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George Hill really was a fantastic bench player last year pre-bubble.

Maybe the Augustine/Forbes combo can make up for it but so far they’ve fallen a little short of how great Hill really was in his limited stints last year.  

That said, even Hill was shaky when he first joined the Bucks in Spring 2019, it wasn’t until the 2019 playoffs that he really got comfortable.  

@Packdog posted:

Portis is looking like a really nice addition. The rest of the bench looks pretty inconsistent right now, Forbes is really up and down and DJA has had some ugly moments. It's early so hopefully  just need time to sort their roles.

The Bucks are better in their starting lineup and in the stretch 4 role off the bench than they were last year.

DDV gives them a lot more flexibility in the starting 5 than Matthews did. If Matthews didn't hit from 3, he was a complete liability on offense.

Holiday is obviously an upgrade over Bledsoe.

Portis has been an upgrade over the minutes last year from Marvin Williams/Ilyasova.

They have to sort two things out as they go. They need an 8 man rotation for the playoffs and the first 6 are obvious (the starters plus Portis). I think Connaughton is fine as your 8th/9th guy, but not as your first guard off the bench.

So who settles into the George Hill role as the first guard off the bench. Hill was perfect for that since he was a very good defender who could hit 3s. Forbes and Augustin can hit 3s but are really weak defensively (B-grade offense, D-grade defense). Craig is probably an even better defender than Hill, but he's a 32% career 3 point shooter (A-grade defense, D-grade offense). Is the answer really Pat Connaughton (C-grade offense, C-grade defense)? He's the best combination even though he's not great at either side of the ball.

There is also the very specific issue of who plays the backup 5 if the Bucks end up in a playoff series against the Sixers. Last year, Robin Lopez was basically on the roster for this specific purpose. They have no answer to this right now other than putting Giannis on Embiid which is an issue in terms of foul trouble. I don't think Portis can impede Embiid much. Andre Drummond ate them alive and Embiid is a much better version of Drummond with range out to the 3 point line.

@fightphoe93 posted:

George Hill really was a fantastic bench player last year pre-bubble.

Maybe the Augustine/Forbes combo can make up for it but so far they’ve fallen a little short of how great Hill really was in his limited stints last year.  

That said, even Hill was shaky when he first joined the Bucks in Spring 2019, it wasn’t until the 2019 playoffs that he really got comfortable.  

I just posted the same thoughts simultaneously. Augustin/Forbes liabilities on defense are a real issue.

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