Tracking the larger sentiments of Bucks fans week by week
Before the 2020–21 season, the Bucks famously acquired Jrue Holiday to start at point guard and also signed D.J. Augustin to back him up. Augustin was flipped at the deadline as the main salary-matching piece in the P.J. Tucker trade, and Milwaukee had just one point guard on the roster until signing Jeff Teague off the buyout market nearly two weeks later. Even so, Teague wasn’t heavily utilized down the stretch (he logged 15.9 MPG in 21 games with three DNP-CDs) and was largely out of the postseason rotation, spare a huge effort in the clinching game of the East Finals while Giannis sat.
In the ensuing years, George Hill came and went as Holiday’s understudy, Jevon Carter played both behind and alongside Holiday, Cam Payne was signed to spell the freshly acquired Damian Lillard mere days before training camp last year, then Payne was replaced by Patrick Beverley at last year’s deadline. Entering this season, combo guard Delon Wright appeared to be the guy, with a skillset that made sense on paper. With a long-held solid defensive rep and a knack for deflections, Wright was coming off a huge series against Boston in April too. He seemed to complement Dame well either as his backup or as an off-ball guard next to him.
While Wright is coming off perhaps his best game as a Buck in Chicago last night, he hasn’t shown much as a ballhandler or much on offense in general. Enter two-way guard Ryan Rollins, pushed into action last month with Dame’s concussion. A couple really promising games on both ends had many dreaming of him as the Bucks’ new backup point guard, but he promptly dislocated his shoulder against Toronto, needing a few games off and contemplating surgery. He elected not to go that route and found himself not only back in the rotation the last two games but in the starting lineup.
With Khris Middleton’s return to the floor and to form, the second unit has its customary initiator again. In the 2021 title run, Milwaukee got by just fine in the playoffs while employing him as one of the primary facilitators alongside or in place of Holiday. They missed Middleton’s point forward capabilities dearly in the 2022 postseason, and earlier this year the offense looked very stagnant when Dame was off the floor. So this begs the question: do the Bucks need a backup point guard in their rotation?
Certainly, Rollins brings important depth for games like the last three when Dame has sat. But with Lillard and Middleton capably running an offense that’s knocking on the top 10 (11th per Cleaning The Glass, just 0.7 points per 100 possessions from 10th), should there be another ballhandler getting rotation minutes each night when the team is healthy? I tend to say it’s not necessary, and while Rollins may indeed be one of their better backcourt defenders, he would only be taking away minutes from Andre Jackson Jr. and AJ Green at this point if he sticks full-time.
Beyond a three-man frontcourt group set in stone, the Bucks have two wings (Middleton and Taurean Prince) who can slide to the four when they want to go small, Damian Lillard at the point, then these three guys to share minutes at the two and three: AJax, Green, and Gary Trent Jr. Green’s shooting has been a little up-and-down lately but his defense has actually been more consistent. Trent is shooting the ball well again and has enough defensive chops to keep getting minutes. AJax is a sterling defender, spare some foul issues that are becoming somewhat less common.
That’s nine guys. When Dame sits, Milwaukee can run the offense through Middleton and have both guards play off-ball, focusing on defense and/or shooting. Is there room for Rollins among that crew right now? It seems hard to fit him in, but on nights where Green doesn’t have his stroke (like Friday in Cleveland), or AJax’s lack of offense plays him off the floor, maybe there’s a way. However, more and more PT will go to Middleton (who still has yet to play 24 or more minutes), and those games where an AJ didn’t have it mostly came before Middleton’s return. Ultimately, I don’t know how you can play Rollins rotation minutes without drastically reducing those of Green, Jackson, or Trent, or benching one entirely.
As always, this poll will be open until midnight Central on Friday, and we’ll post the results later that day. Thanks for voting!