Milwaukee Bucks: Takeaways From Win Over Detroit Pistons
By Adam McGee
Delly goes free
Matthew Dellavedova has been the source of a lot of criticism from Bucks fans of late, particularly as Malcolm Brogdon has continued to look ever more assured as the primary backup option. It doesn’t seem unfair to describe a lot of that feeling as misguided though.
In the early stages of the season, Dellavedova has been asked to do something very different from the role he was brought in to fill. Having proved himself to be a solid shooter in his time in Cleveland working alongside LeBron James, the expectation was that the Aussie would be given similar responsibilities with Giannis Antetokounmpo acting as the point forward proxy.
In reality, Point Giannis has been little more than a myth for much of this season, though. As much as Giannis has still managed to create for teammates, rack up assists and drive the team to impressive performances, he hasn’t really been the primary initiator on offense. In short, what the Bucks seemed so happy with post All-Star break last year hasn’t been what they’ve run in the early part of the season.
Instead, Dellavedova has shouldered the load of much of the point guard play. He’s done so relatively well too. He’s averaging a career-high in assists per-game and per-36, while not accompanying it with any kind of inordinate spike in turnovers. If anything has suffered as a result, it’s been his shooting.
That was clear as Delly got slated for a 1-9 shooting performance from the field and a couple of very costly free throw misses in Monday’s loss to the Wizards, when in actuality he had a remarkable 11 assists to only a single turnover in that game too.
So, when in the following game there’s an obvious switch to Giannis starting offensive sets with greater frequency, and even Jabari chipping in, it wasn’t particularly surprising to see Dellavedova score 11 points on efficient shooting while making both of his three-point attempts.
Delly can create, but his game as a whole is likely best utilized with more of a balance between his on and off ball duties. That’s what we saw against the Pistons, and as such, we saw a much improved Dellavedova.