Milwaukee Bucks: The future of Thon Maker

Positives and role

Maker was primarily used off the ball on offense during his rookie campaign.

Maker makes more sense spotting up off the ball rather than being involved directly in the pick-and-roll or primary action, at least when he shares the court with the starters.

The young Australian shot the three well in his rookie season, albeit on a small number of attempts (28-of-74, good for 37.8 percent). It’s hard to see him shooting quite as well next season as his playing time increases, but 35-36 percent on a higher number of attempts seems like a reasonable goal.

Maker worked out of the right corner in a lot of half-court sets in 2016-17. Though he was fairly inefficient  (just 29.4 percent on threes from that corner), he was productive driving:

One of Maker’s most identifiable skills at this early stage is his ability to put the ball on the floor, particularly when attacking close-outs. Having a big capable of both stretching the floor, and attacking off the dribble is a real luxury, particularly so against the less fleet-of-foot among the league’s centers:

Even in the golden age of unicorns in which we live, a seven-foot guy who can attack off the the dribble with Maker’s fluidity is still rare. It gives the Bucks an additional weapon in secondary and tertiary actions.