Rastall Ramblings: Bucks’ Playoff Absence Leaves Empty Feeling

Watching the first games of the NBA playoffs last weekend, there was a bit of empty feeling deep down knowing that I wouldn’t have the opportunity to be stressed out and infuriated by the Milwaukee Bucks getting themselves into some sort of postseason hijinks.

For the first time in a decade, the Bucks are not part of the conversation with the beginning of the NBA playoffs, ending a streak of nine straight postseason berths that was the second-longest in franchise history behind only a run of 12 straight from 1980 to 1991.

If the end of the Giannis Antetokounmpo era in Milwaukee really is approaching this offseason, this is a bitter but somewhat fitting bookend to his time here. After all, the Bucks’ 30-52 record this season marked their worst since a 15-win campaign in 2013-14 when Giannis was a rookie.

Since then, the ascent of the Bucks mirrored that of Antetokounmpo’s. As Giannis emerged as one of the great rags-to-riches stories in the history of sports by becoming one of the best players in the world, the Bucks went from a small-market afterthought to one of the premier franchises in the NBA over the last decade.

For those of us who were a bit too young to truly appreciate the Ray Allen/Glenn Robinson era, the “Own the Future” Bucks of the mid-2010s brought a jolt of excitement and a belief that perhaps the franchise could be something more than a team whose ceiling was a first-round exit.

Once Jason Kidd was replaced with Mike Budenholzer and Brook Lopez was brought it as a defensive anchor to that helped unlock the best defensive version of Giannis as he completed his ascent to an MVP-caliber player, a switch flipped. Suddenly, the Bucks were vaulted from plucky underdogs to bona fide title contenders.

The journey, of course, culminated in that magical run to championship glory in the summer of 2021. But the end of this playoff streak can even make you pine for the years where the Bucks bowed out in agonizing fashion.

There were the 2019 and 2022 losses to Toronto and Boston that felt like golden championship opportunities that slipped away. The embarrassing first-round flameouts against Miami in 2020 and 2023 that made Jimmy Butler an eternal Bucks boogeyman. The back-to-back exits to the Pacers where we never truly got to see Giannis and Damian Lillard team up in the playoffs.

There was a lot of heartbreak outside the 2021 title, but each year the Bucks were in the mix, and you were given the chance to believe something amazing might be in store. That excitement that builds throughout the regular season leading into the playoffs is one of the best feelings you can have as a fan, regardless of how it all ends.

That feeling was a distant memory this year. A flawed roster, nonstop chatter about the future of Giannis, injury issues, the team not even being near the play-in picture down the stretch and the existence of Doc Rivers all made for a maddening experience.

Now, all us fans can do is hope the franchise somehow pulls itself out of the spiral — whether it’s retooling around Giannis if he sticks around or building a path forward toward building a new contender with the assets they get in a Giannis trade.

In the meantime, all there is for now is reflecting on the memories of a better era of Bucks basketball that has come and gone.