Milwaukee Bucks: Early impressions from Tony Snell’s impressive start

In the start of his second season with the Milwaukee Bucks, Tony Snell has quietly picked up from where he left off last year.

Through a week-and-a-half of the 2017-18 NBA season, the Milwaukee Bucks have regularly been a part of the wider consciousness throughout the league.

That’s for good reason too, with Giannis Antetokounmpo getting off to an incredible start in the team’s first five games. But as the conversation surrounding the 22-year-old phenom has extended to an even bigger scale, a similar conversation is being had about the state of the supporting cast that surrounds the team’s singular star.

Of course, that’s only picked up in recent days with the looming interest the Bucks reportedly hold in Phoenix Suns guard Eric Bledsoe, but the topic of having a consistent running mate alongside Antetokounmpo has been on the minds of many Bucks fans, especially with Khris Middleton struggling to find a rhythm to start the year.

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While we’ll keep our magnifying glasses fixed on that specific area of concern, one complementary piece for the Bucks has quietly had a strong beginning to the season. Since arriving in Milwaukee just over a year ago now, Tony Snell’s NBA career has undoubtedly turned around for the better.

Due to the nature of how he came to the team with Middleton suffering his hamstring injury before the start of last season, the Bucks have depended on Snell as he has been a mainstay in the team’s starting five for all but two of his 85 games in the Cream City.

How fast he was able to integrate himself within the team’s foundation has only led to a more quietly confident Snell, as he’s become a legitimate three-point threat and takes on the toughest of defensive assignments on the perimeter.

Now after a summer where he was handsomely rewarded with a four-year, $46 million contract, Snell has rewarded the Bucks with his sizzling shooting once again from beyond the arc.

Through the first five games, Snell is averaging 11 points on 10-of-20 shooting from three as well as maintaining a blazing 76 percent true shooting percentage.

He’s delivering on the same basis that made his campaign last year such a success by hitting long balls off of catch-and-shoot opportunities and dribble hand-offs from deep, the latter of which has become the signature play for the 25-year-old to get on the board.

With the kind of sterling numbers he currently has, Snell’s impact on the Bucks goes beyond traditional numbers. Per NBA.com/stats, he’s one of six Bucks to hold a positive net rating (+3.8 points per 100 possessions) and the team’s offense falls off dramatically without the New Mexico product on the floor as they’re scoring a paltry 93.9 points per 100 possessions in 82 minutes.

Even as the formula that made him a key contributor within the team has continued paying dividends, Snell has flirted with another dimension to his game. In the last week alone, we’ve seen Snell venture inside the arc by putting the ball on the floor a couple of times, which has led to positive results:

We’ve seen Snell dabble with this last season with varied outcomes, but an offseason’s worth of work on his handle may lead to him being a little more comfortable with the ball in his hands at times this year.

As with everything at this stage in the season, it’s way too early to draw conclusions from the limited sample size we have to work with. That’s only multiplied since most of Snell’s effectiveness comes down to whether his three ball is falling and it will only be a matter of time until his shooting numbers will start to fall back down to Earth a bit.

With that said, it shouldn’t be lost on any Bucks fan just how quickly Snell has remade himself as a player following his change of scenery just over 12 months ago.

The Bucks feature a number of success stories with the players that make up their roster, the biggest one being the player that has dominated the discussion from in and around the league in Antetokounmpo (or Snell’s “brother from another mother” as Giannis would say).

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On a smaller scale, however, Snell’s story is right up there and it just goes to show how the outlook of a player’s career can change in a matter of months.