The new coach brings a winning resume to a rebuilt roster, so the fair measuring stick this season is growth rather than a playoff push.
The Milwaukee Bucks did not hire Taylor Jenkins to chase a playoff spot this season, and the standings will not tell the full story of his first year.
Jenkins took the job in April after the team moved on from Doc Rivers, who went 97-103 across three seasons, and the roster he inherited barely resembles the one he will run in October.
Milwaukee finished 32-50 last season, missed the playoffs after nine straight trips, and then sent Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis to Miami in a deal agreed in June and completed on July 6.
The return centered on Tyler Herro, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kel'el Ware and Kasparas Jakucionis plus a pile of draft picks, and on draft night the front office added Brayden Burries at No. 10 and Nate Ament at No. 13 with a pick that came from the Heat.
The roster turned over almost completely, and nobody in the front office expects a playoff push in year one.
Why Wins Are the Wrong Measuring Stick
Jenkins won 250 games against 214 losses across six seasons in Memphis, more than any coach in Grizzlies history, and he made the playoffs three times before he was let go in March 2025.
A coach with that background did not return to Milwaukee, where he was an assistant in 2018-19, expecting to win big right away.
ESPN reported that his player development work and culture building made him the Bucks' top target, and an honest look at this new-look group shows why those skills fit this moment.
Memphis needed only two years under Jenkins to become a playoff team, and that timeline, not this season's win total, is the template worth keeping in mind.
The Young Core Sets the Bar
Herro gives Jenkins the closest thing to a proven scorer, and the story writes itself because he grew up just outside Milwaukee and made the All-Star team in 2025.
He played only 33 games last season after September foot surgery, so keeping him healthy is the first box the new coach has to check.
Jaquez arrives after averaging 15.4 points per game and finishing second in Sixth Man of the Year voting, and Ware and Ryan Rollins are already being talked about as the two best bets for a leap this season.
The rookies round out the list, with Burries viewed by league insiders as one of the biggest steals of the draft and Ament giving Milwaukee a second lottery swing in the same class.
What a Good First Season Looks Like
At his May introduction, in comments carried by TMJ4, Jenkins said the standard starts with effort but does not end there.
“We're going to be the most competitive team.
It's not just how hard you play,” he said, pointing next to preparation and execution.
Kyle Kuzma and Myles Turner are still around to steady the locker room on nights when the talent gap is real.
A fair bar for this team is steady growth from Rollins and the young guards, a healthy season from Herro, and a defense that competes no matter the score.
If the young pieces look better in April than they did in October, the season will have done its job, and the record matters less than the development.
