Milwaukee Bucks: George Hill needs to be aggressive on offense

After finding his groove offensively with the Milwaukee Bucks late last season and certainly during their playoff run, George Hill will be leaned on to continue hunting for his own shot as he leads the team’s bench unit next year.

When it mattered most at the critical moments of the Milwaukee Bucks’ 2018-19 campaign, George Hill rose to the occasion as a veteran leader and producer for the squad.

Having arrived to Milwaukee in early December of last season via trade with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Hill served as a catalyst that helped fortify the Bucks’ depth and their ever-important bench mob on the defensive end.

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For a bench unit and roster that prominently featured young and inexperienced pieces that were enjoying their first taste at true success, having a seasoned voice such as Hill in the locker room and on the sidelines can’t be overlooked by any stretch of the imagination.

But where Hill’s campaign changed for the better was late into the Bucks’ 60-win season as he found his offensive spark, especially after having undergone a period of adjustment within his new surroundings after the trade.

That was spurred on in part due to injury, specifically the loss of starting 2-guard Malcolm Brogdon, as a bout of plantar fascia put an end to his 50-40-90 season in mid-March (though, he made his return at the tail end of the Bucks’ Conference Semi-finals series win over the Boston Celtics).

Hill had finally found his comfort zone within the Bucks’ free flowing offensive system and with more ball handling responsibilities, the 33-year-old stepped up in lieu of Brogdon being sidelined. That only increased during the postseason, culminating with Hill being the squad’s most dependable point guard with Eric Bledsoe wilting under the playoff pressure for the second straight year.

After re-upping with the Bucks on a three-year, $29 million deal on the opening day of free agency, and with Brogdon off to the Indiana Pacers following a sign-and-trade deal, the need for Hill to take on a consistent scoring load, especially with the ball in his hands, increases as the Bucks look to follow up their successful season next year.

The Bucks have a few significant pieces that are capable of creating shots and initiating the team’s offense between superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton, Bledsoe and Hill. And while Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer is certainly ahead of the curve in utilizing as many interchangeable lineup configurations as possible, Hill is the only player capable of taking on such a task from the team’s bench.

That isn’t to say the Bucks don’t have complementary scoring threats from that point in their roster and an addition such as renowned sharpshooter Kyle Korver gives the Bucks a different dimension they didn’t previously have, which will certainly warp opposing defenses on a nightly basis.

But having a player that’s a threat on the ball to the level that Hill showed himself to be during his first year in Milwaukee and throughout his 11-year NBA career is an incredibly valuable asset to the Bucks beyond their core pieces such as Antetokounmpo, Middleton, etc.

Even in the back half of his career, Hill possesses plenty of quickness to burst by defenders, get at the heart of the defense and use his deft, skillful scoring touch to finish at the basket, as evidenced by the 63.4 shooting percentage he converted on the 123 shots he attempted within the restricted area last year, per NBA.com/stats. For those wondering, that mark jumped up to 67.3 percent on 52 finishing attempts during the playoffs for Hill.

And we saw how much Hill’s ability to penetrate the paint and put down points at the rim did for his confidence and to open up his three-point shot in the playoffs, which he ended up hitting 20 of his 48 three-point tries during their run (41.7 percent).

Asking for that kind of percentage over the course of an 82-game season is wishful thinking, but it shouldn’t take away from the fact that Hill will have to maintain some three-point consistency in his second season with the Bucks, given their collective proclivity to let it fly.

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Hill certainly made his mark throughout all of last year upon joining the Bucks and that only increased as the season wore on. Considering the changes the Bucks made this offseason, they can’t afford for that to not be the case throughout next season too.

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