Milwaukee Bucks: Players who could benefit most from Mike Budenholzer

The Wings: Tony Snell and Sterling Brown

At their best, both Tony Snell and Sterling Brown have shown the ability to be the type of premium 3-and-D players that have become so valuable in today’s league. Unfortunately, the Bucks have already had to pay that premium to retain Snell after his stellar year in prior to his streaky 2017-2018 season.

While Snell maintained a 40 percent clip from beyond the arc this past season, he was often streaky and inconsistent, sometimes disappearing for long stretches at a time. He seemed less focused on the defensive end of the floor this year too, losing some of the lock-down mentality that made him playable during his rougher offensive outings last year.

Role inconsistency

Snell’s main issue this year was confidence, something Jason Kidd did not facilitate well during his tenure as head coach. Kidd’s penchant for playing with different lineups and reshuffling players’ minutes did not bode well for Snell, who found himself benched in favor of Malcolm Brogdon or others on several occasions.

Inconsistent usage and role within the offense likely led to Snell feeling out of rhythm and passing up open looks that made Bucks fans groan with disdain. Much like Delly, his inability to create for himself led to a lower number of quality looks in Jason Kidd’s old-school offensive scheme which relied more on one-on-one scoring than off-ball movement that would create looks for shooters.

Snell passing up open looks killed the Bucks’ spacing while he was on the court, allowing defenses to sag off of him when he was out of rhythm. This created more congestion in the paint for Giannis to navigate on a nightly basis.

Much like Snell, Sterling Brown also struggled to carve out a consistent role in the Bucks’ rotation this year despite showing flashes of the type of valuable role player he could be when he saw the court.

Even as a rookie, Brown showed he had the tools and determination to be a lockdown defender when tasked with tough assignments on defense.  He also shot a respectable 35.2 percent from downtown in his intermittent minutes.

Creating high-quality looks

Coach Budenholzer’s offense should be a breath of fresh air for both Snell and Brown, as it should open up more consistent, higher quality looks for players like them who lack the burst or skill to create for themselves consistently.

An offense designed to get them better looks will inevitably open up space for slashers like Giannis and Bledsoe to get to the rim with more ease.

The subtraction of Kidd and addition of Budenholzer should only boost Snell’s confidence. Bud is known to have a softer personality than Kidd and makes every player feel valued. That type of reassuring voice could be all that Snell needs to regain his aggressiveness on both ends of the court.

Not only that, but Budenholzer’s knack for developing players, especially wings, can greatly benefit both Snell and Brown.

In Atlanta, Bud developed players with similar archetypes like DeMarre Carroll and Kent Bazemore into coveted 3-and-D wings, with Carroll earning a four-year, $60 million deal with the Toronto Raptors upon leaving in free agency.

More recently, he was able to help small forward Taurean Prince make the jump from 5.7 to 14.1 points per game in his sophomore season while increasing his three-point percentage from 32.4 percent to 38.5 percent on 3.9 more attempts per game.

Bud’s developmental prowess could pay huge dividends for the Bucks if it means getting more meaningful contributions from their wings. Returning Snell to his contract-year form and developing Brown into a key rotation piece would be a major win for the team.