Milwaukee Bucks Roundtable: Ready for the 2019-20 season to begin

3. If you had to pick one Bucks player to be a surprise standout this season, who would it be and why?

BS: Donte DiVincenzo or Secret Donte as our friends at Locked on Bucks have coined him. Donte is a Bud favorite and will have time to shine, should he be good enough. All reports say he’s been working extremely hard on his shot and playmaking in the offseason and with his athleticism, he has all the tools to break into the starting lineup and make a real name for himself.

DL: He’s gotten some hype from people like ESPN’s Zach Lowe, but I really think D.J. Wilson has flown under the radar after the moves the Bucks made this off-season. He could be a real asset to this team given his defensive capabilities, and his ability to space the floor on offense. Don’t sleep on D.J.!

RD: I totally have to agree with Dan in that D.J. Wilson is going to be a standout for the Bucks this season. He battled injuries last season but when he was healthy, he proved that he could be a scorer as well as a lockdown defender. I remember on multiple occasions last season when Budenholzer threw D.J. in to guard an All-Star level center and he easily held his own. I think we better start thinking of a good nickname for Wilson because I have a strong feeling he is going to make a splash on this year’s roster.

LB: Wes Matthews. I think many people’s reaction to this signing was a bit of a shoulder shrug, but I think that he is going to be a real contributor to this team that come April, May, and June we’re going to be really glad we have. Is he going to completely replace Brog? No. But I don’t think he necessarily has to. He’s going to thrive with the spacing and shot creation this team has.

BO: I really think it’ll be Donte. I want him to take a huge step this year and become the point guard of the future. I think he’s got the potential to do it, but he has to work hard to be more consistent. I wrote my first piece for BTBP on this exact topic!

JC: I think the Bucks most surprising player will be D.J. Wilson as well. If he stays healthy, he should get a lot of opportunities to show the growth that many of us think he has achieved. He showed a lot of flashes of being an impactful player off the bench last season. I think his biggest key is being able to consistently hit threes. Wilson has been a career 36 percent three-point shooter which is really exciting, so if he can recreate that success this season should be a lot of fun for him and Bucks fans.

As stated in my first BTBP article, I have a really strong intrigue with Dragan Bender. I think he could be the most surprising, but he has a better chance of not hitting on those hopes. He should have a lot of upside and improvements during his short time as a Buck in preseason, but the idea of him being a contributor off the bench is really exciting.

JT: As tantalizing as it is for me to want to go with one of the young, developing Bucks players as everyone else has done so far, I think I’ll roll with Robin Lopez as my surprising standout for the 2019-20 season. That may be a cop out answer, admittedly, considering Lopez has established himself as a starting-caliber NBA center throughout his career, but that shouldn’t lessen the eventual impact he could provide to this team, even under a reserve role.

While adjustments will have to be made, the biggest of which is being able to space the floor and knock down shots from long range within the Bucks’ offensive system, the physical presence Robin provides gives the Bucks an option they didn’t really have throughout the majority of last season behind Brook, his twin brother. And even if Robin’s three-point shooting experiment goes unrealized on the court, I think the benefits of the skill-set he possesses outweighs any of the concerns some Bucks fans may have regarding his fit within the team’s foundation.

AM: In keeping with the dynamic that Jordan “Safety First” Treske and I have established over the years, I’m going to counter that hedge of his with something much more bold. Enter the Dragan! I couldn’t have been much more pleasantly surprised about how Bender appeared to hit the ground running as a Buck in preseason, and I’m not sure if there’s much doubt about him having the required skill and physical attributes to really make it in the NBA.

Instead, his problem was having the misfortune of being drafted by the Suns, and I think at this crucial juncture in his career a winning culture and a stable learning environment could completely transform his game. He’ll almost certainly log some DNPs to start the season, but with the right work, he has the ability to offer something different and of real value down the line. It may take until after the All-Star break, but I predict there’ll be a spell this season when he cracks the rotation and delivers really positive results with the opportunity.