Bucks miss Brook Lopez badly in area where other bigs aren’t performing

The Milwaukee Bucks having a rebounding problem is nothing new to fans. They have suffered through the frustration all season. The Bucks go one and done on their own end, then allow a deluge of second-chance points to their opponents. 

It’s one area where, ironically enough, the team misses the contributions of Brook Lopez. Never an elite rebounder, the former Bucks center nonetheless mastered proper box-out technique to create rebounding chances for himself and teammates. That’s an edge that doesn’t show up in his own box score, but it has manifestly hurt Milwaukee as a team. 

BTBP team expert Dalton Sell detailed his impact during an appearance on WTMJ. 

“They are definitely missing Brook Lopez in that regard,” Sell said of the group’s persistent rebounding flaws. “They were absolutely justified in trying to upgrade with Myles Turner, but he’s not that kind of interior presence. He’s not down low like Brook was. I know Brook was mostly out on the 3-point line, but … you’re missing out on a lot of those box outs.”

Lopez didn’t rack up individual rebounds, but he made his presence felt 

It would be easy to cite his rebounding numbers to argue against his rebounding impact, but it’s also somewhat superficial in this context. While Lopez averaged only five boards per game last season, and never more than 6.7 per game in his Bucks career, his physical presence in the paint created better rebounding opportunities for everyone around him.

With Turner, the roster has lost some of Lopez’ technique and savvy, walling off would-be offensive rebounders to give himself and other Bucks defenders a chance. Lopez also spent a lot of time out on the perimeter, but when he did end up inside, he provided a boost in team rebounding oomph. 

Even superficially speaking, Turner is rebounding at the lowest per-minute rate of his career. Part of that, Sell notes, is his correspondingly low volume of 2-point attempts, limiting his time around the basket. Part of it could come from technical soundness and savvy. Most terrifying, it could be the symptom of an athletic decline.

It’s not just a Turner thing. It’s a team issue. In Monday’s embarrassing defeat to Boston, the Bucks lost the offensive rebounding battle 19 to 9. The Celtics captured 35 percent of their own misses. Milwaukee reeled in under 20 percent of its own. Unless you’re going to shoot 80 percent from the field, that kind of gap will decide many games right there.

Bucks’ shortcomings on the boards are a collective flaw 

Doc Rivers’ emphasis on wanting the team to get back on defense in transition, another sore spot Sell points out, naturally suppresses their opportunities to crash the glass. That’s only part of the issue, of course. Jericho Sims is an outstanding rebounder, a much better one than Lopez, thanks to his athleticism. But he can also get caught napping when it comes to positioning, relying instead on his pure hops to go up and snatch loose boards.

Finally, having Giannis Antetokounmpo back should help a lot, but the Bucks have struggled on the glass even with Giannis on the court. Coming off a lengthy absence due to a calf injury, he might not have the same vertical explosiveness in the early stages of his return. 

The Greek Freak won’t be able to save them single-handedly. Similar to Turner, Portis’ overall effectiveness as a rebounder is down as well. Lapses in focus continue to plague the Bucks late in the season. Doing the little things has been a gargantuan challenge all year long.

All that is not to say that the Bucks were wrong to move on from Lopez, or that he is a better backup than Sims. What they are missing is his technique and physical solidity in securing chances on the glass. They can be better than they have been, but the rebounding problem isn’t going away.