Prince could provide versatile defense off the bench. However, this is the last chance for MarJon Beauchamp to prove himself in training camp. If they can’t defend, good luck beating teams like the Indiana Pacers, the Philadelphia 76ers, the Cleveland Cavaliers, the New York Knicks, or the Boston Celtics in a playoff series.
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