SMH, MCW: What’s Wrong With The Bucks’ Point Guard?
By Ti Windisch
Mar 18, 2015; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Milwaukee Bucks guard Michael Carter-Williams (5) drives for the basket against San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker (9) in the second quarter at BMO Harris Bradley Center. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports
When the Bucks traded Brandon Knight for Michael Carter-Williams, Miles Plumlee and Tyler Ennis, I expected two things to drastically change about the Milwaukee Bucks.
The first thing I expected was for the team to get noticeably worse. Although a lot of people didn’t care for him, Knight was far and away the Bucks’ best offensive player and good defense keeps you in games but it usually doesn’t win them for you.
This has happened. The Bucks are 4-12 since the trade and have gone from eyeing up the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference to just trying to stay in the playoff race.
But that’s okay. This season was never about winning anyway, and personally I think a higher draft pick is more important than playoff experience (especially considering Milwaukee is years away from seriously contending and will probably lose at least a few members of this squad by then anyway). I’m more worried about the second thing I predicted, which has not happened.
I really liked Michael Carter-Williams’ game. I pictured him coming to Milwaukee and re-energizing the Bucks with great facilitating and defense, and not having to shoot as much anymore since he now has teammates who are actual NBA basketball players.
The second thing I anticipated was finally getting to watch Milwaukee’s offense ran by a true, pass-first point guard. They may not win as many games, but Carter-Williams should have time to get accustomed to his teammates and really mature into a Jason Kidd-esque assist machine who makes his fellow Bucks better.
MCW hasn’t been that. And that’s a serious problem.
He has only surpassed six assists in four of his twelve games with Milwaukee this season. That stat on its own wouldn’t worry me that much either. You can’t blame someone for trying to do what they do best and failing; at least it was the right decision.
Where the problem with MCW starts is that he’s not trying to do what he does best. He’s trying to do what he does worst: shooting. Carter-Williams has shot the ball at least ten times in nine of those twelve games. He’s taken a whopping 20 shots twice in that same span. For his entire season, he’s attempted 20 shots in a game nine times.
| Rk | Date | Tm | Opp | GS | MP | FG | FGA ▾ | FG% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2015-01-21 | PHI | NYK | L (-7) | 1 | 37:43 | 10 | 26 | .385 |
| 2 | 2015-03-20 | MIL | BRK | L (-2) | 1 | 46:14 | 7 | 26 | .269 |
| 3 | 2015-01-14 | PHI | TOR | L (-16) | 1 | 40:51 | 12 | 25 | .480 |
| 4 | 2014-11-24 | PHI | POR | L (-10) | 1 | 32:56 | 10 | 24 | .417 |
| 5 | 2014-12-03 | PHI | MIN | W (+8) | 1 | 42:40 | 9 | 20 | .450 |
| 6 | 2014-12-26 | PHI | POR | L (-21) | 1 | 37:21 | 8 | 20 | .400 |
| 7 | 2014-12-27 | PHI | UTA | L (-17) | 1 | 36:30 | 2 | 20 | .100 |
| 8 | 2015-01-02 | PHI | PHO | L (-16) | 1 | 34:59 | 8 | 20 | .400 |
| 9 | 2015-03-12 | MIL | IND | L (-6) | 1 | 40:00 | 8 | 20 | .400 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 3/22/2015.
Brandon Knight, the supposed “chucker” of far too many shots, has only taken 20 shots in a game four times this entire season. He’s played 62 games as opposed to Carter-Williams’ 53. So in more games he’s taken that many shots less than half as often as MCW.
| Rk | Date | Tm | Opp | MP | FG | FGA ▾ | FG% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2014-12-23 | MIL | CHO | L (-7) | 33:31 | 13 | 21 | .619 |
| 2 | 2015-01-19 | MIL | TOR | L (-3) | 41:16 | 7 | 21 | .333 |
| 3 | 2014-11-19 | MIL | BRK | W (+4) | 48:35 | 5 | 20 | .250 |
| 4 | 2015-01-06 | MIL | PHO | L (-6) | 34:54 | 10 | 20 | .500 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 3/22/2015.
In addition to having more high-volume shooting games, on average Carter-Williams shoots more than Knight per game as well, though it’s close. 14.4 shots per game for MCW, 14.2 for Knight. So the perception of Carter-Williams as a more typical pure point guard is skewed. He averages more assists per game than Knight, but also more shots.
But at least Knight’s shooting is productive. MCW is shooting 38 percent from the field this season, while Knight is shooting 42.6 percent. So if you want to call BK a score first, ask questions/pass later point guard that’s fine. He is. And now he actually plays at shooting guard over in Phoenix.
But at least he owns that role and makes positive contributions, as evidenced by his PER of 17.5. MCW is sitting at a below-average 13.2 PER. So he’s not really a pass-first point guard, and although he takes a lot of shots he’s not really a scoring point guard because he misses most of them. So what is Milwaukee’s prized point guard?
