Milwaukee Bucks: Grading The Miles Plumlee Deal

Cons

As good as Plumlee was last season, he’s fairly far from a proven player. $52 million is a lot of money to pay out to someone whose: never averaged ten points per game in a season, never averaged eight rebounds per game in a season, has logged just 16 playoff minutes, and who never posted an above-average PER until this past season.

Lots of statistics like Plumlee’s efficiency, but there’s not much denying that his game is largely based on hustle. It’s great that he puts so much energy into his performances on the floor, but Plumlee needs to do that to stay on the floor.

Plumlee also isn’t a good free throw shooter, which means the Milwaukee Bucks will likely be the first ones to vote yes on any rule banning Hack-A-Shaq. With both Plumlee and Henson on the team, Milwaukee won’t be able to escape being hacked if Greg Monroe really is dealt.

The final concern with Miles Plumlee is that his high level of play last year was an aberration. Here are Plumlee’s true shooting percentages by season: 28.6, 52.9, 53.6 and 60.6. After an atrocious and short rookie season, Plumlee milled around in the low 50s until suddenly shooting up to over 60 percent.

Is that indicative of just how well he fits with these Milwaukee Bucks, or did Plumlee just happen to peak right before free agency? The Bucks certainly hope it’s the former and not the latter.

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