Bucks Stock Market: Milwaukee's losing ways continue in D.C.
It didn't take any magic for the Wizards to beat the shorthanded Bucks on Sunday night.
The Bucks Stock Market is a fictitious market run by the GSPN crew that tracks player stock “movement” following the conclusion of every game. Here’s the spreadsheet logging the game-by-game results.
It might sound like an excuse, but being severely shorthanded is absolutely killing the Milwaukee Bucks early in the season. Their lack of depth and size was on display yet again against the Washington Wizards on Sunday, as Montrezl Harrell dominated Milwaukee with 15 points off the bench — more than all five of the Bucks bench players managed combined with Bobby Portis joining the starting five. Jrue Holiday played again and looked okay overall on a minutes restriction for the second straight game, although two straight fourth quarter drives resulting in a missed layup and a turnover killed Milwaukee’s hopes of a late comeback. With some strong teams (plus the Celtics) awaiting on the remainder of this East Coast road trip, the Bucks need to get healthy fast in order to stop this early season skid.
Luxury Tax Savings 📉
Can you believe the Bucks’ fifteenth man (not counting two-ways) has yet to accrue a single point, rebound, assist, steal, or block? In all seriousness, it’s gross to see Milwaukee’s roster sitting there with an open spot despite the squad desperately needing another big man with Brook Lopez still out indefinitely.
Grayson Allen📈
Grayson Allen had himself another eyebrow-raising game as he does his best to overcome the significant loss of Khris Middleton, posting 19 points, 2 assists, 1 rebound and 4 (!!) steals on efficient shooting. Milwaukee’s defense was aggressively hedging pick and rolls, and Grayson was one of the better Bucks at disrupting Washington’s actions and forcing turnovers. He’s also gaining Giannis’ trust as a shooter, which could be huge down the line.
George Hill 📉
George Hill is not a 33 minute per night starter in the NBA anymore. There was a time when he was, but that time has come and gone, and yet due to the Bucks’ injury woes he had to be that against the Wizards. It did not go well — Hill managed just 6 points, missed all 5 of his threes, and had nearly as many turnovers (2) as he did assists (3). The whole point of signing George Hill was to use him in a lesser role — it might have been better to let Justin Robinson play more rather than ask this much of Hill, especially in an early November game.
The Milwaukee Bucks road trip continues on Tuesday night in Philadelphia as the Bucks take on the 76ers at 6:30 pm Central time.