As he came to the Milwaukee Bucks in free agency this offseason, we detail three goals for Bobby Portis going into the 2020-21 season.
The Milwaukee Bucks now serves as the new home for journeyman forward Bobby Portis.
One of the many fresh new faces to come to Milwaukee over the offseason, Portis joins the fourth team of his six-year NBA career. Dealing with that kind of instability certainly led to the fact that the Bucks were able to pick him up on a two-year, $7.5 million deal in free agency.
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Portis had to wait longer than most players to return to action as he comes by way of the New York Knicks, who were among the eight teams not included in the 2019-20 season restart down in the bubble.
Needless to say, it’s been a long time coming for Portis and as he enters the mix for a team with championship aspirations, he has a real chance to rejuvenate his once-promising NBA career after some wayward stints in Chicago, Washington D.C., and the Big Apple.
So without further ado, let’s outline three goals for Bobby Portis to achieve in his first season with the Milwaukee Bucks.
Goal no. 1 – Provide a scoring punch off the bench
Throughout the many ups and downs in Portis’ NBA career, one of the few constants that can be gleamed from his time in the league is his ability to score the ball as a career 10.2 point per game scorer.
Now coming to Milwaukee, Portis will be more reliant on spacing the floor hitting away from three. After having improved every year as a shooter over his first four seasons, his time in New York last year was marked by his 35.8 3-point percentage while having a career high 31.7 3-point attempt rate.
That’s still a very serviceable rate and but being able to maintain his career 3-point efficiency (36 percent) on a higher volume of 3-point looks will be necessary in optimizing his time in Milwaukee.
Considering the multiple creators and established focal points that lead off the Bucks’ offense, Portis will have to rely more in being able to score without the ball in his hands. After shooting 35.6 percent on catch-and-shoot triples last year, Portis will have more space to let it fly than he has been accustomed to, given how the Bucks’ offense has operated historically.
Trading in tough contested long twos and sacrificing his love of jab step and pump fake baseline jumpers for more threes will certainly ask more of Portis than what he may comfortable doing. But if success and stability is really what Portis want to experience, literally stepping out of his comfort zone to behind the 3-point line will be among the biggest things asked of him with the Bucks.