The Milwaukee Bucks May Be The Best 2nd Tier Contending Team In The East
Throughout the offseason there has been some uncertainty as to which 2nd tier contending team may meet the Cavaliers in the eastern conference finals. Well there is a realistic possibility that the team who may meet the Cavaliers in the eastern conference finals is the Milwaukee Bucks. The Bucks (except Jabari Parker) are one of the few contending teams within eastern conference who has most of their team relatively healthy. The rest of the 2nd tier contending teams within the east except for the raptors have major health concerns. When it comes to the Chicago Bulls, Joakim Noah missed 15 games last season due to left knee issues and Derrick Rose hasn’t been fully healthy since the end of the 2011-12 season. Similarly the Miami Heat is facing major health concerns just like the bulls. Dwayne Wade and Amar’e Stoudemire haven’t been able to play more than 69 games and 78 games since 2012-13 and 2010-11 respectively due to knee issues. Lastly the Washington Wizards have had these issues as well with Bradley Beal missing 19 games last season due to wrist, toe and ankle injures. Not to mention that wizards power forward Nene hasn’t been fully healthy since the end of the 2009-10 season due to a number of injures. If the bucks run into one of these teams there is a high likelihood that one of these players will be dealing with an injury this may pave an easier road for them to advance.
Even though injures may pave an easier road for them to advance Milwaukee Bucks also need to continue to buy into Jason Kidd system on both sides of the ball in order to advance. On offense the Bucks run a good amount of their half court offense from around the free throw line last season. One example of this is when a perimeter player brings up to about the three-point line then passes it to a big man who is standing at around the free throw line. Then the perimeter player who passed it to a big man runs down to about the corner three point spot and sets a screen for the player who is standing there after this the player will go up and over the screen now the player cuts towards the basket .the big man will only pass to him if he has an open lane to the basket. If not the big man will pass back out for a jumper.
On defensive end of the floor, the Milwaukee Bucks like to force the opposing team to turnover the ball. They force opposing teams to give up the ball by not giving the opposing team a clear path to attack the basket. In order to accomplish this objective Jason Kidd and the rest of the Bucks coaching staff want their players to keep their bodies in front of or keep pace with the player who they’re defending, this requires at least solid foot speed and agility. The Bucks have at least 3 perimeter players who posses these 2 skills Giannis Antetokounmpo, Michael Carter-Williams and Khris Middleton. As a result of this, an opposing guard or forward who is going against one of these three players will most of the time end up trying to pass the ball back out to the perimeter if they cannot get pass their defender and the bucks with there long wingspans will tip the ball and force the turnover
The downside to the Bucks defense is that the center is typically standing anywhere below the free throw line to behind the three point line to prevent an opposing guard or forward from getting a wide open shot or to the basket just in case they get past the perimeter defender. This leaves the bucks open to an opposing player cutting to underneath the basket for an easy score.
1st Tier: Cavs
2nd Tier: Bucks, Heat, Wizards, Bulls
