Milwaukee Bucks Q and A with Behind the Buck Pass’ Joe Dexter

To preview this evening’s preseason tilt between your Minnesota Timberwolves and the Milwaukee Bucks in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, we’ve swapped questions with Joe Dexter of FanSided’s Bucks site, Behind the Buck Pass.

Our questions and Joe’s answers are below. Check out the other side of the Q & A by clicking here.

DWW: Is Giannis Antetokounmpo really going to play point guard under the tutelage of Jason Kidd?

Dexter: If there is a head coach crazy enough to try it in this league, it’s Jason Kidd. He knows that if he wants any chance of improving on Milwaukee’s 15 wins from a year ago, he’ll need to get the ball into the Greek Freak’s hands as much as possible.

On Tuesday against the Cavs, the youngster really struggled to grasp the finer points of being a floor general. The one thing we know though is that there is nothing to lose.  And there isn’t a point guard on the roster that Kidd has fully bought into. Until this team drafts of lands a point guard that Jason Kidd fully believes in (Ricky Rubio swap anyone?), Antetekounmpo is going to see some time as the tallest one ever to play the position.

When the season is over, less than 1/4 of his minutes will come from the point guard position. What will be more valuable for his growth will be playing at Small forward or shooting guards in big lineups. As great of an athlete he is, playing with a traditional point guard like Kendall Marshall will help improve his game more than actually playing the position. If he can develop his pick and roll game, and add a dynamite mid-range game, he’ll be  star in this league.

DWW: What are your expectations for Jabari Parker this season as he’s been hyped as “NBA ready”?

Dexter:Don’t you love when cliches stick? Not only do I expect him to be “NBA ready”, if he doesn’t look like Carmelo Anthony on every possession, then I am dropping my belief in him.

Okay — all kidding aside, there is a reason Vegas has him favorited as the rookie of the year. What we’ve seen from him in the preseason is a great understanding of his positioning on the floor. He really does a good job of using that understanding to better select his offensive game. One advantage he will have is the mismatch he will create at power forward.

For any rookie, true success comes to players that don’t force shots and make plays. So far in preseason, Parker has shown he will have no trouble doing that during his first season as a member of the Milwaukee Bucks.

DWW: What is the general consensus among Bucks fans surrounding Minnesota native Nate Wolters? Will Kidd give him minutes after a strong rookie season?

Dexter: Nate Wolters will see minutes under Jason Kidd because he is just the type of guard that his new head coach loves. It might not be the 20 minutes a game he saw last year, but he has already proved in the preseason that he has a role.

On Tuesday, Kidd put him in the back court with Jerryd Bayless, and the two wreaked havoc defensively. If the Bucks have any plan of getting up and down the floor, than Nate is going to get to see the floor. His handles have been on point this preseason, and he has enough spark in his game off the bench that he could play anywhere around the arc. He and Bayless seem to play well off each other and I wouldn’t be surprised to see them as the first guards off the bench on some nights.

At heart, Wolters is a facilitator and on this roster it has bought him a chance at the very least to get minutes early in the season until the coaching staff finds a rotation that they buy into.

DWW: What is your prediction for the Bucks record at the end of 2014-15 season?

Dexter: The Bucks are going to lost a lot of games this season, but there is no reason to believe that they can’t compete night in and night out. Vegas has this team at 23 wins and I have them slated to finish 28th in the league with 25 victories. With a young team, you just never know. They could catch fire late in the season and win games they shouldn’t. If General Manager John Hammond trades away veterans that are huge part of the team chemistry, it wouldn’t be crazy to think this team only wins 15 games again.

When it comes to wins, I really believe the wildcard factor is head coach Jason Kidd. We might of seen him lead a team in Brooklyn last year, but now he will be mentoring and teaching a group, instead of babysitting a team full of grizzled veterans. How he handles that teaching role will become a factor in close games that should be victories and wins that could of been losses.

DWW: In your mind, what would equate to a “successful season” for this Bucks squad?

Dexter: If you were to look at the fan mindset of Bucks fans and Timberwolves fans, I’d imagine they’d be very similar. Wins and losses don’t matter in the grand scheme of things. In fact, I’d have no problem with the Bucks putting themselves in the hunt for the top pick in the draft. All I want to see is for all of the cornerstone pieces of the franchise to stay healthy and for the core of this team to improve throughout the season. With the coaching staff getting a better understanding of the future of the franchise and how to best emphasize the talents of the players of the future on the roster.