Milwaukee Bucks: Wesley Matthews’ three-point shooting is crucial
As the Milwaukee Bucks look to improve on their three-point potency next season, the sharpshooting of veteran wing Wesley Matthews will be critical to their collective firepower.
Throughout a glowing 2018-19 campaign, the Milwaukee Bucks took to revolutionizing their offense to meet the standards of the modern NBA.
No other team increased their three-point volume to the degree that the Bucks did year over year, as they finished behind only the Houston Rockets in three-point tries last season after being 25th in that department for their 2017-18 season.
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And judging by their dealings throughout free agency, the Bucks have reinforced that not only is their three-point happy offense here to stay, but they may even let it fly to a higher standard than they set for themselves last year.
The big hurdle the Bucks will look to tackle next season is improving on their total efficiency from downtown after posting a 35.3 percent clip on such attempts, good for 15th in the NBA last year.
Of course, getting one of the most prolific and efficient three-point gunners throughout league history in Kyle Korver will help significantly in that regard. As will fellow new addition and veteran wing, Wesley Matthews.
The recent addition of Korver did somewhat overshadow adding a sure shooter of the caliber Matthews has been on the NBA level, as he stands as a career 38.2 percent marksman from downtown. Regardless, the combination of Matthews and Korver gives the Bucks proven three-point threats that they otherwise didn’t have within their crop of wings.
Having long been a prominent 3-and-D wing throughout this decade, Matthews’ remarkable shooting touch from three has largely remained consistent throughout his various stops in his 10-year NBA career.
The 32-year-old’s shot profile as an incredibly dangerous catch-and-shoot threat fits right in with a Bucks team that produced the most catch-and-shoot three-point tries during last season, per NBA.com/stats. For example, Matthews tallied a 40.1 percent clip on such attempts and a 59.6 effective field goal percentage on all catch-and shoot opportunities last year across his stints with the Dallas Mavericks, New York Knicks and the Indiana Pacers.
Not only that, but Matthews’ knock down shooting is tailor made for an offensive system that generated the second most wide open three-point attempts per game (21.9), ranking only behind the Atlanta Hawks. On those opportunities, Matthews hit 45.2 percent of his wide open triples throughout last year.
To have such a precise, skilled shooter as Matthews is flanking the wings while Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo barrels down the open floor is an incredibly tantalizing prospect to envision for next season.
Matthews may not stand as the floor bending presence from beyond the arc that Korver is, but he does hold the capabilities to do some damage maneuvering around screens, considering he ranked in the 95th percentile on off screen scoring chances last season.
The Bucks obviously have very good reason to bet on the system that took the league by storm, but offseason departures such as Malcolm Brogdon, Nikola Mirotic and Tony Snell were a hit to the collective shooting prowess they exhibited throughout last season.
With room for improvement to display an efficiency uptick, the players that the Bucks have added in place of those aforementioned exits, as well as internal improvement from some of their improving three-point shooters, will be crucial in helping Milwaukee to become an even more formidable three-point juggernaut next year.
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Needless to say, that could be possible in picking up a shooter like Matthews and time will tell if his homecoming will play a critical part in the Bucks brandishing an even more explosive three-point offense.