Part of what the Milwaukee Bucks brought new head coach Taylor Jenkins in to do is reset the team's defensive identity after aimlessly floating through the NBA rankings since the 2021 title run. But roster construction plays a large part in that outcome too, and while Milwaukee has plenty of talented defenders under contract, there are some who are capable of tanking entire lineups by accident.
The folks at Basketball University ran a statistical analysis of the players who had the best and worst Defensive True Shooting Value Added over the last three seasons. In more common terms, this stat estimates a player's defensive value by showing how many points a player prevents or allows per 100 possessions, based on true shooting percentage, which weighs the value of two-pointers, three-pointers, and free throws attempted.
Of the qualifying players who logged 20,000+ possessions in the last three seasons, two Milwaukee Bucks veterans landed in the bottom 10 in this stat category: Gary Trent Jr. and Kyle Kuzma.
These were already polarizing figures among Bucks fans for their unsteady contributions over the years, but as Jenkins navigates a seemingly impossible task in Milwaukee this season, he might need to make some tough decisions on players near the top of the roster in terms of salary going forward.
Taylor Jenkins needs to preserve the Milwaukee Bucks' new-look defense over the feelings of Kyle Kuzma and Gary Trent Jr.
Numbers are just that, without context. The Bucks were quite a poor defensive team last season and have been struggling to regain their identity on that side of the floor ever since the 2021 title run. It's not fair to say all that falls back on Trent and Kuzma themselves, as former head coach Doc Rivers was culpable for Milwaukee's laughable defense since taking over the team.
With that said, unless Trent and Kuzma prove otherwise through training camp, pre-season, and the beginning of the year, Taylor Jenkins can't afford to put them on the floor for extended periods. Even though they rank third and fourth respectively on the Bucks' cap allocations this year, that doesn't mean their minutes need to be guaranteed — especially if the trend of giving up a higher true shooting percentage to opponents persists when they're on the floor.
Whether the general public believes it or not, the Bucks are not tanking this season. Unless they're able to trade for control of their own first-round pick, they have no incentive to do so. Instead, this is a team that's more than likely going to try to win as many games as they can to reset the culture and the vibes in Milwaukee, and a lot of that starts on the defensive end.
Kuzma has the makings of a good defender with his size and mobility, but he's not always focused on defense as he needs to be to execute at the highest level. Trent is more than capable of pestering ball-handlers and forcing turnovers during advantageous moments of the game, but his on-ball defense has been lackluster compared to what we saw in Portland and Toronto.
Unless they can turn this around and prove those defensive metrics were a byproduct of the team's failure instead of their own, Taylor Jenkins needs to be prepared to diminish their roles for the sake of developing strong defensive habits for the young talent on his roster and outperforming the lowly expectations placed on this Bucks team for the season ahead.
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