The Milwaukee Bucks have enough reasons to believe in what Taylor Jenkins is building, but belief doesn’t show up in the standings. Not yet. Milwaukee is 0-3 after losses to Washington, Chicago, and Philadelphia, and the path to that first win is looking less like a breakout and more like a cleanup job.
The biggest issue so far has been self-inflicted damage. Against the Bulls on Friday, the Bucks carried a slim lead into the final two minutes before letting it slip away.
That finish would have looked a lot different if Milwaukee had handled the easiest part of the night better: free throws. The Bucks went 14/26 at the line, a brutal 53.8%.
That kind of night matters even more for a team that may be at a talent disadvantage or, at best, on level ground most nights this season. When the margin is already thin, mistakes become the whole story. Milwaukee can’t afford to give games away and still expect to start stacking wins.
Turnovers have been just as costly. In all three losses, the Bucks have lost the turnover battle, giving it away 57 times while forcing only 36 opponent turnovers. They’re tied with Dallas at 19 lost turnovers per game, which ranks fourth-worst in the NBA.
The Philadelphia loss followed the same script in a different way. Milwaukee turned the ball over 22 times and still managed to get within three points with 2:02 left. The Sixers scored 26 points off those turnovers on Saturday, and trimming even a slice of that damage could have turned a close defeat into a real upset chance.
There’s reason to think the sloppiness can improve. Nobody in the Bucks rotation has been a sub-60% free throw shooter in recent NBA or NCAA seasons, so the ugly shooting night against Chicago looks more like an outlier than a warning sign.
The turnovers are a little more tied to how this group is trying to play. A lot of the early giveaways have come from teammates still learning the timing in Jenkins’ system, where passes are expected to find cutters near the paint. That area of the floor leaves very little room for error, and when the passer and cutter are even slightly off, the result looks messy fast.
Of course, not every turnover is about chemistry. Some are just bad decisions in transition or drives that get swallowed up by defenders. Still, the expectation is that the number should come down as Milwaukee gets more comfortable with the system and with one another.
The Bucks could also use more from Ryan Rollins and Myles Turner. Both were expected to matter in a big way, but both are shooting under 40% from the field. Jenkins even went with Kasparas Jakucionis and Kel'el Ware over them down the stretch against Philadelphia.
The schedule won’t make life easier anytime soon, with a gauntlet of expected playoff teams ahead. But over an 82-game season, chances come around. If Milwaukee cleans up the errors and gets more from Rollins and Turner, the first win under Jenkins should come before long.
In Other News...
Bucks Bench Roles Already Look Unsafe Under Taylor Jenkins
Taylor Jenkins is barely a week into his Bucks tenure, and he already showed how quickly the bench hierarchy can change. After Ousmane Dieng struggled through the first two games of the NBA season, Jenkins swapped him out for Nate Ament in the rotation for the third game, a sign that no reserve role is particularly secure this early.
Ament logged 10 minutes off the bench, while Dieng did not play in that game, leaving Milwaukee's forward rotation still very much in flux. Jenkins is expected to keep adjusting as he sorts out the group, and for players on the back end of the rotation, every opportunity already feels like one they have to earn all over again. [Read more 🡒]
Bucks Are Letting A Nate Ament Debate Grow Fast
Nate Aments early run in Milwaukee has been a small one, but it has already started a bigger conversation around the Bucks rotation. The 19-year-old rookie has appeared in only one game so far, and while the sample is tiny, there were enough flashes to suggest there may be something worth exploring. Taylor Jenkins has made it clear that minutes have to be earned, yet the Bucks are also working through roster issues at power forward that make every development decision feel a little more urgent.
Aments most encouraging early sign came on the defensive end, where he showed some promise despite his inexperience. With other young players already getting more consistent run, the question is less about whether he belongs in the long-term picture and more about how soon the Bucks can justify giving him a real chance to grow into it. For a team looking for answers in the frontcourt, that debate is getting louder by the day. [Read more 🡒]
Pacers Face A Big Early Test As Tyrese Haliburton Returns Home
The Pacers head into Milwaukee coming off a win over the Nets, and the matchup comes with an added wrinkle for Tyrese Haliburton. He has confirmed he will play despite the back-to-back, and the trip carries a little extra meaning since he is eager to compete in his home state. For a Bucks team still searching for its first win of the season, it is an early test that already has some pressure attached to it.
Milwaukee has plenty to sort out beyond the standings, starting with how it handles Indianas pace and playmaking while trying to steady its own early-season form. The Bucks have looked for signs of traction from their key pieces, and this game offers another chance to see whether the trends from the opening stretch begin to turn. With Haliburton in the building and both teams carrying different kinds of urgency, the night has the feel of an early checkpoint rather than just another regular-season stop. [Read more 🡒]