The system Budenholzer installed upon his arrival placed a huge priority on protecting the basket, and, thanks largely to the combined efforts of Lopez and Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Bucks were able to do so to a near-historic degree.

Opponents shoot significantly less frequently at the rim and from floater range when he's out there, and no player has had a bigger effect on the frequency of long mid-rangers his team coaxes (a 6.4% uptick with him on the court), according to Cleaning the Glass.Īs they've done a few times throughout the Budenholzer era, the Bucks came into this season with a broad new schematic mandate - one that yet again put Lopez's abilities front and center. His presence completely transforms Milwaukee's defensive shot profile. Lopez is blocking a league-high three shots a game, but as ever, his impact is as much about the shots he prevents from happening as it is about the ones he alters or swats away. Your browser does not support the video tag. Look how quickly he's able to get off the ground on his second jump here, allowing him to deter Dejounte Murray's layup and recover in time to block Clint Capela's dunk attempt off Murray's lay-down pass: He's still seemingly able to bounce around like a young man (albeit one who was never particularly explosive to begin with). He knows how to let his size do the work around the basket, which means he rarely leaves his feet before he has to. Lopez, though, has long been one of the league's most patient and intuitive practitioners of verticality. For a rim-protector, taking a long time to get off the ground significantly narrows the margin for error when it comes to timing shot contests. The creakier a player gets, the longer it takes him to get off the ground. One of the chief worries about aging big men is load time. Lopez has arguably been the biggest driver of the team's success on that side of the ball they've allowed 20.4 fewer points per 100 possessions with him on the floor, per Cleaning the Glass. The Bucks are 7-0 despite the absence of Khris Middleton because they once again own the best defensive rating in the league. Well, seven games into the new season, Lopez's interior defense somehow looks more imposing than ever. He returned in time for the postseason and helped that defense morph back into one of the NBA's top units, but there was justifiable uncertainty over his ability to sustain his level of play. With him sidelined for all but 13 regular-season games, the defense that had been the best in basketball for much of the previous three years slumped to 14th in points allowed per possession. That's why there was a tinge of worry for the team entering a campaign in which Lopez will turn 35 with about 30,000 NBA minutes on his 280-pound body and a back surgery that cost him nearly all of the 2021-22 campaign.

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