When he first joined the Milwaukee Bucks nearly two and a half years ago, it was easy to imagine how Eric Bledsoe would catalyze his new squad.
Chief among them was how his defensive abilities would slot right into a Bucks team that prioritized the defensive end to their overall success under then-head coach Jason Kidd. Bledsoe’s arrival alone didn’t help save Kidd’s job during the 2017-18 season, but it was Kidd’s successor, Mike Budenholzer, that identified just how to unlock Bledsoe defensively, aking to his early career heights on that end.
The logic, at the time, was the decreasing success Bledsoe experienced over time with the Phoenix Suns and spate of knee injuries and surgeries during that span negatively impacted his elite abilities on that side of the ball.