Fans of the Milwaukee Bucks are used to not being relevant. The Bucks have not made it past the first round of the playoffs since the 2000-01 team which had Glenn Robinson and Ray Allen at its core. This year though the Bucks have found themselves relevant enough to almost have the sixth seed in the east locked up and the team features a roster of talented players who should be able to carry the franchise forward, both in this year’s playoffs and in future seasons.
For a while earlier this year though it did not seem like it was going to turn out this way. The bucks got off to an explosive start to the season and their offensive minded fan base was eagerly anticipating the trade deadline to see what parts would be added to a young roster which was competing above its weight in the Eastern Conference. Instead by the end of that day’s business the Bucks had traded away leading scorer Brandon Knight for essentially a bunch of question marks. The fact that one of these question marks has only become more of a puzzle while in Milwaukee only serves to compound the issue.
Though the Knight trade had many, many layers, the basis of it was that Knight moved to the Suns while the Bucks picked up Michael Carter-Williams to replace him from the 76ers. There are some in the Bucks front office who perhaps saw this trade as the Bucks picking up the better point guard, while the fans locked into it immediately as being a massive downgrade. There is no arguing that Carter-Williams is a streaky player, but the 2014 rookie of the year is still developing in this system that is new to him.
Can you win in the NBA with a streaky point guard? If Carter-Williams is able to have more nights like the one against Chicago on April 1st when he went for 21 points and 10 rebounds then you would have to say yes. The problem is that this performances was sandwiched between a couple of efforts where Carter-Williams put up a combined total of 12 points and had 10 turnovers. If the point guard wants to win over the Bucks fans, then leading his team to progression through the first round of the playoffs would be a good place to start.
After winning the first game post deadline day the Bucks slumped in a big way. The team was still recovering from the loss of Knight, and the addition of a number of new players to the system, and they went on a 3-13 run from the end of February through the latter half of March. It was a confusing mixture of results as the Bucks either got blown out, or they lost by the odd point or in overtime, but it was clear that the deadline day deals had initially done more to destabilize the group than make them better. Any change to a team mid-season is going to be tough, but when a young group of players has its core changed, then you end up with this free fall like situation.
There is a chance however that the Bucks are over the worst of it. After beating Miami 89-88 on March 24th the Bucks are 4-3 heading into a showdown with Cleveland on Wednesday night. With just five games remaining in the regular season there is precious little time left for Milwaukee to play their way out of this slump, especially if the team wants to make a postseason impact.
The Bucks biggest problem this postseason is going to be their wretched road record. As a lower seed in the first round Milwaukee is going to have to travel to a higher seed’s venue for most of their series. This is a major problem when you are just 16-23 on the road this season with losses to teams as bad as the Lakers and the Jazz. It seems like this young teams path to progression is going to have to be to turn the Bradley Center into a fortress and steal one on the road. With little margin for error this makes for a tough playoff strategy.
It is team chemistry which is going to have the biggest impact on if this Bucks team can make a playoff run. When the chemistry was destroyed with the deadline day trade the team fell off the rails. If though they can carry the momentum from this mini revival into the playoffs then anything is possible. With such a good, young core this team should just be at the beginning of their playoff window. How well they perform this year with the added pressure that comes with postseason play with set the marker for the next five or so years of the Milwaukee Bucks franchise.