Age just one factor that may signal Bucks' title window has closed

With the latest first-round exit for the Milwaukee Bucks, has their championship window officially closed?

A year after winning one playoff game as a No. 1 seed, the Bucks were eliminated in Game 6 of the first round Thursday by the sixth-seeded Pacers. Three of the four losses were by more than 12 points, including the 22-point loss in Game 6. All of this coming in defense of their 2021 NBA title.

It's easy to blame the lack of playoff success on the injuries to Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo, the latter of whom didn't play a game against the Pacers. Not many teams would win a playoff series without their top two scorers.

This season might have exposed Milwaukee's vulnerability. Starting the postmortem with the roster, the Bucks are old. 

Eight of their top nine players in minutes are now over 30. In fact, they were the oldest team in the league going into the season (28.2 years). If the Clippers can't get past the Mavericks in the first round, the seven oldest teams in the NBA will have combined for zero playoff series victories this season. 

As you get older, you tend to have more injuries. 

Lillard has missed nearly a third of all games over the past five years and shot just 42.4% from the floor and 35.4% from long range this season, both the third-lowest percentages of his career. 

Without Jrue Holiday, part of the three-team trade the sent Lillard to Milwaukee, the Bucks defense fell from fourth in efficiency to 17th this season.

Milwaukee's 18 draft picks since Antetokounmpo combined for one total start for the Bucks this season.

The Bucks lack a recent draft pick to get excited about, resources to get better and even money to spend.

The Bucks, not known as a place to attract stars in free agency to begin with, is already approaching the second luxury-tax apron for next season, constricting their ability to spend this offseason. The Bucks stars are only getting older, and they don't have many ways to supplement the roster with youth.

Then there's the coach. 

The Bucks moved on from championship-winning head coach Mike Budenholzer for 43 games of Adrian Griffin, followed by Doc Rivers. Including the postseason, the Bucks went 19-23 under Rivers, who inherited a 32-14 team.

Rivers has been around the block, and his lack of playoff success is well documented. 

But while he has been fired by four teams since Y2K, the recent coaches reaching the championship have been guys like Steve Kerr, Tyronn Lue, Nick Nurse, Mike Malone and Ime Udoka. Young(er) coaches who are with their first team.

In fact, since 2015, six of the 10 coaches to reach the NBA Finals were in their first job, not their fifth. Only Frank Vogel, of the 10, had coached for more than two teams (three).

The Bucks' 2021 title was their first in 50 years for a reason. It's hard to win in Milwaukee. And it's going to become a lot harder with an aging roster, banged-up stars, a lack of resources and the wrong coach in charge.