It was just this past summer that the Milwaukee Bucks were on a clear upward trajectory. The signing of Greg Monroe was supposed to push a young, 41-win team toward the upper echelon of the Eastern Conference. Yet here we are in February and Milwaukee sits ahead of two biggest sad-sacks in the East, Philadelphia and Brooklyn.

As the trade deadline approaches, the Bucks' clear and vibrant future has become a bit muddled. Instead of falling into the buyer’s category this winter, Milwaukee is most definitely a seller, perhaps looking to ship off a few parts, throw in the towel on this season and add to their collection of promising young pieces. It’s traditional maneuver for a team in the Bucks position, but it also brings to light an increasingly common problem that impacts rebuilding teams in the NBA -- the lack of a unifying vision.

Right now, Milwaukee’s lone identity seems to be only that they are young. The defense that propelled the team to the playoffs last season is now ranked only above the hapless Lakers. It’s easy to pin this on the addition of Monroe, but other factors -- from the league having time to figure it out and the departures of steady, positionally smart players like Jared Dudley and Zaza Pachulia -- have been key components of that as well. Another factor has been the return of prized prospect Jabari Parker, who after playing in just 25 games last season currently looks like one of the NBA’s most hollow players, ranking 398th out of 440 players in ESPN.com’s Real Plus/Minus ratings.

Such a defensive collapse would be understandable if it came at the expense of serious benefits to the team’s offense. But Milwaukee has made only marginal gains on that end of the floor, despite the return of Parker and addition of Monroe. The team sits 23rd in our RealGM rankings and has been derided all season long for their lack of shooting. But that surface evaluation, while correct and hugely important, doesn’t touch on the key cause of the Bucks now murky path -- the fact that their approach, personnel and commitment to development seem to clash in every way possible.

The biggest sign of that is the team’s pace. Milwaukee currently sits 24th in RealGM’s pace rating, ahead of only a team that runs the Triangle (New York), two teams that feature lineups with traditional, non-shooting bigs (Utah and Memphis) an Erik Spoelstra coached team (Miami) and a LeBron run one (Cleveland). When your team features three young, athletic players in Antetokounmpo, Parker and starting point guard Michael Carter-Williams, who excel in transition and struggle in the halfcourt due to their shooting limitations, being ranked that low in pace is almost criminal.

Now there may be some clear, logic reasons (and big one, literally, being Monroe) why Jason Kidd has slowed down the tempo his young team, one of which may be a belief that come playoff time, a grind-it-approach has always been considered essential to winning a championship. Yet that belief seems outdated given the success of a Golden State team that finished last year’s regular season ranked first in pace. And if more evidence was needed, three teams -- Dallas, Houston and L.A. -- played faster in the postseason than Golden State did in the regular season, per ESPN.com data.

In addition to that, there’s a shaky balance when it comes to who controls Milwaukee’s possessions -- and what that means for everyone else. Carter-Williams is the team’s starting point guard, but has only run 74 more pick-and-rolls (at least ones that ended in a shot, pass or turnover) than rising star Khris Middleton over the course of this season, per Synergy data. Antetokounmpo, a 7-footer with point guard skills, has run 60 of his own and, in the long term, might be Milwaukee’s best playmaker out of that action and currently averages the most points per possession according to Synergy than anyone else on the team.

Having this many young players capable of attacking in the NBA’s staple action is an enviable thing in the vast majority of cases. But in Milwaukee, this is where the shooting woes, the shaky developmental balance and the unclear long-term vision all collide.

A career 40.6 percent shooter from 3, Middleton is clearly the Bucks' most feared outside threat. And if it wasn’t for veteran Jerryd Bayless, who has missed 18 games this season, Middleton would be the team’s only threat from beyond the arc. Which makes his use as both a pick-and-roll ballhandler -- and post up option -- both suboptimal and mystifying.

That’s because every time Middleton has the ball in these actions it means all his other young teammates who can’t shoot don’t have it. Teams virtually ignore Antetokounmpo and Carter-Williams when they are stationed behind the arc and Parker, who has struggled badly from that area of the floor, doesn’t even space the floor behind the 3-point line anymore. The Bucks have tried to remedy this problem by telling non-shooters to cut like they’re Dwyane Wade, but that generally has caused more spacing issues than it’s solved -- something reflected by the teams low output in these situations per Synergy.

Now if the Bucks were hellbent on developing Middleton in these actions and forcing Antetokounmpo, Carter-Williams and Parker to round out their games, that’s fine. It’s a long-term plan that sacrifices wins for reps, but it’s not fundamentally flawed logic by any stretch. It’s just a path that requires time and patience. It also means the team shouldn’t be slotting Parker 20-feet from the basket or discouraging Antetokounmpo and Carter-Williams to bomb away from 3. On top of those things, the signing of Monroe, a limited pick-and-roll partner brought in to shore up a specific weakness for a playoff team, would have been an unnecessary and counterproductive move if this was the team’s plan all along.

If the Bucks goal is to win now, giving the ball to Middleton in these actions, instead of letting him use his shooting to help cover the flaws of his teammates, isn’t a productive use of his game. Sure, Middleton is gaining valuable experience, but teams don’t win games when half their rotation is forced into roles that don’t suit their current skill sets. What Milwaukee needs more than anything right now, is to decide what matters most to them right now: wins or development.

Depending on what they decide will shape how they approach both this trade deadline and the summer ahead. If the team embraces their disappointing season, deals for players like Monroe and Bayless should be considered or even initiated by the Bucks themselves. If the team wants better results immediately, they need to take a hard look at which young member of their young core is expandable and can be sent out in exchange for players that complement the skills of the remaining cornerstones.  

Or the other option for Milwaukee is to continue with the status quo and hope to be saved simply by the internal improvement of individuals. After all, if Carter-Williams, Antetokounmpo or Parker come back a dead-eye from 3-point land next season, a lot of the team’s issues would be solved, at least on offense. But waiting on players to round out their games is fine in theory, but the reality of this impatient business is that it never seems to happen fast enough -- if it ever does. Because when it comes to the development of NBA players in their early 20s, it’s a total crapshoot, especially when a franchise isn’t providing an environment conducive to it.

Milwaukee is discovering that collecting talented youngsters doesn’t guarantee a swift, linear path up the league’s standings. And before the team gets stuck in a confusing limbo between rebuilding and contending, the Bucks need to have a clear vision for what lies ahead.