Milwaukee Bucks: What has Thon Maker displayed in his career to date?

As he prepares for his third season with the Milwaukee Bucks, what has Thon Maker proven in his NBA career to date, and where does that leave him going forward?

In the 2016 NBA draft, the Milwaukee Bucks used the 10th overall pick on Thon Maker, in a move that was considered to be a reach by many.

To be fair, that draft class was shallow and hindsight tells us Domantas Sabonis, Taurean Prince, Pascal Siakam, Dejounte Murray and Malcolm Brogdon are some of the few good NBA rotation players who were selected beyond that point.

When it comes to pre-draft thoughts, what made Maker appealing was his combination of height, athleticism and potential shooting ability. However, in my opinion, the chances of him having a high ceiling was always in doubt due to his deficiencies in basketball IQ and playmaking ability.

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Adding to that, at the center spot, where Maker possesses the greatest potential to be effective, his severe lack of strength and his less than stellar hands are big limitations as well. Maker can, however, still be a stretch-5 who can switch on the defensive end, if he just gets a bit stronger and more experienced. That would make him a starting caliber player.

What have we seen in his first two seasons to suggest which direction he’s headed in, though?

Stats-wise, Maker’s first season was not much to write home about, but his second season was even worse.

More specifically, on the offensive end, Maker has to start doing a bit more of what he did in Game 3 of the 2017 playoff series against the Raptors.

In the above clip, Maker rolled to the basket and finished through contact at the 48-second mark, at 56 seconds he attacked a closeout and dished to a teammate at the right time, at 1:08 he made a well-timed cut and finished nicely, at 1:10 he pump-faked and attacked the rim to get the foul, at 1:30 he made a three-pointer off the pick-and-pop, and at 1:50 he pushed ahead in transition with his speed.

That demonstrates close to the full range of moves that Maker would need to have to be successful, and considering his general struggles, it’s incredible to think he’s already had single games on the biggest stage where he’s put them all together.

The discouraging element of this is that Maker showed more flashes of these things as a rookie than as a sophomore. In 2017-18, Maker was doing little outside of spotting up on offense, and even his shooting percentage from deep regressed to less than 30 percent.

Defensively, the Australian big man has to play smarter and foul less. Maker’s lack of strength puts him in a difficult position in the post, but still 2.2 fouls in 16.7 minutes per game (4.7 fouls per 36 minutes) are just too many. Likewise, three rebounds per game are too few for a player spending his time at center.

Both of these issues should be fixed to an extent as Maker gets stronger, but then comes the question of how much stronger he will get. However, Maker also has to gamble less for blocks and steals, and not mess up his rotations, something which equally applies to his teammates and will hopefully be remedied under the new coaching staff.

With a bit of luck, those fresh voices and perspectives will help Maker to start taking steps toward the right direction. Scrimmages, like the one the team held in New York recently, should be beneficial for the entire team, but especially for a player like Maker who needs as much basketball experience and guidance as he can get.

Thon Maker is likely not ready for a breakout season, but if he doesn’t at least show more consistent flashes of being a good NBA player then he won’t belong in the Bucks’ rotation at all.

To get significant minutes, Maker has to outplay John Henson who is a decent backup, while also proving he’s good enough to take a share of the minutes that would otherwise belong to Brook Lopez and Ersan Ilyasova.

If Maker doesn’t take that step, then the Bucks are perhaps staring at another lost first round pick. The Bucks cannot afford that if they want to contend, so as always, Maker’s development remains essential to the team’s development and long-term future.