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Milwaukee Bucks (7-0)
Our first repeat customer! Mike Budenholzer’s Bucks are rolling, man, opening the season with seven straight wins—that’s one more than the longest winning streak Milwaukee rolled up during the Jason Kidd era, if you’re keeping score at home—including a 15-point win over the previously undefeated Toronto Raptors. It’s tough to take too much from Monday’s win; superstars Giannis Antetokounmpo (concussion protocol) and Kawhi Leonard (scheduled rest) missed the game, as did key Raptors reserves OG Anunoby and Fred VanVleet. But Milwaukee still looked awfully good without Antetokounmpo, capable of distributing scoring responsibilities while making tactical shifts (in this case, leaning more on the size of Brook Lopez, Ersan Ilyasova, John Henson, and Thon Maker against a smaller-ball Raptors group) to apply pressure. Malcolm Brodgon and Eric Bledsoe attacked, first-round pick Donte DiVincenzo flashed potential, and the Giannis-less Bucks still went 10 deep without breaking a sweat. Impressive.
From the About to Get Scrooge McDuck–Rich file: Khris Middleton, who holds a $13 million player option for next season, is one of only 12 players averaging more than 20 points, five rebounds, three assists, and a steal per game. He’s also making almost 55 percent of his 3-pointers while taking more than seven a night, which is (a) extremely good, and (b) the kind of thing that will only further cement his bona fides as the NBA’s best player that nobody outside of Basketball Twitter ever talks about. (That’s all right, though, because we talk about him incessantly.)
Plenty of ink has been spilled on the Bucks’ offensive overhaul under Budenholzer, but the strides they’ve made on the other end might matter more for their chances of turning this hot start into a real shot at a Finals berth. The more conservative scheme Budenholzer imported to replace the frenetic high-hedging under Kidd has produced way fewer shots at the rim from opponents (only Detroit’s preventing those better, according to Cleaning the Glass) and way more shots from midrange (only the Nets, Pistons, and Jazz have forced more). The result has been across-the-board improvement: Milwaukee ranks first in effective field goal percentage allowed, second in overall defensive efficiency and fast-break points allowed, and in the top 10 in second-chance points allowed, opponents’ free throw rate, defensive rebounding rate, and points conceded in the paint.
That defensive profile might change a bit; it’s probably not reasonable to expect opponents to keep shooting 28.8 percent from 3-point range. But for the most part, the Bucks are giving up the shots they want, contesting them well, grabbing the rebounds, and slicing the opposition to ribbons once they’ve got the ball. If they keep this up, they’ll be a threat to do a hell of a lot more than just grab a top-four seed in the East.
It's crazy how much of an upgrade Budenholzer is from Kidd.
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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul
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Hawger! Nice to have you back. 
