Milwaukee Bucks: The postseason rejuvenation of Thon Maker

By Jordan Treske | Apr 24, 2018

NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 7: Thon Maker /

Milwaukee Bucks big man Thon Maker disappointed greatly all throughout his sophomore season, but he has regained his relevance with his strong showing in the team’s first round series with the Boston Celtics this postseason.

It was only a few days ago when the Milwaukee Bucks had their backs up against the wall in their first round playoff series with the Boston Celtics.

Down 2-0, the Bucks displayed signs of a team on the brink of fracturing into pieces, mirroring the number of tough questions they are due to address this summer which will heavily influence their long-term future.

Fourth-year forward and impending restricted free agent Jabari Parker didn’t hold back his displeasure over his limited minutes in the first two games of the series despite being a net negative, while guard Eric Bledsoe committed to the bit of not acknowledging who Celtics guard Terry Rozier was/is for reasons beyond comprehension.

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All of these things were happening while both Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo and the ever-indispensable Khris Middleton were doing all they could on and off the court to hold the team afloat.

How quickly things have changed, though, as the Bucks have fought back to even up the series with the Celtics after notching their blowout 116-92 victory in Game 3 last Friday night and pulling out a 104-102 Game 4 win by the skin of their teeth on Sunday afternoon.

With the series shifting back to Boston for Game 5 on Tuesday night, the Bucks are now looking to sustain the level of play they displayed on their home floor on the road. While that line of thinking primarily applies to the team’s role players such as Parker, Matthew Dellavedova and Malcolm Brogdon, it’s the sudden re-emergence of 21-year-old Thon Maker that has given all Bucks fans a strong case of deja vu over the last few days.

Like a bolt out of the blue, Maker has played his way back into the team’s rotation due to the Bucks’ primary starting center for the season, John Henson, being sidelined with lower back soreness in Games 3 and 4.

This comes after Maker largely stood as an afterthought heading into the series due to the sophomore slump he had endured all throughout the regular season.

Beginning the season as the team’s starting center, Maker quickly lost his starting job under former Bucks head coach Jason Kidd two weeks into the campaign and never came close to regaining it as the year wore on, save for spot starts here and there as a result of injury.

While Maker was capable of exhibiting flashes of the form he displayed during his limited rookie season on occasion, Maker’s struggles reached the point of him falling out of the team’s rotation completely as the season wore down while the Bucks were fighting for playoff positioning.

But Henson’s absence has forced Bucks head coach Joe Prunty’s hand, and Maker has been released from his late season DNP-CD status. As we learned at the end of his rookie season last year, Maker has a knack of rising up to the playoff stage to inject some much needed life into the occasionally spiritless squad.

Ranging from his vicious rejections on opposing players to send the ball five rows into sold-out crowds or hitting incredibly tough shots with defenders in his face, Maker has given the Bucks a heart and soul while supplying the edge in the vein of a 10-year veteran who knows how to get under the skin of his opponents.

All of those traits have translated into production in the series as Maker is currently averaging 7.3 points on shooting splits of .462/.500/.714, along with 3.3 blocks and 2.3 rebounds in the three appearances he’s logged thus far. Maker’s impact on the series can be felt beyond traditional numbers as well.

In both Game 3 and Game 4, Maker posted a net rating of +27.5 points per 100 possessions in the 55 combined minutes he played in both tilts, per NBA.com/stats. In the 41 minutes Maker sat on the bench between those contests, that number fell to +3.7 points per 100 possessions.

It’s easy to see why the Bucks have generated that level of success with Maker on the floor, considering he helps give them some much needed spacing offensively, even without needing many touches. He has also been stellar serving as the last line of defense within the modifications the team has shown in their tactics defensively at times.

All of this has served as a reminder as to what made Maker so appealing in the context of looking at the bigger picture of the Bucks only a year ago.

Whether it’s the drive he’s shown consistently or the understanding and overall desire of wanting to be great, the number of intangibles Maker exudes is a foundation that is suited for developing his workman-like skill set, something that was reaching a faster learning curve after last year’s playoff run than many anticipated.

Admittedly, those characteristics got lost in the shuffle as many, if not all Bucks fans wrote him off after the discouraging results we saw occur over the course of the regular season (I definitely include myself in that).

Maker himself summed up this sentiment perfectly in the piece Gary D’Amato of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel wrote on the 10th overall pick of the 2016 NBA Draft after Game 4 on Sunday afternoon:

"“I’m not perfect,” he said. “I’m going to mess up, but I always say I’ll mess up going 1,000 mph.”"

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With two more games to be played in this series at minimum, all eyes will be on Maker to see if this reawakening can last beyond the walls of the BMO Harris Bradley Center. How it unfolds remains to be seen, but we can agree that Maker’s presence on the court has changed the course of this series. Even his superstar teammate has said so.

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