Post-Mortem: 2021-22 Milwaukee Bucks

[ReddoverKobe]

Bucks never should never have done the Ibaka Donte trade should have just kept cousins. But going forward draft smart and get an athletic shooting wing and pick one up as a free agent give Carter Hills minutes sign Portis with a healthy roster this team will be just fine.

Serge was lopez insurance, DDV was not coming back and Cousin was maybe the worst defender I have seen

[hugepatsfan]

I don't think you can get too complacent about pushing BOS to 7 games without Middleton. I think both of these things can be true:

1) If Middleton was there they likely pull off the series
2) There still appeared to be a massive talent/scheme gap that Middleton might not make up

BOS's 4 wins in the series were by an average of 17 points. Even without game 7, it was 13. 2 of MIL's wins came in games BOS led with under a minute to go. The other MIL win came in a game where BOS shot 30% from TWO point range which was like all time bad so you have to think of it as an outlier to some degree.

Obviously if game 3 has a different result then game 4 and game 5 and on would have been played with entirely different mindsets. But just high level, if BOS executed down the stretch in games 3 and 5, series could have been a reverse sweep. And then what would people be saying. Relying on other teams to play poorly in close games is not a good place to be. I think if you're MIL you have to be honest about that and look to make improvements rather than just relying on Middleton.

[Packbuckman]

I don't think you can get too complacent about pushing BOS to 7 games without Middleton. I think both of these things can be true:

1) If Middleton was there they likely pull off the series
2) There still appeared to be a massive talent/scheme gap that Middleton might not make up

BOS's 4 wins in the series were by an average of 17 points. Even without game 7, it was 13. 2 of MIL's wins came in games BOS led with under a minute to go. The other MIL win came in a game where BOS shot 30% from TWO point range which was like all time bad so you have to think of it as an outlier to some degree.

Obviously if game 3 has a different result then game 4 and game 5 and on would have been played with entirely different mindsets. But just high level, if BOS executed down the stretch in games 3 and 5, series could have been a reverse sweep. And then what would people be saying. Relying on other teams to play poorly in close games is not a good place to be. I think if you're MIL you have to be honest about that and look to make improvements rather than just relying on Middleton.

Bud also didn’t help the team either by playing hill over Carter and not giving a minute to Nwora is a big wing that can score. They definitely need to hit on their 1st pick getting an athletic wing that can shoot. And see what they can do with free agents to fill in the roster.

[th87]

Bucks never should never have done the Ibaka Donte trade should have just kept cousins. But going forward draft smart and get an athletic shooting wing and pick one up as a free agent give Carter Hills minutes sign Portis with a healthy roster this team will be just fine.

No way the Bucks shoot from 3 as badly as last year, you said

[brettski]

Bucks never should never have done the Ibaka Donte trade should have just kept cousins. But going forward draft smart and get an athletic shooting wing and pick one up as a free agent give Carter Hills minutes sign Portis with a healthy roster this team will be just fine.

No way the Bucks shoot from 3 as badly as last year, you said [/quote]

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Watching role players on other teams make more 3s in a quarter than Bucks had in some games is pretty demoralising when you think that could be the only difference between being in the conference finals and what actually happened. Not just the fact the bucks shot so badly but also that Giannis averaged 34 points per game with such poor spacing around him to open things up. I mean one game he managed to scored 44 points while his team mates went 5 of 26.

Not very different to last year either. Felt like only Midds and Pat shot well from three after the first round of the play offs. So not sure how much is the Bucks system in the POs vs players crapping themselves. I think for Jrue he just works so hard on defense he can't be asked to do too much on O.

[sp6r=underrated]

I don't think you can get too complacent about pushing BOS to 7 games without Middleton. I think both of these things can be true:

1) If Middleton was there they likely pull off the series
2) There still appeared to be a massive talent/scheme gap that Middleton might not make up

BOS's 4 wins in the series were by an average of 17 points. Even without game 7, it was 13. 2 of MIL's wins came in games BOS led with under a minute to go. The other MIL win came in a game where BOS shot 30% from TWO point range which was like all time bad so you have to think of it as an outlier to some degree.

