Last year, when Damian Lillard moved to the Bucks, they were considered very strong title contenders. In the first half of the season, they showed great potential as well. Unfortunately, their campaign was derailed by the first month of this year, making them a weaker team. On The Hoop Collective, Brian Windhorst said that he believes that the Bucks are now an undervalued team in the league.
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Despite acknowledging their weaknesses, he said that there’s a lot of potential in that team and most of the things that went wrong for them last season had nothing to do with their quality.
He said, “I really think that the Bucks are being undervalued. Not saying they should be the favorites… Giannis has been hurt in the playoffs and Dame last year, by his own admission, was out of his element. He openly has been saying that the transition was bigger than he thought. I think it’s reasonable to think that that pairing will work better.”
Windhorst mentioned that Dame was asked to play a certain way he wasn’t used to. After joining the Bucks, he had to play alongside Giannis Antetokounmpo which required some changes to his game.
“When he was at Weber State, he played a certain way where he was not basically the centerpiece of the team.”
While Windhorst had mostly positive things to say about the Bucks in his assessment, Tim Bontemps took a deep dive into the team’s structure. He said that though the team has a good mix of players who are talented and can play really well together, there is an issue with the number of injuries and the lack of athleticism.
Bontemps mentioned Khris Middleton, who is a very important player for them, is coming out of a double ankle surgery. He also talked about Brook Lopez, who turned 36 this year, and questioned if he can play at an elite level for them anymore. If he can’t, then there’s no point extending his contract as the current one is about to expire.
“They have very little athleticism across the roster, they have very little perimeter defense across the roster… I just think they need to show me they should be in a higher tier.”
The Bucks will have a lot to prove in the next season and hopefully, in that process, Bontempts’ doubts about the team will also be cleared.
