By james art The Milwaukee Bucks’ season is off to a slow start. After winning the first game against the 76ers, they lost two in a row against the Bulls and Nets. Gilbert Arenas seems to have figured out the reason for the Bucks’ back-to-back losing streak.
included Gil’s Arenathe former NBA star mocked the obviousness of Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo’s predictable offensive schemes, calling them the team’s weakness.
Fans had high expectations for the duo of Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo, two MVP-caliber players who can take over games on their day. However, the Bucks were unable to get much out of the superstar duo. Arenas thinks their limited offensive sets are to blame for that.
He declared that the two-man game the Bucks play is disastrous. They rely too much on Dame and Janis despite their failure to come up with new sets.
The three-time All-Star broke up Dame and Giannis in the final minutes of their game against the Jazz. “Pop, shot, if he didn’t shoot it, return it, pick and throw, throw it down, shot, place it, return it, pick and throw, throw it down. It was like it was just two people.” Arenas said.
An argument could be made that Agent Zero isn’t entirely correct in its assessment because Dame has far more choices set by Brooke Lopez than Janice. Also, the Greek Freak isn’t much of a screen because he’s never had a point guard of Dame’s caliber on his team. Due to lack of experience, he may get a pass in the team’s current games.
But that excuse will fall away as the season progresses. As Doc Rivers had stated before the season how this year would be different from 2023-24 because the team had a full training camp for the first time to develop its tandem.
It’s quite clear that the team still hasn’t adjusted to the new setup with Lillard. It’s something Rivers also blamed for the team’s disappointing performance last postseason. The Bucks have been on a downward trajectory since changing their head coach in January.
Damian Lillard reflects on the changes from the Adrian Griffin era
During a conversation with SI earlier this month, Lillard talked about how he’s still developing chemistry with Giannis on the floor. The process would have been easier if they had been given enough time to sort out their choices. He said Griffin didn’t envision them picking and rolling together, but that all changed when Rivers took over.
Dame revealed, “The best way to get pick-and-roll chemistry is to play a lot of pick-and-rolls together. And I think we got to the point with Doc [Rivers] where he would have us practice, just “Set it. Throw it at Janice. Janis, give it back to Dame. All right, Dame, throw it back. Alright Janice, up the DHO.’
“It was almost like the team was laughing at us, just repeating it over and over.”
Although he didn’t mention it specifically, Lillard seems to have noticed an improvement with Rivers at the helm. But that concept has yet to materialize on the court.