Milwaukee Bucks: 3 Huge moves for this offseason

Addition by Subtraction

There are three subtractions that would be advantageous to the Milwaukee Bucks this offseason. Two are basically just moving on, and one would be getting something back in a trade. The first and biggest move to make is firing Mike Budenholzer.

Budenholzer has a pattern: Win a lot of games in the regular season and build up hope, just to be let down in the playoffs. When his Hawks went 60-22 in the 2014-15 season, they got swept by Lebron’s Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference finals, and we all know what’s happened the last two seasons here in Milwaukee during the postseason.

This Miami Heat series was not an exception to the rule for Budenholzer, but rather a continuation of a pattern that he’s had for years as a head coach. This series, the blunders in his rotation, were numerous. Wesley Matthews was the best one-on-one defender of Jimmy Butler the entire series, but down the stretch, in games one and three when Butler took over, Matthews was on the bench.

Also, Pat Connaughton was his replacement for some of those minutes. Connaughton should not have even been playing in this series, except maybe some spotty minutes in game five to give wings a break with Giannis out. The fact that a guy who didn’t add defense, shooting, or playmaking got so much playing time and closed out a game is unacceptable.

The biggest gripe that most Milwaukee Bucks’ fans have with Budenholzer’s rotation is that he didn’t play his stars enough. In the first three games of the series, Giannis played 36, 35, and 35 minutes while Middleton played 37, 33, and 36 minutes.

In games four and five, Budenholzer finally let Middleton play over 40 minutes, but it was too little too late. Using nine or tens guys and playing them all at least 15 minutes is great in the regular season, but he needs to adjust his rotations for the playoffs.

Speaking of adjustments, Budenholzer also seems too stubborn to make any of those in the playoffs. Getting Brook Lopez the ball in the post more and not playing Marvin Williams, a non-rim protector, in drop coverage on pick and rolls could have been big adjustments to make that get a few more easy points and not allow as many.

The head coach pool is a little underwhelming this offseason, but a surprise candidate could be Becky Hammon. The Pacers are bringing her in for an interview, and the Bucks did two years ago when they had their head coach search. She’s one of the very few women coaches in the NBA, and the fact that one of the most respected coaches in the NBA in Gregg Popovich, trusts her with so many important jobs on his staff shows that she can do the job just as well as anyone. She was also the head coach of the Spurs’ Summer League championship-winning team just a couple years ago.

Moving on to the second person to send out, Ersan Ilyasova. He has a $7 million dollar salary next season, but none of it is guaranteed, meaning they can cut him and get all that money off their books. He played zero playoff minutes, so paying him that much money wouldn’t make any sense. They could shop him around to try to get a second-round pick, but they’ll likely just have to release him.

Finally, Eric Bledsoe being traded could get a playoff offensive liability off the court and bring in some value too. He’s a fantastic defender and has made first and second-team all-defense the past two seasons, but he has had too many playoff struggles.

Last season was bad, and this had to be his redemption year, but it wasn’t. The Heat left him open from the three-point line, which messed up the Bucks spacing and allowed the Heat extra help defenders. The Milwaukee Bucks gave up a first-round pick and Greg Monroe for him, so hopefully they can get value back. If they could get a first-round pick, that would be a win. They could also use him as part of a bigger trade.