Milwaukee Bucks: 3 development goals for Jordan Nwora in 2021-22

Jordan Nwora can work on his playmaking for the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2021-22 season

This one is much easier to quantify and find specific numbers or marks for Nwora to hit during the season. In his rookie year, Nwora averaged just 0.2 assists per game, the second-lowest mark among all players who played at least 250 minutes. For comparison, fellow former Bucks rookie Sam Merrill had 21 assists over 233 minutes. Nwora had seven assists in 274 minutes. He posted a 3.6 percent assist rate.

As shockingly low as that number is, I can live with it to a point. Sure, you’d like to see more than seven assists in nearly 300 minutes, but Nwora was asked to shoot when he was out there. He’s never been a great passer, but in college, he did average over an assist per game multiple years and even had an assist rate over nine percent! Even in Summer League, Nwora had eight assists in 115 minutes or two per game.

So a reasonable expectation would be getting that 3.6 percent assist rate up to a more palatable eight or nine percent this season. In Summer League, we got to see Nwora with the ball in his hands more often, and he did a good job navigating pick and rolls, making the right reads, and finding teammates. Obviously, he has a scorer’s mentality, but improved playmaking would go a long way to getting rotation minutes.

The other area of concern here is the turnovers. Nwora’s 14.1 percent turnover rate was the second-highest among any Bucks player with at least 30 games played (Thanasis Antetokounmpo had the highest). Even in college, Nwora posted high turnover numbers, so it’s been a bit of an issue for him. Improving that goes hand in hand with the improved playmaking and making the right reads.