The Milwaukee Bucks thought they had a steal when they signed Amir Coffey. They liked him so much that they were comfortable cutting ties with Tyler Smith and Chris Livingston to hang onto Coffey and Andre Jackson Jr. after training camp. At the time, it was a justifiable move, as Coffey was reportedly turning heads early, but the decision has not panned out as they had hoped. Not by a long shot.
Bucks still waiting for Coffey signing to pay dividends
Coffey was supposed to be a smooth-shooting, capable transition threat to give the Bucks a decent wing option off the bench. After all, he was coming off a career year in which he put up 9.7 points per game while shooting 40.9 percent from long distance with the LA Clippers. Unfortunately for them, that is not the player Milwaukee has gotten.
In 19 games this season, Coffey has averaged 1.6 points and 0.8 rebounds while hitting 30 percent of his triple tries. He earned an early-season opportunity to showcase what he was worth, but following a string of mediocre performances, Doc Rivers swiftly pulled him from the rotation. What some fans thought was the steal of the summer has been demoted to a depth piece.
Considering just how thin the Milwaukee Bucks are at small forward, especially with Taurean Prince out with injury, it's telling that Coffey is struggling to find minutes. Currently, Rivers has rolled with a tandem of AJ Green and Gary Trent Jr., who are natural shooting guards, to run the small forward duties most of the time, despite being undersized.
Coffey is signed to a minimum deal, so the Bucks aren't hurting financially here. However, it does sting that they cut one of Chris Livingston or Tyler Smith to sign him. Livingston, a fellow small forward, specifically, is worth discussing. He didn't have much of an opportunity during his first two seasons, but once Prince went down, this may have been a good opportunity to see what he's made of.
Cutting Livingston and Smith didn't do much to hide Milwaukee's poor draft record in recent years.
Is there still time for an Amir Coffey redemption arc? Yes, it's a long season. A single injury or absence could throw him right back into the rotation. However, there's no denying that things haven't gone as the team thought they would when they signed him.
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