Milwaukee Bucks: Pat Connaughton contributing despite recent shooting struggles
By Dan Larsen
Despite being mired in a shooting slump at the moment, Pat Connaughton is finding ways to contribute to the Milwaukee Bucks.
It’s been a rough few weeks for Pat Connaughton when it comes to his shooting. After going 46.2 percent and 48.2 percent from the floor over the first two months of the season, Connaughton found himself hitting on just 41.4 percent of his shots in 15 December games.
His three point shooting has been volatile from month-to-month as well. His percentages from deep have vacillated between a high of 44.4 per game on 4.5 attempts per game in four games October, to a low of 23.3 percent on 2.1 attempts per game in November over 14 games.
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Given his recent struggles with his shot, it would stand to reason that the Milwaukee Bucks have struggled in the minutes that Connaughton has been on the floor. However, that’s simply not been the case. In fact, the Bucks are playing excellent basketball whenever he’s been on the floor.
While he was scuffling with his shot in December, the Bucks still posted a 110.5 offensive rating with him on the floor, only 3.2 points worse than their third ranked offensive rating for the season (113.7). Their defensive rating with him on the floor in his 17.4 minutes per game that month was an eye-popping 95.7, which is 5.5 points BETTER than their league best 101.2 defensive rating. Overall, the Bucks net rating was 14.8 in his minutes last month, 2.3 points better than their league-leading 12.5 net rating on the season.
Connaughton has been finding other ways to contribute whenever he’s been on the floor. One thing he’s providing the team with is high-level rebounding. He averaged 4.4 and 4.7 boards per game over the past two months, including nearly one offensive rebound per game in December despite playing in a rotation role. His crashing the boards, especially on defense, has allowed the Bucks’ other defenders to help a bit more on drives and create chaos in the passing lanes.
Another way he’s helping the team is by enabling them to switch on defense, especially when he’s used in small ball line-ups with Giannis Antetokounmpo playing center. Even though he’s 6’5″, Connaughton’s athleticism, intelligence, and wingspan allow him to match-up against bigger players and hold his own. This, when combined with his rebounding on that end of the floor, has helped take the Bucks’ defense up another level.
On the other side of the court, he’s found ways to assist the the team as well. Despite having a low usage rate, Planet Pat has been keeping the flow of the offense going whenever he’s been on the floor. His cuts and runs off-the-ball have kept defenders preoccupied. His 2.3 assists per game in December show that he can pick out the right passes whenever he’s given the ball too. He’s also continued his knack for coming up with team-boosting plays at pivotal times, such as the monster put-back dunk he had against Minnesota on New Years Day.
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He may not be the consistent shooter that Milwaukee was hoping for, but Pat Connaughton is still finding ways to help the team in significant ways whenever he’s on the floor. If he can rediscover his range, he could become the Bucks most important rotation player behind George Hill. We’ll see if he can find it soon.