Milwaukee Bucks: Searching for an uptick in efficiency on deep threes
The Milwaukee Bucks have spent the last two seasons prioritizing spacing the floor from well beyond the arc, but where does their efficiency on such shots stand?
The Milwaukee Bucks‘ 3-point revolution has been more than just televised over the last two seasons.
Under head coach Mike Budenholzer, the Bucks have risen near the top of the league to stand as one of the most willing 3-point shooting teams in the NBA. That blueprint has obviously done wonders to further elevate reigning Most Valuable Player Giannis Antetokounmpo and raise the ceiling of the Bucks’ entire offense.
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The purpose the Bucks have shown in spacing the floor to open numerous driving lanes for Antetokounmpo, as well as Eric Bledsoe and others down the line, has resulted in Milwaukee pushing the limits on firing away from well beyond the arc.
For example, only the Golden State Warriors and Indiana Pacers accumulated a higher average distance on 3-point shots last season at 25.9 feet, per pbpstats.com.
That has since gone down to 25.87 feet and that mark ranks seventh in the league this year. Meanwhile, the Bucks rank just behind the Houston Rockets in attempting the most triples from 25-to-29 feet this season, per NBA.com/stats.
Regardless of whatever statistic you want to point to, it’s clear the limitless range and volume of deep 3-point shots the Bucks have generated under Budenholzer and his coaching staff have gone a long way in boosting their shot profile and offensive diversity.
Milwaukee has surely been consistent in their attempts from well behind the 3-point line year over year and so too has their collective marksmanship on such shots as they’ve hit 34.5 percent on threes taken from that aforementioned 25-to-29 feet this year, per NBA.com/stats. That is unchanged from the number the Bucks hit last season, even in spite of some of the high-volume perimeter shooters they brought in the offseason.
And that’s in spite of the sparkling shooting years we’ve seen from the likes of George Hill, the NBA’s leader in 3-point percentage, and Khris Middleton, who is currently one missed field goal away from compiling a 50-40-90 season.
On the other side of the coin, the season-long shooting struggles of Brook Lopez have clouded the team’s overall 3-point potency in this regard. The same goes for the long-gestating attempts Antetokounmpo has made to develop his shooting stroke, as he’s still some ways away from consistency.
Being able to raise their collective 3-point efficiency stands as the final frontier the Bucks have to master to maximize their offensive ceiling as their roster is currently constructed.
Of course, that’s much easier said than done and there’s the hope that the internal improvements they may have with someone such as second-year guard Donte DiVincenzo or Lopez’s shooting regressing to the mean would go a long way in making that a possibility.
With key 3-point shooters such as Kyle Korver and Wesley Matthews both possibly hitting free agency this offseason, the Bucks will be in the market to bolster their long range shooting, especially on the wing, and to raise their overall proficiency in that regard.
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Whether that will include stretching the floor to the levels that they have in recent years remains to be seen, but that will certainly be taken into account as they look to let it fly again and again when the NBA eventually makes their return.