The Milwaukee Bucks could not have asked for a much better start to the season for recent free agent addition Cole Anthony, but he's lost that touch lately. They need him to get back to it, embracing his role with smart shots and good passing.
The first handful of games saw the young guard thrive in his role off the bench for his new team with excellent court vision and efficient scoring, providing some much-needed firepower for the offense in stretches with Giannis Antetokounmpo on the bench.
In the month of October, Anthony averaged 13 points on 54 percent shooting while adding nearly six assists per contest in just 21 minutes off the bench. He actively sought to create for his teammates while also effectively picking his spots to score himself and limiting his turnovers.
He even drew high praise from three-time NBA assist leader Rajon Rondo, who called him "the most underrated passer" in the game, after the former All-NBA guard spent the offseason mentoring and watching film with the Bucks' young guard trio of Anthony, Ryan Rollins, and Kevin Porter Jr.
After an excellent start, however, the past few weeks have been frustrating for Anthony. Since the calendar turned to November, his scoring efficiency has been in a free fall, averaging just seven points per game on 36 percent shooting.
His assist-to-turnover rate has also been in a sharp decline from an excellent 3.8 in October down to 2.2 in November. While there have certainly been some head-scratching turnovers of late, he's also tried to shoot his way out of his scoring slump to the detriment of the offense.
Now with Giannis Antetokounmpo expected to miss at least a handful of games with a minor groin strain, Milwaukee will need Anthony to find his rhythm again to help maintain their place in a crowded Eastern Conference standings. Thus far, the minutes without Giannis have not been pretty overall. When Antetokounmpo sits, the Bucks are a staggering 19 points worse per 100 possessions.
As things currently stand with a record of 8-7, the Bucks find themselves both teetering on the edge of the play-in picture and still just a couple of games back from the second seed.
While the season is still young, this stretch of games in Giannis's absence could prove crucial to keeping Milwaukee within striking distance of the top teams in the conference. With Cole Anthony now one of the few healthy offensive creators left on the roster, let's take a look at how he can embrace his role as a facilitator to dictate efficient offense for the Bucks going forward.
Improving his shot selection
It's clear both on film and digging into the numbers that poor shot selection has been at least partially to blame for Anthony's scoring struggles of late. In November, 45 percent of his shot attempts have been contested with the closest defender within four feet of him, up eight percent from October.
He's also creating 1.2 fewer potential assists per game this month compared to last. Rather than creating for himself within the flow of the offense and making the extra pass like he was early on, he's been pressing a bit with the ball in his hands, trying to get things going for a second unit that has largely struggled to keep things afloat without Giannis.
Anthony has been especially poor at scoring in the mid-range and close to the basket recently. In November, he's shooting just 37 percent on midrange pull-ups and 38 percent within ten feet of the hoop. It's a stark contrast to the blazing hot start he got off to in October, shooting 83 percent and 70 percent, respectively. While those early-season numbers were obviously unsustainable over a larger sample of games, some of his recent struggles can be attributed to an altered shot diet.
In addition to taking more contested looks, Anthony is also taking 20 percent more pull-up jumpers month-over-month, accounting for nearly half of his shot attempts in November. He's taken significantly fewer catch-and-shoot threes in that span, as well as fewer shots around the basket.
Cutting down on catch-and-shoot threes might not be a bad thing for Anthony, whose career percentage has consistently been in the mid-30s on such attempts while hitting just 25 percent so far this year. On the other hand, settling for contested mid-range jumpers rather than driving to the hoop or moving the ball has been detrimental to both his scoring and the Bucks' offense in general.
In fairness, some of these shooting struggles are just part of the reality of who he is as a player. In what is now his sixth season in the league, his field goal percentage is right in line with his career average. He will likely always be a streaky shooter as an undersized guard, but improving his shot selection and tapping into his playmaking potential will be key for the Bucks' offense moving forward.
Embracing his role as a facilitator
As the primary ball handler for the bench unit, passing has been where Cole Anthony has truly thrived as an on-ball creator this year for Milwaukee. He appears most comfortable setting up offense using ball screens, running a high volume of pick-and-roll plays when he's on the court. Anthony has the tight handle and wiggle to create leverage off of screens and quickly get downhill, where he can kick out to open teammates behind the arc or hit the roll man in stride, cutting towards the hoop.
Perhaps as a result of spending the summer watching film with Rondo and the other young Bucks guards, Anthony has nearly doubled his assists per game from a year ago. Even with his recent struggles taking care of the basketball, he's still operating with a quality 2.5 assist-to-turnover rate for the season. Much of the success he's had has come from hunting open looks for his teammates when the defense collapses after his dribble penetration on drives to the basket.
It would be difficult to call drive-and-kick a strength of Anthony's game with the Magic last season. On 7.5 drives per game in 2024-25 with Orlando, he struggled with a subpar 1.56 assist-to-turnover ratio for a guard and finished just 45 percent of his looks. Off the bench, he functioned as more of a microwave scorer than a true playmaker.
With 9.4 drives per game this season, Anthony has increased his aggressiveness in his role as the primary playmaker off the bench for his new team. On those drives, he touts an excellent 4.3 assist-to-turnover ratio and is finishing 50 percent of his own looks. This is a drastic improvement year-over-year, and his creativity and vision as a facilitator on those plays really pop on film.
The Bucks' prioritization in putting shooters around Giannis with this roster has also ultimately allowed Cole Anthony to operate with more space in driving to the hoop and setting up easy buckets for his teammates this year. By settling for contested mid-range shots lately, though, he has been letting opposing defenses off the hook. Anthony's clearly been at his best when getting downhill, so improving his shot diet and staying aggressive will be key for him to get back on track this season.
If the Bucks are going to find success in this upcoming stretch without their star player, they are going to need Anthony to step up in a big way and embrace his role as an offensive facilitator. While his play has been frustrating lately, he's shown that he has what it takes to be effective as a table setter for his team. Time will tell if he can fully buy into the role the Milwaukee Bucks desperately need him to fill in the absence of Antetokounmpo.