Khris Middleton, the Bucks' 24 year old shooting guard/small forward, and leading scorer last year, is coming back Wednesday. Tony Snell has been starting in his place up until now. Brings a much needed outside shot presence to the team, another ball handler for the Bucks, etc. Bucks are going to be ridiculous in the future.
Malcolm Brogdon (24) / Khris Middleton (24) / Giannis Antetokounmpo (22) / Jabari Parker (21) / Thon Maker (19)
Bench wise, they would have Dellavedova, Michael Beasley, Greg Monroe, and Jason Terry for veteran locker room leadership (he was a leader in the Rockets locker room the past 2 years, and was big for us in that way)
Middleton and Giannis both have 4 more years, with Middleton's contract gradually decreasing. Maker is on his rookie contract, Brogdon has 3 more years, Parker is on his rookie contract for 2 more years.
Now that they have Miles Plumlee TERRIBLE contract off their books, within the next two years (when Parker becomes an RFA), Monroe, Beasley, Hawes, Snell, etc. all come off the books. The biggest issue for the Bucks long term was that they had gotten themselves stuck overpaying too many free agents and would thus have cap space issues. They still have Henson and Teletovic's terrible contracts, but that Plumlee trade was crazy for them.
http://www.spotrac.com/nba/milwaukee-bucks/yearly/cap/
They've slipped to 21-28 the past few weeks, but I think they'll rebound back now, now that they're getting another ball handler asides from Giannis and an outside shooting threat. They have to get past the Knicks (likely), Hornets (tough one, hard to say), Pistons (hard to say if they've finally given up on Reggie), Bulls (possible), to get to the playoffs.
Btw, how did every single hot team from 2016 suddenly start struggling in 2017? Rockets, Thunder, Cavs, Bulls, Bucks, Knicks, Hornets, Spurs (????). And then a bunch of struggling teams when on a run: Sixers, Heat, Mavericks, Warriors (as in no MVP level Curry ffs), Celtics, Timberwolves, Pacers, arguably the Clippers.
The only team that was consistent between December and January at being good were the Wizards.