Before the 2023-24 season, the Milwaukee Bucks traded Jrue Holiday to make room for Damian Lillard. As a result, the Bucks conceded a lot of defensive grip in their lineup, which became very evident throughout the season. Many, including Gilbert Arenas, now see this move as a misstep. On Gil’s Arena, the 3x All-Star discussed the Bucks’ defensive collapse last season without Holiday at the helm.
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Milwaukee’s defensive downturn was a tad surprising for many because the squad still has an elite frontcourt defense with Brook Lopez and Giannis Antetokounmpo. While Lopez made the All-Defensive First Team in 2023, Antetokounmpo was the Defensive Player of the Year in 2020.
But while Lopez and Antetokounmpo are terrific rim protectors and can even contest jumpers, Arenas believes that Jrue Holiday gave the team their defensive direction. He was the leader of the team’s defensive operations across the board.
Therefore, Holiday’s absence as the glue of the Bucks’ defense, exposed their flaws immediately. Arenas said,
“Like Giannis was a great defender, Lopez is a great defender… but last year they couldn’t stop nobody. But the year before they were First-Team All-Defense. Last year, whole team looked bad at defense because one person that was really important wasn’t there, Jrue Holiday.”
“So Jrue Holiday the net guy made everybody seem like they was these elites,” he added.
Arenas is spot-on about Holiday’s defensive impact. He is not only a superb perimeter defender, but provides help all across the board. Holiday can hold his own against bigger players as well and can stifle the opposition’s offense with his energy and movement.
After his departure, the Bucks slipped in all major defensive statistics last season. During the 2023-24 season, they had a defensive rating of 115, placing them 8th in the league. Meanwhile, during the 2022-23 season, they had a defensive rating of 110.9, good enough for the fourth spot.
Last season, the Bucks allowed 116.4 points per game, being the 10th worst team(21st) in that regard. In contrast, they permitted 113.3 PPG during 2022-23 season, which was the 13th best effort in the league.
The team did improve a bit offensively after Lillard’s inclusion. They put up 119 points a game during the 2023-24 season compared to 116.9 points per game during the 2022-23 season. But in the end, the offense wasn’t good enough to make up for Holiday’s absence.
These numbers also mask the inconsistent play of Bucks in the second half of the season. They lost 20 and won just 18 games after Doc Rivers took over as the Head Coach replacing Adrian Griffin.
Their defense showed slight improvements under him but the offense took a nosedive.
The Bucks will hope that Rivers can make the required adjustments on both ends for the 2024-25 season. But for that, they may need to find a dynamic lockdown defender to anchor the side’s defense.
