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Milwaukee Bucks: 5 goals for Thon Maker in 2018-19 season

By Jordan Treske

MILWAUKEE, WI - OCTOBER 13: Thon Maker #7 of the Milwaukee Bucks dunks the ball in the third quarter against the Detroit Pistons during a preseason game at BMO Harris Bradley Center on October 13, 2017 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
MILWAUKEE, WI - OCTOBER 13: Thon Maker #7 of the Milwaukee Bucks dunks the ball in the third quarter against the Detroit Pistons during a preseason game at BMO Harris Bradley Center on October 13, 2017 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images) /
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MILWAUKEE, WI – OCTOBER 23: (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
MILWAUKEE, WI – OCTOBER 23: (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images) /

Refining range shooting ability

As mentioned before, Maker’s offensive role as a floor spacing big man has had inconsistent returns so far in his young career.

While it was a certainly a small sample size, Maker connecting on 37.8 percent of his 74 three-point attempts during his rookie season left all Bucks fans optimistic about his usage in that aspect of his play. However, Maker’s sophomore season saw that optimism come crumbling down as his three-point percentage tumbled to 29.8 percent on 104 three-point attempts last season.

Given the fact that he offers little else in the way of being a hub for offensive productivity, as evidenced by his high ranking in the average dribbles per touch category for last year, Maker’s shooting specialist tendencies require plenty of patience that Kidd and co. wavered on at times last year.

That certainly won’t be the case under Budenholzer and the shooting principles he shared to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Matt Velazquez last week definitely applies to Maker, even if he didn’t specifically reference him:

"“Tell them to keep shooting,” Budenholzer said when asked about changing the team’s mentality surrounding three-pointers. “I think lots of people, bigs in particular, probably, they miss one or two and they may expect (us) to say, ‘Stop’ or ‘We don’t want that.’ I think right now we’re very much in an encouragement mode. We want guys to expand their range, expand their games. I think when you give them confidence and they know that you want it that’s the biggest thing you can do.”"

As a fan, you can’t ask for anything better than that and it’s on Maker to turn his ability to fire way from long distance into a viable asset in his game.

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