The Milwaukee Bucks Are Betting on Déjà Vu
We live in a world where “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.” The Milwaukee organization is embracing the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” ideology, making changes as they go (and we’re starting with the head coach who has been gone three and a half seasons). But the biggest adjustment has to be in the identity of that identity.
In the early 2000s, the Milwaukee Bucks tried to create an identity that was based on their historic team’s achievements (or perceived achievements). They did what they had to do (or did what they had to do) to build a team around their strengths, and they made changes as they went. The end result was a team that was as close as anything you’d ever seen in the history of the NBA, winning four championships and making the playoffs for the first time in 35 years. That team, the 1995-96 Bucks, went 15-65 over the course of 17 years, losing 101 games, and a lot of that was on the back of a front line that was loaded with talent who just never really got a chance to show off their potential.
The current Bucks are built on a different kind of philosophy. They have an idea of what they want to get out of a team, of who they want to be, and then they go back to basics and look at what they have on their roster that makes them unique. In the early 2000s, they were trying to put together a team that was built around their historic achievements on the court. This year, they’ll be building around their identity on the court. And if they’re very lucky, they’ll be able to build a team around their identity off the court, too.
The Bucks are a team that has looked very uncharacteristic over the past three and a half seasons. They’ll play hard and
