After finishing the 2013-14 season with the NBA’s worst record at 15-67, the Milwaukee Bucks were in need of a turnaround, and it all started with the addition of head coach Jason Kidd.
It was a season of ups and downs, but at the end of Jason’s first campaign at the helm, the Bucks had accomplished a lot. Milwaukee logged nearly three times as many wins as the year prior and came through with a strong showing in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs—but most importantly, the Bucks established themselves as a legitimate threat going forward.
“You look at us right now. … Our core is pretty rich, pretty deep and pretty young,” Coach Kidd said. “The future is bright.”
The Bucks finished at 41-41 and as the No. 6 seed in the East, and with an average age of just 23.7, they entered the postseason as the youngest team in the league still playing. With young players like Giannis Antetokounmpo, Michael Carter-Williams, Khris Middleton and Jabari Parker leading the way, Jason was able to establish a winning culture in Milwaukee almost immediately.
Parker was the most pleasant surprise early on. The No. 2 overall pick was averaging 12.3 points and 5.5 rebounds per game, helping to fuel Milwaukee to a 13-12 record, but in that 25th game, just before the team matched its win total from last year, he suffered a season-ending ACL injury.
“Jabari was playing at a very high level for us,” Jason said after the injury. “I thought he was doing everything as a rookie, being able to play both ends and help the team win.”
While the young former Duke star will make his return, he’ll slide back into a lineup that saw several other stars emerge, including Middleton, who established himself as the go-to clutch scorer for the Bucks.
Middleton averaged a career-high 13.4 points per game this season, while averaging a shade under 16 points per game in the postseason, knocking down several big-time shots along the way. He becomes a restricted free agent this offseason, and he hopes to return to be a part of what Coach Kidd is building in Milwaukee.
“I got here, nobody really knew what to expect,” Middleton said. “We had a terrible season, then this year I feel like we found our foundation of what we can be and what we can become…I feel like we have a great young team going in the right direction. Would love to be a part of that here.”
On Dec. 29, the Bucks avenged a season-opening overtime loss to the Charlotte Hornets, topping that squad 104-94 in overtime to give them win No. 16—eclipsing last season’s win total before the New Year.
From that win until the All-Star break, the Bucks began to hit an excellent stride, going 15-7, including an 8-1 mark in the nine games ahead of the break. But then came the trade deadline, and Milwaukee parted ways with its top scorer, point guard Brandon Knight, and added the reigning Rookie of the Year, Michael Carter-Williams.
That shakeup disrupted the chemistry Milwaukee had built throughout the opening stretch of the season. So while many squads were scrambling for playoff spots and seeding, the Bucks were in a mini-rebuilding stage. That, of course, brought some road bumps, including 13 losses in 16 games.
The Bucks had gone eight games above .500, but with just four games left in the regular season, they found themselves dangerously close to losing seeding in the East playoff race at 38-40.
But then, the changes began to stick. Milwaukee reeled off thee straight wins before dropping the final game of the season, 105-100, to the Boston Celtics to finish at an even 41-41.
That earned them the No. 6 seed and a matchup with their nearby rival, the third-seeded Chicago Bulls, in the first round.
The Bucks captured just one win in four games against the Bulls during the regular season, but that win came in their most recent meeting, on April 1, giving the squad confidence going into that postseason series.
However, with the return of star point guard Derrick Rose, the outstanding performances from the league’s Most Improved Player in Jimmy Butler, and the play of big men Pau Gasol and Joakim Noah—the Bulls were too tough to beat, taking the first three games to put Milwaukee on the brink of elimination.
But even in the losses, the Bucks remained confident, much thanks to their ability to play close in all three games—and particularly in Game 3’s overtime loss. Then in Game 4, the Bucks finally had some luck swing their way.
After a back-and-forth affair, Milwaukee came through in a stunner, when Jared Dudley found Jerryd Bayless under the hoop on an inbound for a game-winning layup at the buzzer. When the series returned to Chicago’s United Center for Game 5, many figured it to be over—but Jason’s squad wasn’t finished.
In a testament to the team’s growth over the year, and even during the short series with Chicago, MCW turned in 22 points and eight assists, and Middleton tallied 21, as the Bucks won Game 5 on the road, making it a 3-2 series.
“We haven’t changed anything. Our whole thing is about playing hard. That is how we are built,” Jason said after the Game 5 win. “We’re not playing for the people; we’re playing for each other. We just go out and play our type of basketball. Since Game 1 we felt we’ve gotten better.”
However, in Game 6, the Bucks were out of gas, and the Bulls exploded out to a big lead, before cruising to a 120-66 win, ending Milwaukee’s season.
While that loss was a disheartening way to end a promising campaign, Jason was far from deterred, and he remains eternally optimistic about where the Bucks can go next year.
“My thought after the game was I wanted to congratulate the guys on a great year,” J-Kidd said. “Not just a great series, but a great year for putting themselves in this position. The second (thing) is to learn from this situation and use it….I don’t want to say for motivation for the summer, but for them to get better because they’re not a secret anymore and they’ve got to get better if they want to compete against the best.”
