The Milwaukee Bucks’ start to the 2023-24 season hasn’t gone precisely as expected. After bringing in Damian Lillard while losing Jrue Holiday and swapping Mike Budenholzer for Adrian Gryphon on the bench, Milwaukee was always going to experience growing pains in the early going. The new-look Bucks’ performance against the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday, on the other hand, has prompted many supporters to panic.

At halftime, Milwaukee trailed Toronto 66-44, a particularly troubling gap given the Raptors’ tremendous offensive labours entering the game. Darko Rajakovic’s team had a league-worst 100.8 offensive rating in its first four games, ranking dead bottom in the league. But that didn’t matter against the Bucks, as Toronto scored with such ease and efficiency that Milwaukee fans and league observers alike were left scratching their heads.

Replacing Holiday with Lillard was always going to result in a defensive drop-off for Milwaukee, but the hope was that the continued presence of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Brook Lopez—both of whom finished in the top six in Defensive Player of the Year voting a year ago—would help stem that tide while Lillard fueled the Bucks’ offence on the other end of the floor. It hasn’t happened, and one of the main reasons is Griffin’s extensive defensive alterations.

Under Budenholzer, Milwaukee played a very conservative defence, walling off the paint at every opportunity. Gryphon has taken a considerably more active, opportunistic approach to that side of the ball this season, a change that further adds to the decline his club is experiencing as it transitions from Holiday to Lillard at point guard.

Lopez’s defensive rebirth over the last four years came while he was stationed near the rim, and Antetokounmpo has always been most destructive when he was waiting in the wings and on the back line. Starting sharpshooter Malik Beasley in the backcourt alongside Lillard, ahead of Pat Connaughton or even sophomore wing MarJon Beauchamp, has only exacerbated those issues.

It’s far too soon to dismiss the Bucks as a title contender. Even before they reversed their identity by bringing in Lillard, an adjustment period playing under Gryphon was unavoidable. But the early returns obviously aren’t encouraging, and that was the case even before another remade, struggling club like the Raptors nearly ran them off the floor during Wednesday’s first half.