While his track record is far from a convincing one to this point in his career, new Milwaukee Bucks wing Pat Connaughton can make an impact for his new squad with his budding ability to act as an off-ball shooting threat.
Standing as the Milwaukee Bucks’ most recent addition in their offseason, Pat Connaughton comes to his new home with something to prove.
After all, Connaughton has logged just under 2,000 total minutes (1,947, to be exact) in 155 appearances during his three years with the Portland Trail Blazers, the majority of that time coming during the 2017-18 season.
Although Connaughton featured all throughout the Blazers’ successful regular season before it ended in a first round sweep to the New Orleans Pelicans in the 2018 NBA Playoffs, the Blazers’ front office, helmed by general manager Neil Olshey, elected to cut ties with the Massachusetts native before the start of this year’s free agency period by not tendering him a qualifying offer.
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That decision may have looked to jeopardize Connaughton’s NBA career to those on the outside looking in until the Bucks came in and inked the 25-year-old to a two-year, partially guaranteed deal a little less than a month after his Blazers stint came to an abrupt close.
With the present now all sorted out, Connaughton will look to build off the skill set he started to establish last year with the Blazers. Of course, that starts and ends with becoming a more proven three-point specialist and to this point, Connaughton’s been able to knock down treys at a respectable rate throughout his career (36.4 percent on 264 attempts).
However, Connaughton’s struggles with consistency throughout his first extended run in the league last season looms over that figure, something he readily acknowledged in his exit interview at the end of the Blazers’ season in late April:
"“I think, for me, it was the first time going through a season and I was able to play in every game, I think. That’s something I’ll hang my hat on, but that’s also something where, you know, I got a taste of it now. There were some good games, there were some games where (I) wasn’t as good. That consistency thing is what’s going to keep you in the NBA, keep you being a successful player. So I got a taste of it and I’m looking forward to building upon it this summer instead of being satisfied with it.”"
While reinforcing and increasing his three-point efficiency will be paramount to experiencing a successful stint in Milwaukee, the way with which Connaughton can carve out a stable role within the team’s rotation may be of interest to Bucks fans with his arrival.
Connaughton’s been no stranger to being an opportunistic scorer/shooter by playing alongside gifted offensive players like Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum. That won’t change coming to Milwaukee with superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo, the ever-indispensable Khris Middleton and Eric Bledsoe rounding out as the players with the highest playmaking onus from among the team’s roster.
It’s working under new head coach Mike Budenholzer, a coach that has prized ball and player movement throughout his offensive systems during the Atlanta Hawks, that Connaughton may be a seamless fit to the 48-year-old’s egalitarian preferences.
Beyond spotting up for potential three-point makes, Connaughton has laid down a foundation to become a savvy cutter as well as a shooter off of both hand-offs and coming off screens.
This comes with a small sample size alert, but Connaughton registered 1.36 points per possession on cuts, 1.27 points per possession on hand off situations and 1.24 points per possession on shots off screens last year, per NBA.com/stats.
The ability to effectively co-ordinate and play off of the gravity of others is undoubtedly essential for a player of Connaughton’s player profile, even if it’s necessary for him to make strides in molding that into a more viable final product.
Connaughton’s former coach Terry Stotts remarked on the wing’s array of skills and attributes early in the year and fresh into his brief stint in the Blazers’ starting lineup following a 103-91 win over the New York Knicks, which was transcribed by Joe Freeman of The Oregonian:
"“He plays with a lot of confidence and he’s a very smart player. I think, offensively, it goes beyond making shots. He makes hard cuts, he makes team plays. … His role is to be a role player. He complements the players he’s out there with. He did that when he was coming off the bench and he’s doing that as a starter. He doesn’t make many mistakes. So, to me, it’s a perfect role for him right now.”"
There’s no question to whether the Bucks’ brass recognized those same traits that led to his arrival and it may not be long until Budenholzer feels the same way for the reserve sharpshooter as Stotts did.
Time will tell whether the hope surrounding Connaughton’s fledgling stay with the Bucks will bear out on the court, but it’s not as if his under the radar signing isn’t without some promising indicators of what may come.