Milwaukee Bucks looks primed for regular season

In a dominant preseason win over the Chicago Bulls, the Milwaukee Bucks look like they have found an offense that engages all their players. A team that could scare many top contenders in the Eastern Conference.

In the early going of the Milwaukee Bucks drubbing of the Chicago Bulls, the offense seemed a bit on the slow side. There were turnovers, players weren’t getting to their spots on offense or defense and unnecessary contested jumpers. Basically a lot of hiccups for a team with a new coach and system. That was pretty much expected going into the season.

As the game progressed, players seemed to get more comfortable and confident. The Bucks were certainly helped by a Bulls’ team that was shooting so poorly and is projected to be a lower end defensive team. Regardless, the Bucks led by as many as 34 points in their 116-82 win on Wednesday night.

Jabari Parker made his return debut as a member of the Bulls and it couldn’t have gone worse. Luckily it’s preseason but you can take away plenty from these games.

Parker actually made the first field goal of the game to give the Bulls a 2-1 lead. He then proceeds to get dunked on by newcomer Brook Lopez and would miss his next 11 shot attempts. He wasn’t the only Bulls player to shoot poorly, though. The starters combined to shoot 10-43 from the field and 2-15 from three. The team itself shot 32 percent from the field and 17 percent from three.

The Bucks actually don’t deserve to get much credit here. They did play good defense, but a lot of the Bulls players had really good looks that just weren’t falling.

Lopez and Ersan Ilyasova showed in the very first preseason game what they bring to the table for this Bucks team and that they can help in big ways both offensively and defensively this season. Both will log key minutes in some very interesting line-ups for the Bucks as we saw against the Bulls.

Donte DiVincenzo looked much better than in his Summer League games. He was flying all over the court and active on both ends of the floor. He still struggled with his shot, but was able to turn in seven rebounds, six assists and one block.

This new Bucks offense looks so much better than last seasons. If you can even consider last seasons offense worthy of that title. The spacing on offense and length on defense is going to be a big problem for opposing teams. Ball movement and three-point attempts seem to have been a priority. The ball was constantly moving, and the Bucks attempted 45 threes after having only a season-high of 34 attempts last year.

Giannis Antetokounmpo is primed for an MVP-esque season. In 22 minutes of play tonight, he had 19 points, 13 rebounds, 5 assists and a pull up three that sent social media into a frenzy. The only blemish, for him, tonight was going 4-for-10 from the stripe. If Antetokounmpo averages close to or over 30 points per game this season it wouldn’t even be a surprise.