Without suspense, the Bucks chose to change coaches after being humiliated by the Black Eight. Although championship coach Budenholzer is still under contract, the Bucks still fired him, and former Raptors champion coach Nass and others will become candidates for the Bucks' new coach.
The goal of the Bucks to rush to the championship remains the same after the coach change, but even if the Bucks hire a new coach of sufficient caliber while retaining the core lineup, Chris Middleton stays, and the elder Lopez renews his contract, can they continue to rush to the championship?
At this point, the Bucks will find that at the end of the day, their ceiling depends on the performance of team leader Antetokounmpo, not the coach. After all, the manager's tactical design also has to be based on the ability of the stars.
There is no intention to rehabilitate Budenholzer, the fact is that Budenholzer does have problems with his ability to adjust on the field and in the game, if it were not for the Bucks' 2021 championship, Budenholzer would have been out of class. In addition, the offensive and defensive system built by Budenholzer in the Bucks has proven that it is indeed suitable for playing the regular season under a large sample, but it is not very suitable in the targeted playoffs, and the room for adjustment is too small.
But is it a problem for Budenholzer to get to where the Bucks are today? He's just the one responsible for being pushed to the foreground. If you dig deeper, Antetokounmpo, who has not advanced and retreated this season, should also be responsible.
Antetokounmpo is strong, it's an irrefutable fact, and his attendance has plummeted this season, but he is still ranked 3rd in the MVP rankings, just behind Embiid and Jokic. In unit time, Antetokounmpo's output is indeed amazing, averaging 31.1 points, 11.8 rebounds, and 5.7 assists in just 32.1 minutes per game, and there is no doubt that he entered the best team with such statistics.
Antetokounmpo has said in several interviews that his talent has not yet been fully realized, and he has a later version of himself to unlock. The question is, when will Antetokounmpo unlock a later version of Alphabet Brother?
In recent years, Antetokounmpo has always provided unlimited reverie space for the outside world, and no one knows how terrifying a super talent monster with a height of 7 feet can be if he develops a mid-range shot and a near-basket attack. But such Antetokounmpo has always remained only in the outside world and Antetokounmpo's own imagination.
What has been Antetokounmpo's progress in four years? If you think about it, it seems like he finally made damn free throws in the 2021 playoffs, and then increased his free throw shooting percentage to 72.2% in 2021-22. However, 72.2% of his free throw shooting percentage is still far below his career-high 77% in 2016-17, and Antetokounmpo's free throw shooting rate has fallen to 64.5% this season, which has nothing to do with injuries in the Heat's G5, which is 10 of 23 free throws.
Looking at Antetokounmpo's offensive approach and shooting percentage from all areas, he has been in full regression this season. The percentage of mid-range shots, three-pointers, near-basket shots and even under-the-basket shots has declined. This may be related to Middleton and Holladay missing many games due to injury, Antetokounmpo is overloaded with the ball, but when the first round of the playoffs played the Heat, Antetokounmpo returned from injury after the Bucks were complete, Antetokounmpo handed over 0.71 points per round for low singles, 0.78 points per round for face singles, 0.89 points per round for blocking and holding the ball, and 0.89 points per round for conversion offense.
In August 2022, Arenas said that Antetokounmpo is still a long way from the best player in the league today, reasoning: "Compared to the Greek beast in his rookie season, the current Greek beast is only stronger and smarter when attacking the basket, has he added new weapons to his arsenal?" Did his three-point shot improve? No. Has his mid-range and free throws improved? No. Is his back attack stronger? Nor is it. He's just getting stronger, he's only better at withstanding bumps and finishing offense, which has improved his overall hit percentage, and his weaknesses when he entered the industry are still there, so I said he needs to learn further and know how to improve himself as a whole. ”
Arenas' original intention was to advise Antetokounmpo to learn from Jordan and Curry, not to stop and not to stop there, but to constantly upgrade his skills and improve his weaknesses. At that time, many people said that Arenas was counting which onion and evaluated Antetokounmpo, but looking back now, is this statement very reasonable?
Everyone has their own characteristics, and perhaps one should not expect Antetokounmpo to become a mid-range shooting elite, but at least he can improve his shot efficiency near the basket instead of leaving the three-second zone and plummeting in efficiency. Think back to the Bucks and Heat G5, Antetokounmpo's critical moment when he missed a backshot, pushed a counterattack and tried to grab the attack was stopped by Butler, both times were opportunities for Antetokounmpo to change his life, but it became a black shot of him exposing his flaws.
With a large sample, Antetokounmpo's ability to stack production may be unparalleled, and he can type perverted data in a short time. But how can he score points efficiently when the opponent shrinks the defense line against his weaknesses and limits his counterattacks?
It was a problem for the Bucks and Antetokounmpo 2 years ago, and it's still 2 years later.
"I've reached 80% of my potential and I have a higher level to unlock." Antetokounmpo said in an exclusive interview not long ago.
Will we see a more high-grade Antetokounmpo next season? The answer to that question will be decisive for the Bucks, who decide to change coaches and explode their salary space next season.