Sound the alarm because it’s finally happening. The Milwaukee Bucks are for real. The team is currently second in the eastern conference standings with a 9-2 record. On Thursday night, they defeated the two-time defending champion Golden State Warriors (without Draymond Green but still an impressive win) 134-111 in Oracle Arena. When the Bucks beat the Warriors to snap their 24-game season starting winning streak in the 2015-2016 season, the Bucks weren’t a legitimate contender. However, they are this season.
Minus a few exceptions (I’m looking at you 2004 Pistons), an NBA team has to have a top ten player to compete for a championship. The Milwaukee Bucks have one in Giannis Antetokounmpo whose dunk on Kevon Looney was so impressive it appeared to leave Draymond Green dumbfounded from the sideline. With LeBron James out west, Giannis is arguably (Kawhi is the only other candidate) the best player in the eastern conference. The Greek Freak has been on a tear this season averaging 25.6 points, 12.9 rebounds, 5.7 assists, 1.0 steals, and 1.3 blocks through his first eleven games. However, he put up big numbers the past two years when he made back-to-back All-NBA second teams, and those seasons ended in first round playoff exits at the hands of the Raptors in 2017 and the Celtics in 2018.
What is different this season is Giannis is putting up big stats while at the same time the Bucks are high up in the standings. Milwaukee’s new head coach, Mike Budenholzer, deserves credit for the team’s increase in winning percentage. Under Budenholzer’s system, the Bucks are attempting the second most three-pointers a game at 40.5. Only the Houston Rockets shoot more threes a game. This is a huge increase in three-point attempts for the Bucks compared to last season when they ranked twenty-fifth at 24.7 a game. This emphasis on shooting threes is the main reason why the Bucks have the second best offensive rating in the league behind only the Golden State Warriors. Also under Budenholzer, the Bucks currently have the best defensive rating in the NBA.
Coach Bud’s success shouldn’t be a surprise. It was only four seasons ago when he led an Atlanta Hawks team with no superstar to 60 wins and an eastern conference finals appearance. Budenholzer has taken the Bucks to the next level similar to how Steve Kerr did with the Warriors. Before Kerr, the Warriors were a team with talent but no postseason success. Steve Kerr turned Golden State to a championship team in his first season as head coach. Steph Curry became an All-Star under Mark Jackson, but the team would lose early in the playoffs. This parallels the situation between Giannis and Jason Kidd during Kidd’s tenure as Bucks head coach. Curry and Giannis weren’t surefire superstar prospects when they entered the NBA. There were two point guards drafted ahead of Curry, and Giannis wasn’t even a lottery pick. They had coaches in Jackson and Kidd who helped them reach their superstar level, but coaches in Kerr and Budenholzer were needed for their teams to contend.
Giannis and Budenholzer aren’t the only reason the Bucks have had a good start to the season. Ersan Ilyasova and Brook Lopez have been nice offseason editions to this team. Eric Bledsoe who was outplayed by Terry Rozier in the playoffs last season is a weak link on the team, but even he can have a good game on occasion with his 26-point performance against Golden State being evidence of that. Maybe the best move they made during the offseason was moving on from Jabari Parker who never reached his potential in Milwaukee. Parker was also supposed to be the franchise star for the Bucks when he was drafted second overall, but knee injuries to him and Antetokounmpo’s ascension changed that outlook. Cutting ties with a player who was supposed to be a franchise star but didn’t pan out as one is probably a good thing for a team’s overall chemistry.
As good as they’ve been so far, the Bucks face some tough competition in the east. Toronto is currently ahead of them in the standings, and they’ve avoided early season struggles that could come with a first year head coach and a superstar in his first year with a new team. Boston is loaded with talent, and Brad Stevens is too intelligent of a coach to not figure out the best lineups. Additionally, Philadelphia has two under 25 stars ready to make a leap this season. The east might not have as many good teams as the west, but the teams at the top of the east can definitely compete.
Milwaukee has come out strong, but they still have a lot left to prove. They have a franchise star and a good head coach. They won by 21 points on the road against the two-time defending champions. They’ve let the league know that they’re ready to contend.