The Milwaukee Bucks have had an up and down start to the 2021-22 NBA season as they boast a 3-2 overall record at the time of this writing.
A significant reason for this rocky beginning has been the multitude of injuries that the reigning world champs have been forced to deal with. Still, the Bucks will have to navigate through those injuries for the time being with their title defense underway. Five games is a small sample size to judge a team, but here are three individual statistics that have stood out for the Bucks early.
Pat Connaughton is averaging 12.2 points per game for the Milwaukee Bucks
Pat Connaughton proved himself to be a hero for the Bucks throughout their playoff run as he consistently stepped up in the biggest moments. With the team hit with the injury bug early on this year, they have once again asked him to play a bigger role, and he has stepped up to the plate.
Starting in three of Milwaukee’s five games this season, Connaughton has averaged 12.2 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per contest. That scoring from the guard has certainly stood out, as he has never been a typical double-digit scorer. However, early on, most notably with his 20-point eruption against the Brooklyn Nets on opening night, Connaughton has helped put points on the board with players like Jrue Holiday and Brook Lopez missing time. With those two and several others sidelined, he has seen his field-goal attempts (9.6) and 3-point attempts (6.6) skyrocket compared to previous seasons, and he is making good with the larger opportunity.
Part of this increase in production has been because Connaughton’s role with the Bucks has been more prominent than ever before. He is currently playing 31.4 minutes on average this season, the most among any Buck. That is not a typo. It is no secret that head coach Mike Budenholzer trusts Connaughton beyond measure, and rightfully so, and he has been given a heavy workload to start the year. These scoring numbers will likely not stick throughout the season once the Bucks start to get healthier, but it is welcoming to see the veteran show out early. It might be too early to say, but Connaughton could be trending toward a career year if he keeps his foot on the gas pedal.
Grayson Allen is shooting 8.6 shots from 3-point range per game for the Milwaukee Bucks
Since Budenholzer took over as head coach, the Bucks have always prioritized their long-range shooting. The front office has brought in players over the years such as Nikola Mirotic, Kyle Korver, and Bryn Forbes to space the floor, and that is precisely what they had in mind this past offseason when they swung a trade for Grayson Allen.
Spending the first three seasons of his career with the Utah Jazz and Memphis Grizzlies, Allen had been a solid outside shooter as he hit 38.1 percent of his triples on 4.1 attempts on average. Once he was brought into Milwaukee’s starting five, the team has almost entirely used him as a shooter, and he is getting an incredible amount of looks on average. Through five games, Allen is shooting an eye-catching 8.6 triples per contest, embracing Budenholzer’s let it fly mentality offensively to perfection. That is by far the most on the Bucks and it ranks highly among the most in the league as a whole.
While the confidence is there, Allen has struggled to knock down these shots as he is shooting just 32.6 percent on the year. The looks are there, but he has been unable to shake this brutal shooting slump to start the season. Despite these struggles, the Bucks will be sure to continue getting him those looks and assuring him to keep heaving them. It is clear that they are trying to slide him into that Forbes role from last season but to an even higher degree as Allen is a starter. Once his shots start falling with consistency, it will be a massive boost for this Milwaukee offense. Even with the struggles, Allen is still averaging a career-high 13.2 points per contest, so one could only imagine what the numbers would look like once he finds a rhythm.
Giannis Antetokounmpo is shooting 35.3 percent from 3-point range for the Milwaukee Bucks
Following his dominant effort in the NBA Finals, Giannis Antetokounmpo put the NBA on notice as he showcased a new jumper throughout offseason workout videos and the preseason. It was particularly evident in a preseason matchup against the Utah Jazz, where the Greek Freak stepped to the perimeter and confidently knocked down a pair of pull-up triples. Could the reigning Finals MVP actually have patched up arguably his biggest flaw?
The early returns are rather positive, as Antetokounmpo is shooting 35.3 percent from deep on 3.4 attempts per night over his first five games. The newly improved jumper looks much better than it has previously, and the results speak for themselves. A five-game stretch is far too little to evaluate a player, but Antetokounmpo is stepping into these shots with confidence and knocking them down at a better percentage than ever before.
If Antetokounmpo can hang around that 35 percent mark throughout the season, he can take his game to the next level. That might sound crazy to say about a two-time MVP and Finals MVP, but this shot has always been Antetokounmpo’s lingering flaw, and it looks like he worked persistently in the offseason to improve. In addition to the 3-point improvement, Antetokounmpo looks great from the free throw line as well by shooting 73.5 percent from the stripe to start the year.
It looks like that offseason work is already paying off for the Greek Freak, and time will tell if he can keep it consistent over the regular season and into the playoffs. If so, there is no ceiling on the heights that he can reach in this league.