Behind the Bucks Pass
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Milwaukee Bucks: 3 big questions at the halfway mark of the 2019-20 season

By Jordan Treske

SAN ANTONIO, TX - JANUARY 6: (Photo by Ronald Cortes/Getty Images)
SAN ANTONIO, TX - JANUARY 6: (Photo by Ronald Cortes/Getty Images) /
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SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 08: (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 08: (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) /

Brook’s shooting struggles

No Bucks player’s season has had a more lopsided impact on both sides of the ball this year than starting big man, Brook Lopez.

Defensively, Lopez has played a leading part in the Bucks’ top-ranked defense and one of the significant reasons why the Bucks allow the fewest opposing paint points of any team in the league by a significant margin. Individually, Lopez is in line for a career year as a shot blocker where he’s averaging 2.5 blocks per game, which ranks third in the league behind Anthony Davis of the Los Angeles Lakers and Portland Trail Blazers center Hassan Whiteside.

It’s on the offensive side of the ball, however, where Lopez is mired in a career nadir.

After becoming the Bucks’ Splash Mountain last season as his sharpshooting became an integral part in their offensive revolution under Budenholzer, Lopez’s shooting stroke has simply been off the mark all season long as he’s currently shooting 29.3 percent on his 184 attempts from downtown. That’s quite the step down from the 36.5 percent he shot from three over his first Bucks season.

And as a result of his 3-point struggles, Lopez is averaging career lows in both points per 36 minutes (13.8) and across all efficiency marks (48.6 effective field goal percentage, 52.4 true shooting percentage).

Budenholzer and his staff have tried to find ways to open up Lopez’s offense that hearken back to his previous standing as an old-fashioned, back to the basket big and the 31-year-old has been at his best on that end of the floor when posting up opposing defenders this season.

In many ways, it’s quite remarkable that the Bucks’ offensive efficiency hasn’t taken a hit with someone as consequential to their system and 3-point firepower as Lopez struggling in the way he has up until this point in the season. But at the same time, all Bucks fans that have been waiting on a Lopez shooting surge to stabilize his cold shooting may have to come to grips with the fact that it may very well never come together this season.

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