The Milwaukee Bucks are a topic of conversation heading into the to final stretch of the regular season.
After being viewed as a ‘crisis team’ after a horrendous start, the Milwaukee Bucks are heading for the playoffs, with the real questions now relating to how far they can go.
ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins made a claim that it will be a failed season if the Bucks do not at least reach the Eastern Conference Finals.
But this may not be easy, with his podcast co-host Channing Frye reeling off a list of problems with the team, despite the trade for Kyle Kuzma, that could yet energize the team in the latter stages of the season.
Speaking to ESPN’s Get Up, NBA Insider Brian Windhorst was asked if it was ‘fact or fiction’ to define the Bucks season through the lens of their post-season succes.
Windhorst disagreed with Perkins’ assessment, arguing that there are teams in front of them in the Eastern Conference who have more right to be frustrated if they do not perform.
He explained: “This is fiction. This is disrespecting the teams that are in front of them. The Celtics are awesome. The Cavs are awesome. The Knicks are having a great season.
“They are closer to being out of the Play-In than they are to the top three at this point.
“Giannis is having a great year, but the Bucks are a late stage contender. They’ve been contending for titles for the last eight or nine years.”
During the segment, Windhorst says that despite speculation over his future, Giannis Antetokounmpo‘s full focus is on Milwaukee.
He said: “When you talk to people around the bucks, there’s no sense that Giannis has unrest. He is 100 percent focused every day on this team.
“He has shown no signs of being anything but trying to pour everything into it, and I think, other than that, you’re making a projection.”
ESPN expert Shams Charania warns the Bucks do need to be a little worried, having failed to make the Western Conference Finals since the year they won the title in 2021.
“They do need to get back to that level to show Giannis they are building something sustainable, building something long-term.
“Every summer when Giannis looks around and he looks at the Bucks’ current roster, he looks at sustained, long term winning, where will he be able to find that he has sent publicly on the record?
“If he feels like that’s not attainable anymore in Milwaukee, he will look elsewhere.”
