Milwaukee Bucks: Revisiting Pat Connaughton’s 2019-20 season so far

Milwaukee Bucks: Revisiting Pat Connaughton’s 2019-20 season so far – Where Pat left off

In his second season with the Bucks, Connaughton didn’t reinvent the wheel by any means, opting to build on the foundation he laid down last year during the team’s 60-win campaign.

To that end, Connaughton was mostly successful in replicating the very things and marks that he had accomplished for the 2018-19 season, all while on target to achieving the most minutes of his career had the season not been disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.

On the offensive side of the ball, Connaughton was more opportunistic when it came to scoring the ball. Of course, the most notable area of Connaughton’s offensive output, his 3-point shooting, took a slight dip year-over-year as he connected on 32.1 percent of his attempts from downtown this year after shooting 33 percent from that range in 18-19.

While Connaughton continues to search for more consistency in his shooting stroke, he was super efficient when it came to his scoring chances inside the arc, converting 60.5 percent of his two-point attempts. That includes being the most efficient player to score in putback situations as Connaughton was averaging 1.67 points per possession on such opportunities, per NBA.com/stats.

Defensively, Connaughton’s services only grew more impactful over the course of his second year in Milwaukee. The fifth-year pro remains a productive rebounder for a player of his size and position as he pulled down 16.9 percent of defensive rebounds when on the court this season, per Basketball-Reference.com.

More so, Connaughton took on even more crucial defensive assignments where his speed and athleticism were very much needed to cover some of the premier off-ball shooters in the game. And it was through those responsibilities where Connaughton’s uncanny shot blocking abilities on the perimeter grew as an asset of his on that end of the floor.

While Connaughton’s strides were very much incremental, the nuances of the game that he excels in has certainly made him a useful contributor throughout his time in Milwaukee.