Obviously if game 3 has a different result then game 4 and game 5 and on would have been played with entirely different mindsets. But just high level, if BOS executed down the stretch in games 3 and 5, series could have been a reverse sweep. And then what would people be saying. Relying on other teams to play poorly in close games is not a good place to be. I think if you're MIL you have to be honest about that and look to make improvements rather than just relying on Middleton.

Great post. I love your usage of point differential, shot shooting percentages and score at points in times of games in a series.

Just looking at the number of games gives you a warped perception of how a series went. There have been close 5 game series in NBA history were 1 team basically wins all the close games and there have been dominant 7 game series. This wasn't quite dominant but it was a convincing win for Boston.

I'd say Milwaukee should be looking at how to improve their offense. People are focusing on the defense but it held up largely fine but they were just unable to score reliably. Both Miami and Brooklyn were able to score more easily against Boston than the Bucks.

So there is room for improvement here and it isn't just Middleton

[old skool]

Two recurring themes here are that Budenholzer is an inadequate coach and that Milwaukee's roster needs to be improved. Both of those two ideas cannot be true.

If Budenholzer is such a poor coach, Milwaukee's roster must be incredible to be the most successful team in the NBA during his four seasons. During the four seasons Budenholzer has been in Milwaukee, the Bucks have won more RS games, more playoff games and more playoff series than any other NBA team or coach.

Conversely, Milwaukee must have a helluva roster if they are the most successful team in the NBA while playing for such an inadequate head coach.

Given that Milwaukee has been the most successful team in the NBA over the last four seasons, it seems more likely that Budenholzer is a really good coach and Milwaukee has a really good roster.

[danvato]

I'm referring to good teams. Bulls aren't a good team.

In the second round the Bucks defensive rating was 108.8, which is 5th out of 8. Boston was number 1 at 99.7.

You do realize even by judging their defense entirerly on the basis of 1 series the Bucks DRTG grades out fine. Boston had a 114.4 ORTG in the RS and 121.9 in the 1st round.

Milwaukee holding Boston to 108.8 is a great performance. They lost that series on the offensive end. Talking about their defense is a total waste of time.

ehh, no. It was 119.2. They also gave up 115 def rtg to the Nets.

[danvato]

Bucks should stop being afraid of Nets. They should respect the game and trust their team instead of manipulating the game to hide from unfavorable matchups.

Τhey are 10-6 against the Nets in the KD era.
Including playoff winning series.
And you should get your facts straight.

Last season they went against the team that had eliminated them two years ago(Heat).
They had the option to avoid them. They didn't.
Why didn't you post something like this back then?

I really hate posts like this. Ignorance is not excuse.

Talk about ignorance. You're actually counting the 2019 season in the record in which KD missed the entire year. And your also ignoring how much of a factor injuries were in the remaining games while half the posters here are talking about the Middleton injury.

[sp6r=underrated]

I'm referring to good teams. Bulls aren't a good team.

In the second round the Bucks defensive rating was 108.8, which is 5th out of 8. Boston was number 1 at 99.7.

You do realize even by judging their defense entirerly on the basis of 1 series the Bucks DRTG grades out fine. Boston had a 114.4 ORTG in the RS and 121.9 in the 1st round.

Milwaukee holding Boston to 108.8 is a great performance. They lost that series on the offensive end. Talking about their defense is a total waste of time.

ehh, no. It was 119.2. They also gave up 115 def rtg to the Nets.

I'm using Boston's ORTG from B-R
Boston ORTG vs Brooklyn's defense: 121.9
Boston RS ORTG: 114.4
Boston ORTG vs Milwaukee's defense: 109.8

https://www.basketball-reference.com/playoffs/2022-nba-eastern-conference-first-round-nets-vs-celtics.html

https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/BOS/2022.html

https://www.basketball-reference.com/playoffs/2022-nba-eastern-conference-semifinals-bucks-vs-celtics.html

Milwaukee's defense played fine. Their offense is what they need to fix

[th87]

Bucks should stop being afraid of Nets. They should respect the game and trust their team instead of manipulating the game to hide from unfavorable matchups.

