Bucks vs. Bulls: give the bench a job, not a damn sightseeing tour.
The Curds & Chaos Desk · Sourced game-day brief + original R-rated fan opinion · Adult language
Source brief
Milwaukee hosts Chicago in preseason play October 14 at 7 p.m. CT, confirmed by the NBA game page. Brew Hoop’s new preview highlights Brayden Burries as a player to watch and questions the offense when Milwaukee turns to its reserves. Playing time and lineups remain coach decisions.
Read the reporting: Brew Hoop · NBA game listing ↗Our take · Original opinion
R-rated fan opinion: Tonight I want a bench possession with a beginning, a middle, and something better than five guys staring at one another like they just discovered the supper-club bill includes everybody’s prime rib. Give somebody a job. Give somebody a screen. Give the ball a damn destination.
Brew Hoop’s case for watching Brayden Burries is worth considering. My interest is less about declaring a rookie the savior and more about seeing what the offense looks like with a different set of decisions. If he gets the opportunity, can he attack an opening, draw the defense toward him, and make the next pass? A useful possession does not have to end with his name in the scoring column. That is my larger test for Milwaukee’s reserves. Can the group create an advantage and keep it alive? A drive that forces help should give somebody else a cleaner decision. A screen should change where a defender stands. Moving the ball around the outside until the clock develops a pension is technically activity. So is a ceiling fan. Neither automatically creates a good shot. I would like to see Burries get a meaningful look, if the coaching plan allows it. Meaningful means enough connected possessions to understand his choices, not one touch followed by a substitution and a thousand amateur scouting reports. Let a young player make a read. Let him make the next one. We cannot demand development and then grade everybody like the first imperfect possession is a felony. The same standard applies to the familiar names. Gary Trent Jr., Caris LeVert and Kevin Porter Jr. do not need a preseason coronation or a public sentencing. I want to know how they help a unit function. Shot selection, timing and moving without the ball tell me more than a single jumper that makes the television audience briefly discover religion. Preseason gives the staff room to try things. It gives us room to watch those experiments without pretending every combination is the final rotation. The useful question is what a lineup learns to do together. Who gets the first action going? Who benefits from it? Who keeps working when the defense interrupts the plan? Those answers matter after the exhibition score leaves the screen. So bring me connected basketball tonight. Bring me a reserve who makes the next teammate’s job easier. Keep the imaginary depth-chart tribunal in recess until we have something sturdier than vibes. Fear the Deer. Demand an offense that does not need Google Maps to locate the fucking basket.