4 Milwaukee Bucks' preseason takeaways and stats that should spread optimism

Up and down the roster, Milwaukee is letting it fly and getting rewarded

Speaking of 3-point shooting, another cause for optimism is that the Milwaukee Bucks roster as a whole is shooting better from the perimeter.

Even while the Bucks were 25th in 3-point attempts (36.5), they finished the preseason fifth in the league in efficiency from range as they made 37 percent of their attempts. Up and down the roster were generally above-average performances shooting the basketball, with seven players shooting 40 percent and higher from three, including Damian Lillard, Brook Lopez, Delon Wright and Gary Trent Jr. - all rotation players.

You could interpret this as individual shooting improvements on the players' part, but this could also be a direct result of the new five-out offensive schemes being implemented by head coach Doc Rivers. This is, after all, the first time the Milwaukee Bucks under Rivers have gone to training camp after a full offseason together.

This also means that Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard are still elite at finding ways to get defenses to collapse on them and creating open looks for teammates. Antetokounmpo did finish third in the league in usage, with 41.4 percent of Milwaukee's offense being initiated or finished by the Greek Freak whenever he was on the court, per NBA.com/stats.

Some of these percentages will naturally regress to the norm throughout the regular season, but some of the worse performances of the preseason should also improve once the bench players see more relaxed roles playing next to the stars. Consider, too, that another elite shooter in Khris Middleton was out for preseason and should be back soon to bolster the Bucks' offense further.