Milwaukee Bucks: 3 goals for Khris Middleton during 2021-22 season
It would be easy to look at the season Khris Middleton had last year for the Milwaukee Bucks and think, “well, what is there to really improve on?” And for the most part, that would be right!
Even before getting into a statistical analysis, he won an NBA Championship and an Olympic gold medal in the span of a little less than a month. It doesn’t get much better than that!
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Then in terms of his personal numbers, Middleton nearly matched his career-high in points and rebounds per game while also cracking over five assists per game and setting a career-best there as well. In the playoffs, he consistently hit big shots on the way to an NBA Championship, including his first 40-point playoff game, which conveniently came in the Finals.
His journey has been well documented as a second round pick back in 2012, but as he enters his 10th season, Middleton has turned himself into an incredibly well-rounded player that does almost everything pretty well or better. From shot-making to off-ball defense, there isn’t much you can’t ask Middleton to do.
He’ll be turning 30 on August 12th, and as he’s going through the remainder of his prime, we’ve seen Middleton at his absolute peak these last couple of seasons.
It almost seems unfair to say there’s more for him to work on, but hey, no player is perfect, and there are some things Middleton could tidy up or look to achieve this coming season from a personal perspective.
Khris Middleton can work on limiting his turnovers with next season with the Milwaukee Bucks
If there’s one complaint almost every Milwaukee Bucks fan has with Khris Middleton is that he turns the ball over way too much. Although his handle has improved in recent years, there will always be live-ball turnovers, and that is definitely the weakest point in his game.
Since the 2015-16 season, Middleton has averaged over two turnovers per game each season, but this past year was his highest at 2.6 per game. By turnover rate, 2016-17 was easily his worst year with a 14.8 percent mark (though he only played 29 games), but he was at 13.1 percent this past year.
Some of this came due to a bigger responsibility as a passer and playmaker this last season, where he did average more assists per game and a higher assist rate. Still, he also posted over three turnovers a game in the playoffs for the second straight year.
With a sample size this large, it almost is what it is at this point, but getting his turnover rate down to a manageable rate at or under 12 percent should be a goal for him this season. He should have more comfortability in his expanded role as a playmaker.