4 Goals For Milwaukee Bucks In 2022-23 NBA Season

The Milwaukee Bucks are getting ready to tip off their 2022-23 NBA season with big goals in mind. Gone are the days when making the playoffs was considered a success. The new era is championship or bust.

Milwaukee returns just about everyone from last year—a season that ended prematurely, at least partially, due to a Khris Middleton injury in the postseason. The Bucks could not overcome that setback, falling to the Boston Celtics in the second round of the postseason.

The whole gang is back again this year with revenge on their mind. Here are four goals they have for the upcoming season.

Stay Healthy

Mike Budenholzer has prioritized health since arriving in Milwaukee five years ago. Regular season standings and records be damned, his first concern is for the health of his players.

After seeing his minutes per game increase in each of his first five seasons, Giannis Antetokounmpo’s playing time dropped in Budenholzer’s first season at the helm. He went from 36.7 minutes per game in 2017-18 to 32.8 in 2018-19. That number dropped again the following year and has never risen above 33 minutes per game since. It’s that regular season sacrifice that has set Milwaukee up for deep postseason runs since Budenholzer’s arrival.

That will be the case again, as Milwaukee trudges through the regular season with their sights set solely on playoff success. Budenholzer will do what he has to: Be prepared for limited minutes, games off, and the works.

Player Development

The Bucks have taken heat from fans for not developing draft picks in this era. However, player development does not have to solely come from young players.

We’ve seen several veterans thrive and improve since arriving in Milwaukee. Budenhozler turned Brook Lopez from a defensive liability to a perennial All-Defensive candidate. Pat Connaughton signed with the Bucks as a lottery ticket to earn a spot at the end of the bench and has since developed into a key rotational player on a championship team. Bobby Portis has taken leaps with the Bucks and is set to reach another level.

Sure, Milwaukee hasn’t developed rookies into rotational players or stars. That’s hard to do, especially when you’re drafting in the bottom half (at best) every year. That doesn’t mean they haven’t been advancing their players’ skills.

Regain Defensive Dominance

One of the most significant changes Budenholzer implemented upon his arrival was the drop coverage in pick-and-roll defense. This helped the Bucks jump from a middle-of-the-pack defense with the previous regime to an elite defensive unit in his first two-to-three years.

The dominance has been slipping lately. After ranking second and first, respectively, in points allowed per possession according to Cleaning the Glass during Budenholzer’s first two years, they finished 10th and 12th the last two years.

Eric Nehm at The Athletic wrote an excellent article detailing a change the Bucks have already made to regain their defensive dominance. It’s had mixed results in the preseason, but you can bet your bottom dollar they’ll stick with it and work out the kinks throughout the regular season. Milwaukee relies on its defense to carry an inconsistent offense through the postseason. It needs to find a way to regain control on that end of the court.

Win the NBA Championship (Duh!)

What is Milwaukee doing here if not to win an NBA Championship?

The Bucks basked in the glory following the 2020-21 season and want it more than ever. Antetokounmpo talked about watching the Golden State Warriors championship parade and how he already misses that feeling. You can bet this whole team is going to return as motivated as ever.

The biggest factors that will play into this aspiration is health. If Milwaukee can be healthy in the postseason, they’ll have as good a chance to win as anyone. Joe Ingles factors into that equation as well. He can provide spacing and playmaking on offense—something the Bucks lack outside of their big three. He also brings an edge the team has missed since PJ Tucker. Ingles is a competitor through and through, and won’t back down from anyone. The rest of the Bucks must adopt that attitude.