While most of Wisconsin sports fans are locked into the Brewers' playoff race and the start of Green Bay's 2026 season, we're quietly just five and a half weeks away from one of the most fascinating seasons of Milwaukee Bucks history. New head coach Taylor Jenkins has returned to the organization, now tackling the challenge of ushering in a new era of Bucks basketball while maintaining a winning culture with a hodgepodge roster of young talent, journeymen, and vets.
His first and most important responsibility is to set a tone of accountability and camaraderie in Milwaukee's locker room. While it seems simple, like the responsibility of any head coach, those elements have been sorely lacking under Doc Rivers over the last few years.
Jenkins has a chance to prove that Milwaukee was right to speed through its search process and swiftly offer him the top spot on their bench. But along that journey, there will be certain benchmarks and signs that Jenkins is getting the job done, so here's what we can look out for from home to track Jenkins' progress in his first year in the role.
1. Get Tyler Herro to his second All-Star game in his first year back home with the Milwaukee Bucks.
The general public outside of Wisconsin will not acknowledge the Bucks next season unless the team forces them to, and the clearest route to cracking the national conversation is if Tyler Herro gets back into All-Star contention next year. The 26-year-old couldn't be more motivated after being traded by the franchise that drafted him on the verge of a contract year.
It's Jenkins' responsibility not only to put Herro in positions to highlight his talent and show the Heat they messed up by trading him, but also to prove that he can recontextualize his schemes and rotations around a marquee talent. Luckily, the Bucks' roster is well-equipped to help Herro showcase his immense talent. All Jenkins has to do is put the scheme and mentality in place for his team to thrive.
And if all goes according to plan? Maybe Herro can get himself into an esteemed conversation that he hasn't yet touched in his NBA career... an All-NBA team selection.
2. Push the Milwaukee Bucks as close to Play-In Tournament contention as they can get.
Given the depth of talent in the Eastern Conference, a Playoff appearance is a lofty goal for this Bucks roster, but it's not out of the realm of possibility. If Taylor Jenkins can establish a system for the Milwaukee Bucks, this team is talented enough to punch above its weight class and win games that, on paper, they're not supposed to.
The NBA is largely driven by star power, but basketball is a team sport. You win and lose based on how you execute as a team, and I stand by the fact that this Bucks roster is way deeper than they're getting credit for. If one or two teams underperform or get derailed by injury problems, the Bucks could sneak into a Top-10 seed in the standings by the season's end.
Without control of their own first-round pick, there's nothing to stop this team from trying to win games this season. Sneaking into the postseason picture would be a fantastic way for Taylor Jenkins to prove his value as a leader for this Bucks franchise.
3. Finish the 2026-27 NBA season with a top-12 offense OR defense in Milwaukee.
The Milwaukee Bucks need an identity reset, and that's what Jenkins was brought in to do. In the process, it's widely expected that he has an exact scheme and playstyle in mind for this group. Given the positional mobility, 3-point shooting talent, and athletic traits of this roster, there is a pathway for the Bucks to finish as a Top 12 team by Offensive or Defensive rating.
It's a tall task considering the Bucks finished 24th in offense and 26th in defense last year, but they were a hapless team without a concrete goal in mind. The point of bringing Jenkins into the team is to install structure that's been nonexistent over the last few years. Frankly, Giannis was the system, and the Bucks learned last year that it's not enough in the modern NBA.
Whatever Jenkins installs on offense or defense, there should be tangible growth in how the Bucks approach both sides of the floor and why they do it. Finishing Top 12 in either of those categories would be a clear indicator that we're headed in the right direction, and that Jenkins has accomplished a piece of what he was brought in to do in his first season back in Milwaukee.
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