3 Milwaukee Bucks exceeding early expectations in 2021-22 NBA season

Pat Connaughton has exceeded early expectations with the Milwaukee Bucks

Pat Connaughton proved throughout Milwaukee’s title run last season that he was the perfect role player for this franchise. He knocked down 3-pointers, played stellar defense, rebounded it well, and did all of the little things to help the Bucks win their first title in 50 years. Connaughton is doing all of those things well once again this season, but his production has increased mightily for the champions as he is off to a red hot start.

Connaughton is the lone Buck to appear in all 24 games this season, and he has played incredible basketball in that timeframe. What stands out the most from Connaughton is certainly his scoring throughout the first portion of the season. The reserve was solid with his scoring in 2020-21 by chipping in 6.8 points per contest, but he has nearly doubled that output early on this year as he is averaging 12.3 points per game early on. An interesting stat regarding this scoring outburst is that Connaughton already has four games scoring 20 or more points this season, which is two more than he had in the previous three seasons combined.

With Portis, Milwaukee’s leading second unit scorer from last season, sliding into the starting five, Connaughton has stepped up to put points on the board off the bench. He has done so with some electric outside shooting, as Connaughton is currently shooting 42 percent from long range on an eye-popping 6.5 attempts per game. The Bucks have given him the greenest light possible from behind the arc, which he certainly earned after knocking down 15 3-pointers in the NBA Finals a few months ago. This shooting has been essential for the Bucks, particularly late in games, where Connaughton is having incredible success.

Everyone expected Connaughton to have another good season, but no one could have foreseen this type of outburst from the 28-year-old.