We don’t know. He’s a 23-year old enigma who can’t shoot and has inexplicably stopped tallying assists, instead favoring to drive into heavy traffic and essentially hand the ball to the opposing team. Therein lies my problem with MCW.
Attacking the rim is his only real scoring option: MCW is shooting a horrid 28 percent on any shot he takes that’s further than three feet from the rim this season. But just because he can occasionally score at the rim does not mean it’s in Milwaukee’s best interest for their point guard to take so many shots. In fact, it’s not. It’s not even close.
| Rk | Player | G | MP | FG | FGA | FG% ▴ | 3P | 3PA | 3P% | 2P | 2PA | 2P% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tyler Ennis | 15 | 17.3 | 2.1 | 6.2 | .344 | 0.5 | 2.0 | .267 | 1.6 | 4.2 | .381 |
| 2 | Johnny O’Bryant | 29 | 11.2 | 1.3 | 3.6 | .371 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.3 | 3.6 | .371 | |
| 3 | Michael Carter-Williams | 12 | 31.4 | 4.9 | 12.8 | .383 | 0.1 | 1.2 | .071 | 4.8 | 11.7 | .414 |
| 6 | O.J. Mayo | 59 | 24.3 | 4.2 | 10.1 | .418 | 1.4 | 3.9 | .352 | 2.8 | 6.2 | .459 |
| 8 | Zaza Pachulia | 60 | 23.1 | 3.1 | 7.1 | .436 | 0.0 | 0.1 | .000 | 3.1 | 7.1 | .439 |
| 9 | Jerryd Bayless | 65 | 22.3 | 3.0 | 6.8 | .441 | 0.5 | 1.5 | .337 | 2.5 | 5.3 | .471 |
| 10 | Miles Plumlee | 10 | 11.5 | 1.6 | 3.6 | .444 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.6 | 3.6 | .444 | |
| 12 | Chris Johnson | 7 | 16.1 | 1.6 | 3.4 | .458 | 0.7 | 2.1 | .333 | 0.9 | 1.3 | .667 |
| 13 | Ersan Ilyasova | 45 | 21.4 | 4.2 | 9.0 | .467 | 1.1 | 3.0 | .366 | 3.1 | 6.0 | .517 |
| 14 | Jared Dudley | 64 | 23.9 | 2.8 | 6.0 | .469 | 1.1 | 2.7 | .399 | 1.7 | 3.3 | .526 |
| 15 | Khris Middleton | 66 | 29.5 | 5.0 | 10.6 | .469 | 1.4 | 3.3 | .433 | 3.6 | 7.3 | .485 |
| 17 | Giannis Antetokounmpo | 69 | 31.1 | 4.7 | 9.6 | .491 | 0.1 | 0.6 | .179 | 4.6 | 9.0 | .510 |
| 20 | John Henson | 54 | 18.4 | 2.9 | 5.1 | .570 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.9 | 5.1 | .570 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 3/21/2015.
Michael Carter-Williams’ leads the Bucks in field goals per game in his time with the team, but his field goal percentage is the third worst on the team, behind only Tyler Ennis and Johnny O’Bryant, neither of whom have played or shot as often as MCW.
That means there’s roughly ten players on the Bucks who score more efficiently than Carter-Williams, yet he shoots more than any of them. That goes beyond struggling to score; that’s just being a poor teammate.
MCW cannot keep shooting this much, this season or in the future. Many of the arguments I hear in favor of Carter-Williams hinge on him being able to participate in NBA offseason workouts for the first time after this year because of a shoulder injury keeping him out of them last offseason. He’ll finally have an opportunity to work on his shot, and become a better all-around shooter/scorer.
Even if this happens (and it’s completely possible that it doesn’t; some guys just can’t shoot. See Rubio, Ricky) it won’t help if MCW decides to continue throwing up shots and running into the paint haphazardly while his teammates (some of whom will certainly continue to shoot better than he, even if he improves his shot) stand helplessly open around the perimeter.
And that’s my worst fear regarding Carter-Williams. What if he never stops shooting? This isn’t an adjustment that should take an offseason of work.
It shouldn’t even take an entire game. MCW was 2-for-7 on shots attempted during the first two overtime periods in Milwaukee’s last game against Brooklyn. At that point he was shooting around 32 percent in the combined overtimes. Instead of realizing his shots weren’t falling and that the Nets were well-prepared to stop his drives and starting to pass the ball, he continued to drive and shoot.
He shot 0-for-4 in the last period and Milwaukee lost in the third overtime, 129-127.
This new, even less effective form of hero-ball is terrible for the Bucks. I haven’t given up on Carter-Williams just yet, but if he continues to be a ball-hog and refuses to pass to teammates (who can actually shoot) I’m going to be one of many who really wishes Milwaukee had taken the Lakers’ first-round pick instead of MCW.