Milwaukee Bucks: Sterling Brown’s increasingly complete mix of tools
By Adam McGee
Sterling Brown has been thriving to start the 2019-20 season, as his ever improving set of skills continue to grow in value to the Milwaukee Bucks.
Sterling Brown can do it all. Not everyone may have noticed that just yet, certainly outside of those who watch the Milwaukee Bucks regularly, but Brown’s impact on the team is continuing to grow in part because of just how well-rounded his game has become.
Brown leads the Bucks in net rating (19.6) and defensive rating (91.9), while also notably leading the entire NBA in that latter category.
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In short, the Bucks are smothering opponents into submission when Brown is on the floor. Outscoring opponents by almost 20 points per 100 possessions borders on being comically good.
But Brown is by no means just a defensive specialist. He’s a monster rebounder, ranking behind just Giannis Antetokounmpo and Ersan Ilyasova in rebounding percentage in spite of his 6’5″ frame. Adjusted to per-36 minutes, Brown is averaging 10.6 rebounds, which is a significant improvement on his previous career-highs in spite of having been impressive on the glass since day one of his NBA career.
Brown is also one of the few Bucks players who can be relied upon as coming even close to being a deadeye long-range shooter. Brown is shooting 37.5 percent from deep on the season to date, but is particularly locked in from the left corner where he’s shooting 42.9 percent. At 40.6 percent on catch-and-shoot attempts, Brown is a key weapon for a Bucks’ team whose overall shooting marks aren’t quite where they’d like them to be.
But perhaps even more enticing when considering what Brown has done to start the season is what isn’t quite working perfectly as of yet, but is still offering up clear evidence of growth.
Dating back to Summer League of 2018, the Bucks have demonstrated a clear desire to help Brown to hone his playmaking skills and comfort handling the ball, and there’s evidence of that trust beginning to pay off.
Brown often breaks out eye-catching passes within the flow of the game to set up Bucks’ stars, but he’s also offering up reasons for Milwaukee fans to stay tuned in, and completely focused, for garbage time spells at the end of games.
With only Eric Bledsoe and George Hill in place as traditional point guards with full roster spots, Brown is often given the task of creating in those final few minutes, and has delivered more positive results than are usually found in those kind of settings.
Brown’s current season-high of six assists came with such opportunity against the Bucks, and even more impressively featured zero turnovers to act as a counter. That was not a one-off for Brown either, as his second best assist tally of the season was a four-assist game against the Pacers that also didn’t feature any turnovers.
As he moves nearer to his 25th birthday, Brown is a perfect fit for the Bucks’ dribble, pass, shoot mantra of player development, while also standing out as one of the team’s best and most versatile individual defenders.
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Brown’s importance may only continue to grow as the year goes on, and then another challenging free agency decision may lie ahead for the Bucks.