Reactions to the Milwaukee Bucks closing in on DeAndre’ Bembry signing

The Milwaukee Bucks have filled one of their open roster spots, folks!

After much speculation the last couple of days since the trade deadline, the Bucks are close to signing wing DeAndre’ Bembry for the rest of the season, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. They still have at least one more spot to fill on the roster with a notable Slovenian point guard that will officially be hitting the market soon, but for now, let’s focus on Bembry.

Reactions to the Milwaukee Bucks adding DeAndre’ Bembry for the rest of the season

I wrote right after the deadline that the Bucks had a hole on the wing after sending out Donte DiVincenzo and, to a lesser extent, Rodney Hood and Semi Ojeleye. That only became more of a need when Pat Connaughton broke his finger against the Phoenix Suns and expected to be out at least a month after having surgery.

That’s probably a large reason why Bembry chose the Bucks (aside from, you know, they’re the defending champs and are really good), they have a spot for him to play rotation minutes right away.

In 48 games with the Brooklyn Nets this season (started 20 of them), the 27-year-old averaged 5.8 points on 61 percent true shooting, 3.2 rebounds, 1.3 assists, and 1.0 steals in nearly 20 minutes per game.

Starting with his offensive game, he’s not much of a shooter at all. In 288 career games, Bembry is a 28.3 percent 3-point shooter on 375 attempts. That figure is helped out quite a bit by his shooting this season as he’s hit on 41.7 percent of his 36 attempts from deep this season.

A popular number going around is that Bembry is shooting 55 percent on corner 3s this season, which sounds fantastic… until you realize it’s on 20 attempts.

What Bembry does do well is that he gets to the rim and has been a solid finisher at the basket for his career. He’s not going to be the best spacer for Giannis Antetokounmpo when they’re out there together, but he will be able to go to work in the dunker spot as a release valve for drivers to dump off to.

Additionally, he’s crashed the offensive glass for his entire career and Bucks fans know all about the value of a big wing that can crash the offensive glass and get extra offensive possessions for his team.

I’d also like to see if they can get him more involved as a short roll passer or just use his passing more in general. He had a 14.5 percent assist rate in 202 games from his second NBA season to his one season with the Toronto Raptors, but only had an 8.6 assist rate with the Nets as their offense was centered more around the (now defunct) big three.

What we should be most excited about with Bembry is his defense and positional versatility that will help head coach Mike Budenholzer get a little more creative with lineups, specifically Giannis at center groups.

The Nets primarily used him as a small forward with around 65 percent of his minutes coming there, but he saw around 20 percent of his minutes at power forward as well. When you think of someone to replace Connaughton for an extended period, you want someone who, primarily, can defend multiple positions and play bigger than his listed size.

Connaughton is listed at 6’5″ and 209 pounds. Bembry? 6’5″ and 210 pounds. They aren’t identical players, but the body type and defensive tenacity are similar that this should at least be a solid fill-in for the month that he’s out.

Whether Bembry can play in the playoffs will depend entirely on his shooting. Brooklyn likely dumped him because they didn’t trust that his shooting would continue at the rate that it has this season. If he can even continue at, say, 38 percent on one to one and a half attempts for the rest of the season from the corners, then he could sneak into the Bucks playoff rotation, especially with how Wesley Matthews has shot the ball.

You won’t see Bembry in the Bucks lineup tonight against the Pacers, but he’ll get to make his debut at home soon. Welcome, DeAndre’!