Although the Milwaukee Bucks have gotten off to a rocky start to the 2021-22 season, one of the biggest positives from their 4-4 start has been the play from Grayson Allen.
Milwaukee’s starting shooting guard has given the team quality minutes, particularly with a large portion of their roster currently battling through various injuries. He is seeing the most prominent role in his career after being traded to the Bucks this past offseason, and the early returns – while a small sample size – have been promising so far. With that being said, let us take a closer look at some numbers from Allen that have stood out in the early going.
Grayson Allen is averaging a career-high 13 points per contest with the Milwaukee Bucks this season
Improvement has been a consistent factor in Allen’s four-year NBA career. His scoring numbers have gone up with each passing season, a trend that is currently still intact as he is averaging a new career-high 13 points per game with the Bucks over eight games.
Allen has finished in double figures in seven of Milwaukee’s eight games this season, the outlier being a 117-89 win over the Detroit Pistons where he played a season-low 21 minutes. Playing the most significant role of his career by averaging 28.3 minutes per game as a full-time starter, the production from the guard has been welcoming. He has the third-most shot attempts on the entire roster after eight games, and although he is shooting just 39.1 percent from the floor, he is still producing for the champs at a high level.
With Jrue Holiday and Brook Lopez both being limited this season with injuries, Allen has stepped up in their absence to take on that extra scoring load. He will have to continue to do so as starting forward Khris Middleton recently tested positive for COVID-19, leaving another gaping hole in the lineup. As the Bucks try to get healthy, Allen will be tasked with contributing more on both ends of the floor, and he has done so offensively early on.
Grayson Allen has shot a whopping 23 more 3-pointers than anyone else on the Milwaukee Bucks this season, and he has shot well
Due to his solid 3-point shot, there were hardly any questions about how well Allen would fit with the Bucks when he was traded there. Shooting 38.1 percent on a serviceable 4.1 attempts over his first three NBA seasons, the guard would be a seamless fit under head coach Mike Budenholzer in Milwaukee, which has proven to be true to this point.
Thus far, Allen is shooting 36.8 percent from behind the arc on an astounding 8.5 attempts. He has been getting more looks in this system than he has ever seen, and the team is encouraging him to continue letting it fly. With 68 attempts from long distance over eight games, Allen leads the team by a fair margin, with the next closest player being Pat Connaughton with 45. Many expected Allen to be utilized similarly to how Bryn Forbes was with the Bucks last year due to his sharpshooting, which has proven true in the early going.
Aside from the Pistons game, Allen has been in a nice rhythm recently as he has shot 42.9 percent on triples over the past five games. The two-guard has looked comfortable with his shooting, and he should only get better with time. The most significant thing for Allen will be knocking down his wide-open shots. According to NBA.com/stats, Allen is shooting a troublesome 15-of-45 on his wide-open (no defender within six feet or more) 3-point attempts. Once he starts hitting those at a regular rate, that 3-point percentage should only continue to rise.
Considering Allen leads the Bucks in 3-point attempts by a country mile, his role for this team is clear-cut. They want him to keep shooting the basketball with confidence, and as evidenced by his last five outings, it is starting to pay off.
28.6 percent of Grayson Allen’s passes have come from Giannis Antetokounmpo, the most among any other teammate on the Milwaukee Bucks
Part of the reason why Allen has gotten so many 3-point attempts is because of playing next to Giannis Antetokounmpo. Previous players, whether it be Forbes, Kyle Korver, Wesley Matthews, or even Middleton, have all benefitted with their outside shooting due to the gravity that the MVP commands whenever he is on the floor. As evidenced by his number of attempts, Allen is seeing it throughout these first eight games.
The guard has been on the receiving end of 50 passes from Antetokounmpo, by far the most he has seen from any Buck. Allen is paying it off by shooting 11-of-25 (44 percent) from the field and 9-of-22 (40.9 percent) on triples off those passes. With stellar numbers like that, the newcomer is surely earning the trust of Antetokounmpo as he looks to get more familiar with the system. That chemistry between the two will be pivotal as the year goes on, especially when the postseason rolls around.
Numbers like this are precisely why the Bucks handed Allen a lucrative contract extension before he even played a game with the franchise. The 26-year-old is a perfect complement to Giannis in the lineup and he will continue to see a multitude of wide-open looks every night. Being a shooter and playing alongside Antetokounmpo is a dream come true for most. Allen is currently finding it out firsthand, and the early returns are surely promising.
Overall, Allen’s tenure with the Bucks is off to a solid start, and the guard is still not playing up to his full potential with all the wide-open misses. Antetokounmpo will continue to keep trying to get Allen going each and every night with his share of passes, and it will be Allen’s job to hit them.
Some might be skeptical after this small eight-game stretch, but the potential for this experiment to succeed has been on full display.