Milwaukee Bucks: Thon Maker’s defense makes him potential game changer
The vast majority of Thon Maker‘s game still lies on the raw side for a variety of reasons as we’ve seen over the last two seasons. With that said, the defensive potential he clearly possesses may prove to be the defining facet in evaluating what he brings to the Milwaukee Bucks.
Through his first two years with the Milwaukee Bucks, Thon Maker’s play has ran the gamut of emotions and reactions in the eyes of all Bucks fans.
When Maker has been at his best, most impactful self, most notably coming during both of the Bucks’ last two playoff appearances, it’s provided us a look into the type of player the organization envisioned him becoming when they drafted him 10th overall in the 2016 NBA Draft.
Yet Maker’s extended cold spells over his young career have done more than enough to balance out the peaks he’s displayed in Milwaukee. The low points that we’ve watched in Maker’s NBA career have served as the all-too-prevalent reminder of why it’s better for Bucks fans to not count their chickens before they hatch, so to speak, despite the encouraging small sample size his postseason performances indicate of his potential.
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Of the many areas in his game that encapsulates the idea of what Maker could be versus what he is, it’s Maker’s defensive play that is representative of this dilemma.
There’s no question that not only does Maker possess the requisite physical tools to be a high impact, quality defender, but he carries the mentality and desire to be a difference maker on that end of the floor too.
The endless amount of energy and high level athleticism the Australian international plays with only reinforces the varied potential he holds as a defender.
No matter the individual traits and attributes Maker sports in his arsenal, the discipline to rein in his modern day defensive sensibilities remains lacking in his complement of tools.
Of course, that was only exacerbated by the defective defensive scheme the Bucks’ previous coaching regime clung to in Maker’s first two NBA campaigns where the 21-year-old’s defensive activity would often look like a plastic bag twisting in the wind as opposing teams carved up the Bucks’ defense possession after possession.
Maker’s inconsistent and often ineffective defensive play bore out in the advanced numbers last season as the Bucks allowed 110.5 points per 100 possessions in the 1,238 minutes he was out on the court, per NBA.com/stats. In the time without Maker on the floor, 2,728 minutes to be exact, that number decreased to 105.6 points per 100 possessions.
While we’re past the days of Jason Kidd and Joe Prunty manning the sidelines due to the high profile coaching change the Bucks made this offseason, the difference in how the Bucks’ defense performed with and without Maker shouldn’t be dismissed in the wake of a new regime coming in.
Of course, that’s the challenge new Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer and his staff have on their hands now that they’ve been tasked with developing Maker and the team’s overall roster.
Helping to steer Maker in the right direction in order to refine his defensive capabilities, and turning his services on that end into a viable final product, is just one of many hurdles that need to be cleared to make his erratic development to this point a thing of the past.
If anything, simplifying or defining his defensive responsibilities may go a long way in leveraging what he has to offer to realize his unbridled abilities on that side of the floor. Perhaps Maker’s rim protection may be the angle to explore to how he could be utilized under Coach Bud.
It’s easy to point to the highlight-worthy rejections Maker swatted during the last two postseason appearances the Bucks have made and how that’s been an aberration compared to his regular season play. Not for nothing, though, Maker’s defensive presence within the paint came through in underlying ways last year as he registered a 57.7 defended field goal percentage on shot attempts taken within six feet.
Granted, that may just be a glimmer of hope among the wreckage that was Maker’s significant sophomore stepback last season, but it’s still something that may be useful to keep in mind when projecting where he could go from here.
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Because at this point, that’s precisely all we can do with Maker, given how his flashes of brilliance have come intermittently since entering the NBA. Unless he starts proving otherwise this upcoming season, it’ll be hard to keep clinging to the projection of the player Maker may end up being compared to the harsh reality of his situation.