Milwaukee Bucks: Trade value power rankings ahead of the deadline
By Robby Cowles
10. Donte DiVincenzo
Now we come to the Bucks’ most recent first round pick, The Big Ragu, Donte DiVincenzo.
DiVincenzo’s rookie year started out well, with him surprisingly getting a decent amount of minutes off the bench over players like Connaughton and Sterling Brown.
DiVincenzo was flashing the potential that Budenholzer and the Bucks saw in him when they drafted him, top-level athleticism, solid shooting ability and a high basketball IQ.
Seen as a scorer coming out of college, DiVincenzo was contributing in a variety of other ways from solid on-ball defense, to hustle plays, to using his insane hops to grab rebounds.
But then DiVincenzo got hit with the injury bug that seems to have derailed a majority of his rookie season. DiVincenzo hasn’t played since January 1, and hasn’t seen significant minutes since December 14.
The absence is partly due to injury, and partly due to coach Budenholzer going with other bench players like Brown, Connaughton and the newly-acquired George Hill.
DiVincenzo has flashed enough potential that, at the moment, he looks like he could be a very solid NBA player. Although his shooting has been slow to make its way to the NBA as of yet, just 39 percent from the field and 24 percent from deep so far, that seems more like a question of when not if.
In many ways, DiVincenzo is like a younger Connaughton. He’s going to bring speed and athleticism, tons of energy on both ends and decent enough shooting.
DiVincenzo is younger though, having just turned 22, and is still on a rookie contract which is very valuable for teams, and makes him a slightly better asset than Snell and Connaughton.
The sample size is still too small to make any definitive judgments on DiVincenzo as an NBA player, but the lure of potential is still there and it wouldn’t be surprising if at least one other NBA team wanted a chance to develop the former Villanova star.