He’ll almost certainly never win it in real life, but this is a nice consolation prize
Time is a flat circle, life is a rubber band stretched ever tighter before it snaps, death, taxes, and Bobby Portis believing with his whole body and soul that he should bring Sixth Man of the Year glory to the Milwaukee Bucks. These are the few totems we can cling to in these confused times as reliable features of our daily experience. Fitting in its own way, then, that Bobby — who will almost assuredly never break through and win the award at the league level — has been voted as the sixth-most important player on the 2024-2025 Bucks.
There are two forces at work here: Bobby is a well-known commodity with all the strengths and flaws that entails, and he is also guaranteed minutes as the only viable bench big. His numbers have been surprisingly consistent year-over-year.
The only thing really seeing much of a shift across his time with the team is that three-point attempt rate which spiked in the bloom of the late Mike Budenholzer era. It probably isn’t a coincidence that it dropped back down this past season with a less structured offense in place under Adrian Griffin. In that situation, the Bobby of old who did a little of everything inside the arc reemerged. To his credit he was also highly efficient doing so, posting his second-best TS% as a pro (.581; only his first season in Milwaukee was better at .598).
Of course, all this good news is balanced out by the bits of bad that inevitably go with Bobby. Let’s tackle those same numbers as above, but from his playoff appearances as a Buck.
Like many Bucks, his three-point percentage has tended to take a one-way ticket to Hell the second games really start mattering. That was compounded post-title by the volume of threes he was taking (and missing) in those playoff runs. In the 2024 playoffs he almost quit taking threes entirely and tried to brute force his way to scoring thought 15.2 shot attempts a game in the Pacers series. Consequently, he also registered his highest USG% since becoming a Buck at 26.0%. His efficiency was subpar and, when you combine those two elements, it could make for a hard watch at times. When Portis was forced into a larger role he struggled to expand his game to the task. This needn’t be a problem heading forward so long as he can safely exist lower down the pecking order designed during the Bud years. But his penchant for shooting you out of games at the worst possible moments is something worth noting. Also, for the love of God please get LethalShooter away from Bobby.
Next: defense. I really don’t know what to say here. On/off doesn’t catch everything by any means, though the team was +5.3 in net rating with him off the floor v. on — driven in large part by the fact that the DRTG with Bobby playing averaged out to 116.0 (about bottom-third league-wide) while it improved to 111.2 without him (that’d be second-best in the NBA). There has never been a comfortable fit with Portis on that end of the floor. The ideal version of a defense that includes him would involve a modicum of switching to leverage the strength of multitool defenders around him. Thinking back, he “switched” “successfully” for a few minutes once in the title run? Maybe? As usual, I don’t think it is a motor or want-to issue here. Instead, I think recognizing when he is going to have to take over defensive duties from a wing or guard teammate doesn’t come naturally. Either his move to corral a new assignment happens too late for him to actually impede the ball-handler in any way or he tends to hedge over to such a degree that the roll man dive bombs the paint with next to no resistance.
His one-on-one defense isn’t stellar either. Portis can hold his own in a post-up or paint moment if things slow down thanks to his size. If the moment demands he read and react to the ball with a ton of moving bodies around, you might as well hope Giannis is there too in order to clean things up and salvage something. A world where Bobby will play at minimum 20 minutes a night without a doubt is one where the team has to either find ways to cover for a flawed defensive big (extremely difficult last season given the personnel, TBD on this one) or must score so many points that it doesn’t even matter. The latter strategy can work in the regular season, but it becomes nigh impossible in the playoffs.
My summary on Bobby is this: he is crucial to this team and his value cannot be ignored. There aren’t many bench scoring options as reliable as he is, and getting that scoring from a big is a tactical plus because it is harder for opponents to answer. In terms of competitive fire and openly brazen adoration of the city and franchise, he’s probably only second to Giannis Antetokounmpo. If he comes through at the right moment in the playoffs (especially at home), he can alter the entire complexion of a series on his own. Those pluses are leavened by lingering defensive concerns and his inefficient playoff scoring if there’s even one injury to a regular starter. Sixth-place in this exercise feels appropriate.
One more thing to note: Portis is set to make $12.6 million this year with a player option for $13.4 million next season. That is unbelievably good value for the team and was an extremely fortuitous deal when he originally signed it. If he makes it past this coming trade deadline, don’t be surprised when he goes looking for a pay rise commensurate with his contributions and relative financial sacrifice since becoming a Buck. Not a bad thing in and of itself, but something worth keeping in mind.
I know Bobby can be controversial, so I’m curious where you think he fits in the playoff rotation:
And then there were five! (Although I’m only giving you four voting options today)
Polls close at 8 AM (Central) tomorrow!