3 reasons behind Giannis Antetokounmpo-led Milwaukee Bucks' horrendous start to the season

Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks are off to a poor start to the 2024-25 NBA season. The Bucks dropped to 1-2 on Sunday night after losing to the Brooklyn Nets 115-102 at the Barclays Center. They had lost to the Chicago Bulls on Friday after beating the Philadelphia 76ers in their season opener.

There was a lot of optimism for the Bucks entering the campaign despite a quiet offseason. Antetokounmpo was coming in healthy after missing the postseason with an injury. Damian Lillard also had a full summer to prepare after a tumultuous year when he requested a trade out of the Portland Trail Blazers.

However, the Bucks struggled against the Bulls and Nets, two teams they were expected to beat. What went wrong in both games, and why is Milwaukee having a tough time against teams with supposedly lesser talent than them? Let's look at the reasons.

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Three reasons behind the Milwaukee Bucks' poor start to the season

3 reasons behind the Milwaukee Bucks' bad start to the season. (Photo: IMAGN)

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$1 Poor rebounding and lack of hustle

The Milwaukee Bucks were outplayed by the Chicago Bulls and the Brooklyn Nets. There were times when the Bucks were just ball-watching and getting outhustled by their opponents. The Nets, for example, outrebounded the Bucks 47-43 despite having smaller players on the court.

Brooklyn had 12 offensive rebounds, leading to 21 second-chance points, which was the difference-maker in Milwaukee's second defeat of the season. The Bucks have size in Giannis Antetokounmpo, Brook Lopez and Bobby Portis but don't have additional depth.

Liam Robbins is a rookie, while Taurean Prince, Tyler Smith, Pat Connaughton, MarJon Beauchamp and Chris Livingston are undersized forwards.

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#2 Bulls and the Nets had the youthful advantage

One advantage the Chicago Bulls and the Brooklyn Nets had over the Milwaukee Bucks was their youth. They are two of the youngest teams in the league with some good young cores.

Chicago is led by Josh Giddey, Coby White, Patrick Williams and Ayo Dosunmu. Veterans Zach LaVine, Lonzo Ball and Nikola Vucevic are still younger than the Bucks' best players.

Meanwhile, the Nets have a handful of young players like Cam Johnson, Cam Thomas, Nic Claxton, Noah Clowney, Jalen Wilson and Ziaire Williams. Their vets are Ben Simmons, Dorian Finney-Smith and Dennis Schroder, who are all under 31.

The Milwaukee Bucks have had troubles with younger teams last season, which is one of the reasons why they lost to the Indiana Pacers in the first round. Granted that Giannis Antetokounmpo was not playing, but the Bucks still had a chance with Damian Lillard at the helm.

The franchise failed to get younger this offseason despite the need for it, especially in a conference full of up-and-coming teams like the Bulls, Nets and Pacers plus the Orlando Magic, Cleveland Cavaliers, Toronto Raptors, Charlotte Hornets and the Detroit Pistons.

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#3 The Milwaukee Bucks have no identity

Giannis Antetokounmpo perfectly explained what's wrong with the Milwaukee Bucks, in his postgame press conference on Sunday night. Antetokounmpo knows that the Bucks are struggling because they haven't found their identity just yet.

"Right now, we don't have an identity," Antetokounmpo said, according to Sports Illustrated.

"How are we going to win the game? Are we going to defend? 48 minutes. Are we going to move the ball for 48 minutes? Are we going to attack? ... We've gotta find an identity. We don't have that right now."

It's still too early in the season to panic, but for an old team like the Milwaukee Bucks, they need to figure things out quickly. The Eastern Conference might not be stacked like the West, but it's full of young teams. The OKC Thunder gave the league a blueprint on how to win with a young core.

Despite the team's worrying start, Antetokounmpo sounded calm when speaking to reporters. He has been here before, and the Bucks have a quality roster despite their age. Maybe some fans will start blaming coach Doc Rivers, who had a poor start in Milwaukee after taking over from Adrian Griffin midway through last season.

Rivers is one of the most successful coaches in the league in the regular season, although his teams generally tend to struggle in the playoffs. He has one NBA championship, winning it all in 2008 with the Boston Celtics.

However, Rivers hasn't made it back to the NBA Finals after leaving Boston. He failed to get out of the second round with the LA Clippers despite having a talented core of players like Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan.

The same thing happened in his three seasons in Philadelphia even though he had Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons and James Harden on his roster. At the end of the day, fans are likely to blame Rivers if the Bucks continue their poor start to the campaign.