Preseason now over USA Basketball continues its traditional presentation, team by team, of the upcoming NBA season. This takes, as every year, the form of a countdown, from the worst record in the league to our favorite for the title of champion.
As we come almost to the end of our previewsseats at bucks of a certain Giannis Antetokounmpo. Champions in 2021, but eliminated in the conference semi-finals in 2022, they will obviously want to regain their throne in 2023. With this in mind, their leaders have decided to bet on continuity, making only a few minimal adjustments to their bench and hoping for progress internally, without forgetting the success on the physical level, to progress compared to the last exercise.
Thus, we remember for example that the successive and/or simultaneous wounds of Khris Middleton, Jrue Holiday, Brook Lopez, Grayson Allen, George Hill or even Pat Connaughton have constantly weighed down Milwaukee in 2021/22. Until the playoffs, where the loss of Khris Middleton could never be overcome against a Celtics formation that was much more collectively provided (and who knew how to expose the defensive weakness of his opponents at 3-pts). The kind of elimination quite frustrating, therefore.
Suffice to say that this new campaign will be closely scrutinized in Wisconsin. On the one hand, to observe the reaction capacity of the men of Mike Budenholzer, gone from hunters to hunted and now back to being hunters. On the other hand, because some of the key elements of the rotation will be free agents, or will have the opportunity to be, next summer. Including Brook Lopez, George Hill, Wes Matthews and especially Khris Middleton…
SUMMER MOVEMENTS
— Arrivals : Joe Ingles (Blazers), MarJon Beauchamp (Draft)
— Departures : Rayjon Tucker, Luca Vildoza
PLAYER TO WATCH: GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO
It’s hard not to follow and monitor Giannis Antetokounmpo in this team, at the dawn of his tenth year in the league. At the end of a summer where he demonstrated, with Greece, that he had the ability to dominate in FIBA as in the NBA, the “Greek Freak” will once again be called upon to crush everything in his path with the Bucks. In full force of age, he will be especially keen to make people forget his collective failure of last May. Like any great self-respecting competitor.
Heroic against the Celtics in the second round of the playoffs, but too lonely in the absence of Khris Middleton and due to a supporting cast failing, the double MVP had thus had to give up arms in Game 7, not without struggling during this series: 34 points, 15 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 interception and 1 against on average! Revengeful, therefore even sharper and always hungry, he will logically try to strengthen his legacy with new rewards, whether individual or collective.
And Milwaukee will precisely need a gala Giannis Antetokounmpo to go as far as possible, while some are already worried about the physical uncertainties and the lack of freshness of the Bucks workforce. Gray areas that a player of the caliber of the MVP of the 2021 Finals is able to dissipate, almost single-handedly…
Average age: 30 years old
Payroll: $191.2 million (4th)
THE IDEAL SCENARIO
The stability of the Bucks has its advantages: the group knows each other perfectly and, despite its failed preseason, it starts the campaign with a bang, quickly settling at the top of the Eastern Conference and no longer looking in its rear view mirror afterwards. Still beaming on either side of the court, Giannis Antetokounmpo is still one of the main contenders for MVP and Defender of the Year titles, as his shadow lieutenants, Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday, continue to support him. or to supplement it wonderfully, if necessary.
Endowed with the best “Big Three” in the league, Mike Budenholzer can also count on quality soldiers in support of his three leaders: from Bobby Portis to Grayson Allen, via Pat Connaughton, Wes Matthews, George Hill, Jordan Nwora, Thanasis Antetokounmpo or even Jevon Carter.
Above all, proof that everything is smiling in Milwaukee this season, the fragile but oh so precious Brook Lopez, Joe Ingles and Serge Ibaka are freed from their physical glitches, densifying the local rotation a little more…
Such a recipe obviously makes the Bucks big favorites for the Larry O’Brien trophy, once the time for the playoffs arrives. Of course, getting out of this formidable Eastern Conference will not be a cakewalk, but to achieve this, the Wisconsin franchise is rather provided in terms of collective experience, talent and experience. In addition to being guided by the best player on the planet…
WORST SCENARIO
On paper, it’s obvious that the Bucks’ squad looks great, but on the court, the reality is quite different, with an average age that is felt (30, the highest in the league) and several players whose contribution is unfortunately limited by physical glitches.
Starting with Joe Ingles, whose return from injury continues to be postponed, but also Brook Lopez, Serge Ibaka, Wes Matthews and George Hill, all of whom are struggling to stay on their feet permanently.
True to form, Giannis Antetokounmpo may struggle to keep Milwaukee in the Top 4 of his conference, unfortunately he cannot always work miracles. All the more so if his two lieutenants, Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday, alternate the good and the less good at his side, while knowing a few passages in the infirmary. Race result: “Greek Freak” plays more than usual, misses games here and there and arrives in the spring far from his best form…
Finally, it is legitimate to wonder if this team, certainly talented, but above all aging and fragile, has not already reached its ceiling, collectively speaking. Too deep and qualitative not to keep its place in the Top 6 of the East, the group of Mike Budenholzer must however face the facts: franchises like Boston and Philadelphia, even Brooklyn and Miami, seem more coherent and better armed to get the title.
