Milwaukee Bucks 2022-23 Season Preview
Milwaukee Bucks 2022-23 Season Preview
Middleton returns to make the Bucks serious contenders out of the East.
Welcome to the 2022-23 previews for every NBA team! These breakdowns are designed to look at stats, film & anything I found interesting in my preparation for the upcoming NBA season.
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Stats
Net Rating: +3.6 (8th)
Offensive Rating: 115.6 (5th)
Good
The Bucks will always have an efficient offense as long as Giannis/Jrue/Middleton are on the court and that will remain the same this season. Giannis is the most dominant force on a basketball court and Middleton can get you a bucket anytime it is needed with Jrue stabilizing everything in between. Ranking 6th in eFG% in the NBA seems likely again with Giannis’ ability to dominate the paint.
Ok
Milwaukee was middle of the pack in Loc eFG%, not generating a ton of looks at the rim/short mid (outside of Jrue/Giannis). If they can exchange some of the long mid-range looks for rim and multiple paint attacks, best offense in the league is not out of the question.
Bad
The Bucks missed Lopez on offense as well, especially on the offensive glass. I can just envision some of those playoff series where the Bucks just went crazy on the offensive glass (especially their title run) - something they will need to look to at times to generate points. Ranking 16th in the NBA, grabbing back 25.8% of their misses, the room for improvement is clearly here.
Defensive Rating: 112.0 (14th)
Good
Last season was a very non “Bucks Defense” season where they struggled at times with the absence of Lopez. They finished 14th in defensive rating, mainly because of the lack of rim protection where the Bucks were normally a top-5 rim protection team under Budenholzer. The best news is they were still an elite defensive rebounding team, ranking 2nd in the NBA only allowing teams to grab back 24% of their misses.
Bad
Milwaukee’s lack of rim contests helped in part allowing teams to shoot an eFG% of 53.9, ranking 19th in the NBA. This will improve if Lopez stays healthy, but overall I think the Bucks will be better at protecting the paint no matter the lineup.
Ugly
Forcing turnovers is not always an indicator of a great defense, but normally if you turn your opponent over you will stop them from even having a chance to score - a good thing for defenses to strive for. Improving this slightly with some Giannis at the 5 lineups could give the Bucks transition offense even more of a boost.
Film
Under Giannis Ballscreen
The bread and butter of the Bucks flow offense, having guards screen for Giannis is one of the hardest actions to prepare for in the NBA.
No chance the defense is going to switch, since Giannis will just blow through it - so hedging or playing back means that Giannis can get a runway downhill.
More often than not, Giannis creates an advantage for himself or his teammate on the pick and pop action.
Under Giannis - Flipping Angle Of Ballscreen
To make this even harder to guard the Bucks add the “Varejao” flip of the ballscreen.
This will usually get Giannis downhill for easier finishes.
Early Push & Flip
When pushing the ball up in early offense, teams will load up on Giannis to prevent him from driving and attacking early so he will go into a quick flip looking for guards.
21 Jrue
With Jrue Holiday’s size, running 21 actions presents slightly different issues for defenses than running it normally.
Jrue can get switches and back down his defender into the post and look for easier scoring looks vs the mismatch.
One action that the Bucks will look for is setting this initial 21 screen, then having the opposite slot - typically a big 45 cut into space.
Stack
When the Bucks look to get Middleton going, they run this Stack action - normally with him and Giannis.
After Middleton gets open or looks to score on the curl, this flows into a spread ballscreen.
Angle 45 (ATO)
the Bucks love getting to the second side of the floor with this action, having a big or Giannis set a ballscreen and pick and pop to the perimeter.
This then flows into a second side dribble hand off or 2-man game.
Zipper Horns Chicago (ATO)
Budenholzer and the Bucks use “Zipper” action to disguise a lot of their After Time Outs so it can be harder for players and coaches to react to the play coming.
As the player comes off the zipper screen, both players flash into a Horns ballscreen look.
The guard comes off the ballscreen for the big to pick and pop then it goes into Chicago action for the point guard.
Zipper AI Side (ATO)
Getting Giannis involved in an empty hand-off set, the zipper screen sets up an easier entry.
Giannis then comes off the Iverson screen and receives the pass to go into a side hand off.
If you liked this breakdown feel free to share it & if you have any other scenarios, plays, or thoughts on any future breakdowns let me know in the comments below!
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Outwork Yesterday.
Coach Pyper