Milwaukee Bucks: How will Donte DiVincenzo’s shooting hold up in the NBA?
While much has been made about the intangibles he’ll bring on and off the court to the Milwaukee Bucks, we dive deep into how translatable Donte DiVincenzo‘s range shooting could potentially be in his rookie season.
It’s been just a little over a month since the Milwaukee Bucks’ selection of Villanova product Donte DiVincenzo in the 2018 NBA Draft.
While the dust has settled for what stands as a polarizing pick in the eyes of Bucks fans, rumors of an unsuccessful draft night trade and an underwhelming, albeit abbreviated, showing at this year’s Summer League have further colored DiVincenzo’s budding tenure in Milwaukee in a slightly disconcerting fashion.
On the other hand, it’s important, for both sanity and long-term health reasons, to take our initial glimpses of DiVincenzo in a Bucks uniform with multiple grains of salt, especially considering the vastly different environment he’ll be coming into to launch his NBA career.
More from Bucks News
- Bucks 2023-24 player profile: Can MarJon Beauchamp take a leap?
- Piecing together the Milwaukee Bucks’ dream starting 5 in 5 years
- Predicting Thanasis Antetokounmpo’s 2023-24 stats for the Bucks
- Grade the trade: Bucks land reputable backup guard in swap with Pacers
- New workout video should have Milwaukee Bucks fans excited
What can be concluded, though, in the time since we first learned of DiVincenzo’s arrival back on June 21 is how he served as the precursor for the offseason the Bucks have executed to this point.
The various free agent additions the Bucks have made, ranging from the return of Ersan Ilyasova, the high value pickup of big man Brook Lopez and the reported flier on Pat Connaughton, were certainly made in mind to design a modernized structure around superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Of course, the biggest difference between the likes of Ilyasova, Lopez and Connaughton to DiVincenzo is the varied track records they have to their name throughout their respective years in the NBA.
It’s from that standpoint that projecting what most would hope to be DiVincenzo’s most translatable on court skill, range shooting, a curious one to tackle well before his rookie season gets off the ground.
As DiVincenzo grew into his own during his three years with the Wildcats, his reputation for being a tough as nails, ultra competitive big time shot maker certainly defined the appeal of him as a prospect.
All of that culminated in his 31-point outburst during the Wildcats’ 79-62 win over the Michigan Wolverines in this year’s NCAA Championship game, which obviously paved the way for him declaring for this year’s draft and eventually being brought into the fold by the Bucks.
Key Bucks officials, like general manager Jon Horst and new head coach Mike Budenholzer, have spoken glowingly about the skill set DiVincenzo possesses as well as the immediate impact he could play on this Bucks team such as they did during his introductory press conference days following the draft.
Add in the fact that DiVincenzo finished his time on the college level as a 37.8 percent three-point shooter and it’s understandable why one would be optimistic on DiVincenzo’s marksmanship from three-point range coming into the league.
Delving deeper into DiVincenzo’s marks during his last year with the Wildcats leaves some reason for Bucks fans to feel guarded about the prospect of the 21-year-old bursting on the scene during his rookie season.
Per Will Schreefer’s shot chart tool over at The Stepien, DiVincenzo was very accustomed to launching up treys from NBA range, though his efficiency would be best described as sufficient, seeing that he knocked down 56 of 162 three-point attempts from that level (35 percent).
Regarding his ability to knock down catch-an- shoot looks from beyond the arc, this Synergy Sports scouting report on DiVincenzo written before the draft relayed that he had averaged 1.09 points per possession on those said opportunities last year.
Given the nature of DiVincenzo’s microwave scoring nature, it’s key not to overlook the consistency issues that dogged him at times with the Wildcats as well as the rather shaky free throw shooting numbers he finished with (DiVincenzo converted 70.5 percent of his 190 total free throw attempts at Villanova).
Perhaps the biggest question as it relates to DiVincenzo’s sharpshooting projection is adding other ways to be effective beyond capitalizing on static spot-up opportunities. Rafael Uehara over at Real GM posited this very point in his own prospect report on the man known as the Big Ragu before the draft with an important layer of context:
"“There aren’t all that many lengthy wing defenders in college and when opponents did have one of those, they threw him at Mikal Bridges, so DiVincenzo was able to shoot over the top more often than not. In order to do that consistently in the pros, he’ll have to shake his defender off balance and it’s unclear if he’s shifty enough.”"
At this point, any discussion on how DiVincenzo’s NBA introduction could play out falls down to how he adjusts to the jump in competition, acclimating to NBA environments and much more, all of which we are far from getting answers to as of this writing.
Next. Win in 6 Podcast #238: Pat Connaughton signing, Fiserv Forum reaction. dark
Simply put, there’s no doubt DiVincenzo will be tested all throughout his rookie season in Milwaukee and the league as a whole with various challenges that he may not foresee coming at this stage. How he responds to those various hurdles will provide a great litmus test to the path he goes down getting his NBA career off the ground.