The Milwaukee Bucks’ Criticism Was Immensely Overblown

Looking back, does it mark three years of poor play and coaching, or bad luck?

The Bucks and Giannis aren’t victims of themselves. They’re victims of injury and teams playing well beyond their seed.

Looking at the Regular Season

Of course, with a first-round exit, Milwaukee will be plagued with endless accusations of being frauds.

Fans and rivals will say they knew it all along— that this Bucks team never had it in them. People tend to have an inflated view of their season, assuming this team was built to fail.

The NBA Cup champions that beat the Thunder reportedly never had a chance.

Allegedly, this is the franchise that Giannis wants to leave behind.

This roster deserves a far larger amount of respect than it gets.

The Bucks easily have one of the most underrated bench units in the league with Gary Trent Jr., Kevin Porter Jr., AJ Green, Jericho Sims, Bobby Portis, and more.

This was not a pushover team. This team had a lethal offense at times and was the best three-point shooting team in the league.

You can argue their losing record against the top seeds, but if they had a healthy Damian Lillard and didn’t play the Pacers in the first round, we could be seeing a wildly different story.

Over the past years, they’ve dealt with coach and player turnovers that foster a difficult environment to perform well in.

This team has done great considering the factors they’ve encountered.

The Spots Worth Panicking

It makes sense to be uneasy about the Bucks’ offseason. With a few player options coming up and minimal cap flexibility, the front office has its work cut out for it this summer.

Damian Lillard tore his Achilles. That’s a worrisome spot where Milwaukee will have to find a replacement for the time being.

There will have to be restructuring this offseason, but it’s not unreasonable to think that the Bucks can pull through and be fine. They’re subject to big change, but if they can retain a few player options, they’ll be in a decent spot.

While it’s easy to count out guys like Kyle Kuzma, his playoff performance shouldn’t overrule his entire season. He was an asset in the regular season, and coming into a full year with the Bucks could be very beneficial to his play.

Stay Calm, Bucks Fans

The Bucks have some things to figure out before next year. Some of which will be important marks.

However, people need to lay back with this team. They had a good season despite the adversity. They’ve had awful luck of the draw with their playoff seedings and issues with durability, but the Bucks aren’t going anywhere— yet.

Giannis seems to be staying home, and that’s enough to be calm on its own. It’s crucial for fans to recognize the position Milwaukee has been in and have some faith that the team will pull together a good offseason.