The Bulls' last game showed both sides of that. They put up 41 in the 2nd quarter at Denver and led 68-59 at halftime. Then a nearly healthy Nuggets team won the 3rd quarter 40-26 and pulled away for a 133-128 win. Chicago's offense held up without its centers, but nobody could protect the rim, and that's going to stay true until Claxton is back.
Milwaukee is in a bigger rebuild. The trade that sent Giannis Antetokounmpo to Miami brought back Tyler Herro, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kel'el Ware and Kasparas Jakucionis. Milwaukee opened the preseason with Ryan Rollins, Herro, Jaquez, Kyle Kuzma and Myles Turner as the starting 5, and that group has a good chance of opening the regular season too. So far the results have been rough: a 116-97 loss to Minnesota in the first game after Giannis left, then a 105-90 loss at Charlotte against a Hornets team missing 6 players.
The Charlotte loss came down to one bad stretch. The Hornets won the 2nd quarter 31-19, led by 20 after 3, and Milwaukee only closed the gap late. Rookies Nate Ament (ankle) and Brayden Burries sat out, as did Jakucionis, and Burries and Jakucionis were coach's decisions. Whether those young guys play Wednesday will tell you more about where the Bucks are headed than the final score will.
This is still the preseason, so judge it that way. Watch whether Chicago's guards can keep outscoring their problems in the paint, and whether Herro and Turner look like a partnership the Bucks can build around. Both teams have less than a week left to sort themselves out before games count.