Bucks News: Insider Pinpoints Milwaukee's Main Weakness

The Bucks have gone 1-3 with a fairly generous early schedule.

Oct 27, 2024; Brooklyn, New York, USA; Brooklyn Nets forward Jalen Wilson (22) drives past Milwaukee Bucks guard Damian Lillard (0) in the third quarter at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images / Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

Even before the Milwaukee Bucks were outlasted by the Boston Celtics in a 119-108 defeat on Monday night, it had become clear that the club had some major issues during this early portion of the 2024-25 NBA season.

On ESPN's "The Hoop Collective" podcast, hoops insider Tim Bontemps blamed the club's backcourt for Milwaukee's paltry start, which at the time was 1-2 and has since fallen to 1-3.

“Go back to the summer. We talked about the Bucks. They had a glaring lack of athleticism across the roster. You look at these first couple of games. It is very concerning to play two teams that they should be smacking,” Bontemps said. "You see all these quick guards going off."

Eight-time All-Star point guard Damian Lillard and, for now, veteran's minimum-contracted shooting guard Gary Trent Jr. are the Bucks' starting guards. Lillard was acquired last summer just ahead of Milwaukee's preseason, and though he remained an elite scorer, his lack of defensive engagement essentially killed the team's formerly elite perimeter coverage.

“They lost arguably the best guard defender in the league [six-time All-Defensive Team combo guard Jrue Holiday, now with the Boston Celtics] and for all of Dame’s talents offensively… he’s one of the best offensive guards of this generation. He’s a problem defensively, like you have to try to hide him and protect him and it’s hard to do,” Bontemps added.

It's especially tough to hide Lillard when his backcourt partner, Trent, is a similarly poor defender. He's too slight to convincingly stop opposing wings, and too slow to stay in front of the best point guards if he's ever switched onto Lillard's man.

Trent isn't doing much on offense this season, either. The 6-foot-5 veteran swingman is averaging 10.0 points on .367/.364/.909 shooting splits, 1.5 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.0 steals across 33.5 minutes a night. That's his worst output since his 2019-20 sophomore season, when he was a reserve on Lillard's Portland Trail Blazers.

LIllard, now 34, remains a potent force on offense. Through his first four games, the seven-time All-NBA honoree is averaging 28.0 points on .471/.308/.923 shooting splits (he's a career 37 percent 3-point shooter, so that 30.8 percent conversion rate will presumably improve), 6.3 assists and 6.0 rebounds.

There's one very clear solution for the Bucks: demoting Trent. Another veteran's minimum signing, combo guard Delon Wright, has already been earning late-game minutes as essentially Lillard's backup at the point. He's actually a plus defender, especially at the point of attack, and a decent long range sniper off the catch, he's a career 35.4 percent long range sniper on 1.9 triple tries per bout, although he's only making a dismal 25 percent of his 1.0 attempts beyond the arc this year so far.

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