Τhey are 10-6 against the Nets in the KD era.
Including playoff winning series.
And you should get your facts straight.

Last season they went against the team that had eliminated them two years ago(Heat).
They had the option to avoid them. They didn't.
Why didn't you post something like this back then?

I really hate posts like this. Ignorance is not excuse.

Talk about ignorance. You're actually counting the 2019 season in the record in which KD missed the entire year. And your also ignoring how much of a factor injuries were in the remaining games while half the posters here are talking about the Middleton injury.

Memphis was set to rest their starters against Boston on the last night of the regular season, essentially giving them the 2 seed regardless of what the Bucks did that day.

The Bucks knew there was no way the Memphis scrubs would beat Boston's starters, and accordingly rested their players.

I know that's not a sexy narrative.

[th87]

Two recurring themes here are that Budenholzer is an inadequate coach and that Milwaukee's roster needs to be improved. Both of those two ideas cannot be true.

If Budenholzer is such a poor coach, Milwaukee's roster must be incredible to be the most successful team in the NBA during his four seasons. During the four seasons Budenholzer has been in Milwaukee, the Bucks have won more RS games, more playoff games and more playoff series than any other NBA team or coach.

Conversely, Milwaukee must have a helluva roster if they are the most successful team in the NBA while playing for such an inadequate head coach.

Given that Milwaukee has been the most successful team in the NBA over the last four seasons, it seems more likely that Budenholzer is a really good coach and Milwaukee has a really good roster.

Ridiculous to think this is the only conclusion.

Bud is comfortably a good enough coach to rip through the RS, and comfortably good enough to beat up on first round fodder with our talent.

He's 2-2 in the second round (losing 2 winnable series; and winning 1 due to pretty good fortune, but props for being in a position to win that one). In the ECF, he beat a markedly inferior team, and got backdoor swept by an evenly matched team.

Milwaukee is an 8/10 roster being coached by a 6/10 coach, and getting 7/10 results.

[old skool]

Two recurring themes here are that Budenholzer is an inadequate coach and that Milwaukee's roster needs to be improved. Both of those two ideas cannot be true.

If Budenholzer is such a poor coach, Milwaukee's roster must be incredible to be the most successful team in the NBA during his four seasons. During the four seasons Budenholzer has been in Milwaukee, the Bucks have won more RS games, more playoff games and more playoff series than any other NBA team or coach.

Conversely, Milwaukee must have a helluva roster if they are the most successful team in the NBA while playing for such an inadequate head coach.

Given that Milwaukee has been the most successful team in the NBA over the last four seasons, it seems more likely that Budenholzer is a really good coach and Milwaukee has a really good roster.

Ridiculous to think this is the only conclusion.

Bud is comfortably a good enough coach to rip through the RS, and comfortably good enough to beat up on first round fodder with our talent.

He's 2-2 in the second round (losing 2 winnable series; and winning 1 due to pretty good fortune, but props for being in a position to win that one). In the ECF, he beat a markedly inferior team, and got backdoor swept by an evenly matched team.

Milwaukee is an 8/10 roster being coached by a 6/10 coach, and getting 7/10 results.

I don't disagree. The roster is very good and the coach has gotten very good results. The combination of Horst/Budenholzer/Giannis & Khris et al has been more successful than any other team over that 4 year span. Each component deserves SOME credit for that success and SOME responsibility for not winning the title every year (which is obviously an absurdly high standard). I don't pretend to be able to precisely parse out the share of credit/blame deserved by everyone involved.

Everyone is entitled to alternate opinions. My opinion is that rather than the coach or the roster being responsible for the Bucks being the most successful team over a four year period, it seems to me that it is more likely that both the coach and roster are really good. There are no absolutes in that opinion, nor have I stated that only one conclusion can be reached.

I agree with you that it would be ridiculous to think that only one assessment/opinion exists as to why Budenholzer and the Bucks core roster have been the most successful NBA team over the last 4 seasons. I did not say that was the only conclusion that could be reached. The phrase "seems likely" admits other reasonable possibilities. In my opinion, there is nothing ridiculous about that.

[old skool]

double post