Milwaukee Bucks: Trade or Keep for Biggest Assets
By Kenny Jilek
Eric Bledsoe
Eric Bledsoe was disappointing in the playoffs for a third straight season, and now a real conversation needs to be had about whether this Milwaukee Bucks team can move forward with him as their starting point guard. Last season, his playoff numbers were ugly, and they gave him a chance to redeem himself in 2020, but it was deja vu and even worse in a few ways.
His playoff shooting from the field has deteriorated from 44 percent in 2018 to 41.1 percent in 2019 to 38.8 percent this playoff season. To his credit, he averaged a career-high 5.9 assists in this season’s playoffs, a number that has risen in each of his playoff appearances. However, his turnovers rose from 2.1 to 2.2 to 2.6 per game.
Bledsoe is a career 33.6 percent three-point shooter in the regular season, but that number drops off to 25.4 percent in the playoffs. Similar to the argument for why Budenholzer should be fired (he won’t be), one or two bad outcomes could be unlucky, but when it’s a pattern, it’s a problem, and continuing to run it back thinking that the pattern will change would be naïve and foolish.
His playoff woes make him a top candidate to be traded, but if we don’t want him because he can’t perform in the playoffs, then who does? It runs into a similar problem as Hill and Lopez, where he’s definitely a guy with value, but he can’t be looked at too fondly by other front offices. His shot selection was questionable at best, and he just couldn’t put the ball in the hole when it mattered.
His redeeming quality, of course, is his defense. He was first-team all-defense last season and second-team this year. Unfortunately, that defense didn’t quite translate to the playoffs as Goran Dragic was able to score 19.8 points per game in the Heat series. It wasn’t all Bledsoe’s fault, as the Milwaukee Bucks’ defense is set up to give up mid-range looks, and Dragic knocked them down, but Bledsoe could’ve worked through screens better to make his shots less comfortable.
Even with his playoff struggles, he’s still probably the most valuable trade piece the Bucks have and would be the centerpiece in any deal for someone better. They’ve said that they are thinking about trading him, and even though not all teams will be interested because of his playoff shortcomings, I think the stars will align and the right team will make a call on him.