Milwaukee Bucks: 3 Players that disappointed this season

During the 2018-19 regular season, Milwaukee rose to greatness in just a matter of 82 games. They finished with a league-best 60-22 (0.732) win-loss record and were top contenders to bag an NBA Finals berth this year.

Their postseason runs were as dominant as everybody had expected. Sweeping Detroit in the first round followed by getting rid of the ultra-talented Celtics squad in just five games in order to schedule an East Finals meeting with the second seed Raptors. Everything was going as planned for Giannis and his Bucks until Kawhi caught fire and led the Raps to four straight wins after an initial 0-2 hole in the series.

Heading into Game 3, Milwaukee had lost just one game in the playoffs and were clear favourites to lead the LeBron-less East in the coming future. They were in a perfect position to make an NBA Finals appearance for the first time since 1974 and now all of a sudden, they're gone.

No doubt the team was brimming with quality talent and if the franchise could manage to run it back with the same squad again next year, good things await for the mean streets of Milwaukee.

However, there were some players who just didn't quite live up to the level of basketball that the Bucks were playing on a consistent basis. Let's take a look at the three most disappointing individual players during Milwaukee's 2018-19 campaign.

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#1 George Hill

George Hill was the 26th overall pick back in 2008.

Hill was traded to the Bucks in December of 2018 and ended up coming off the bench in 47 regular season games. With an average playtime of over 20 minutes per contest, the 32-year-old averaged 6.8 points (dipping from his 10.8 ppg with the Cavs the year prior), 2.6 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game.

His three-point shooting plummeted to an unacceptable 28% during the regular season as he shot 42% overall (lowest of his career) from the field. Hill scored in single digits in ten of his last 15 regular season games wearing a Bucks jersey.

The American's contribution saw a welcome rise in the playoffs as he averaged 11.5 ppg in the 15 games Bucks played as he saw increased minutes (26.3) down the stretch. But his impact was never big enough to save them from losing four in a row.

“Of course there is a sadness, but we had a good chance to go to the finals and that’s why I feel super excited about the direction Milwaukee has taken. I am happy about all this,”, admitted the Bucks' backup point guard.

#2 Ersan Ilyasova

This was Ilyasova's third stint with the Bucks franchise

After being drafted 36th overall by Milwaukee back in 2005, the 6-foot-10 Turk played for a bunch of teams before signing back with the Bucks in July of 2018. He missed a stretch of games early on after breaking his nose during practice in the month of December.

During the 2018-19 regular season, Ersan appeared in 67 games (7 of which he started) and scored an average 6.8 points per game - which turned out to be his lowest production with any team since his rookie year (minimum 50 games played).

Other aspects of his game exhibited averages of 4.5 rebounds, 0.8 assists, 0.5 steals and 0.3 blocks per game, clearly falling short of the league-leading Bucks standards.

He couldn't amp up his offence during the postseason as well, shooting a subpar 30% from beyond the arc and 43% (in around 5.5 shot attempts per game) from the field. This was the 6th playoff appearance of his career, and his 6.8 ppg along the 15 games was the lowest thus far.

#3 Nikola Mirotic

Mirotic was traded to the Bucks via a three-team trade in February.

Landing Nikola Mirotic was a huge trade deadline steal for the Bucks as they geared up for a deep postseason run. He was averaging 16.7 points per game on 37% shooting from deep in New Orleans when Milwaukee caught hold of him.

During the 14 regular season games (3 of which he started in) he played with his new team, the 27-year-old averaged just 11.6 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game. This was his lowest regular season production since his Chicago stint back in 2016-17.

When the Bucks needed help on the offensive end during the playoffs, Mirotic's three-point shooting conversion dropped to an uncharacteristic 28% across the 14 games. He scored just 9.5 points (lower than his career playoff average) on an average despite playing over 21 minutes per game during Milwaukee's mighty postseason run.