Are The Bucks a Good Bad Team?

Plus, the merits of embracing the suck

The above headline may seem a bit, well, dumb, at least to some — that’s some unintentional poetry, actually. But stay with me here, because I’m going somewhere with this.

Over the Milwaukee Bucks’ first 12 games, they’ve gotten off to the worst start in the franchise’s past decade of play. Going 4-8 to start the season — which is better than 2013’s 2-10 record but is the worst in the Giannis Antetokoumpo era — has made many analysts, fans, and pundits begin to go full doomsday on Milwaukee, with rumors beginning to swirl around Giannis’ perceived unhappiness with the franchise.

This, of course, is not how it was supposed to go. Bringing in Damian Lillard was supposed to herald in the most lethal pick and roll in recent history and bring about another championship run. That hasn’t happened quite yet, and with the terrible start to the season, it got me thinking; are the Bucks a good bad team or just a bad bad team? The answer is a little complex, and it matters more than you might think.