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It appears Milwaukee is finally ready to embrace a modern-day NBA defensive scheme.
According to Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer, the Bucks “would like to play a more versatile style of defense next season,” which could lead to them shipping out starting center Brook Lopez.
O’Connor further proposed a trade that would send Lopez to the Raptors in exchange for Bruce Brown.
“Trading Brook Lopez for Brown is a perfect match of salaries, and then the Raptors could flip Lopez elsewhere,” O’Connor wrote. “The amount of screening and cutting Brown could do in support of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard would be glorious to watch.”
Although a terrific rim protector, Lopez has never been agile enough to guard perimeter players, forcing the Bucks to keep him in drop coverage against most teams in recent years. As a result, the Bucks would invariably find themselves in four-on-five situations and dare teams to beat them with threes.
While the scheme helped them secure an NBA championship in 2021 and reasonable playoff success since, it is starting to become more ineffective with each passing season, especially with teams such as the Celtics fielding five agile and switchable defenders at all times.
This past season, after Doc Rivers took charge of the team, the Bucks began to play Bobby Portis at the five a lot more for that exact reason. While Portis is not a great defender by any stretch, he still can switch out to the perimeter a lot more easily than Lopez given his agility.
Eventually, bigs such as Lopez risk becoming extinct in the modern NBA, which dictates that all five players on the floor can guard multiple positions. It’s just where the game is headed.
Lopez averaged 12.5 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.4 blocks last season.
Source link : https://www.yardbarker.com/nba/articles/amp/bucks_reportedly_looking_to_make_massive_offseason_change/s1_13132_40513766
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Publish date : 2024-06-21 17:26:10
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