Milwaukee Bucks Roster Ranking 2017: Khris Finishes as the Runner-Up

When these roster rankings started, it was more of a battle for second. Who would be this year’s Roma to Giannis’ Juventus? The title has been given to Khris Middleton, who makes the climb after being just outside the top two the past few years. Middleton missed half of last season due to a freakish injury which took his hamstring off of his bone and it never looked like he was at 100% the whole time last season. With the expectation that he is now fully healthy, fans should expect more of the 2015-2016 Khris Middleton who was a borderline all-star.

Khris brings with him a two-way ability few are able to surpass with his shooting and playmaking on the offensive end while being a wing defender that can guard the 2-4 positions. Middleton has the versatility so many teams in the league are searching and craving for. He is a career 40% 3-point shooter and can be a second playmaker on the court to take the burden off of his other teammates. Middleton’s size also creates the ability to run an offensive set which forces the defense to switch a smaller defender onto Khris who will happily attempt take advantage of that mismatch. When fully in high gear on defense, Khris has the ability and length to function well in the Bucks defensive scheme and he would be a part of the Bucks best defensive lineups. The team seems to play better with Khris on the court as his return with the lineup coincided with the best stretch of Bucks basketball last year.

We all know Khris can shoot the 3 very well but it seemed like we saw him shoot it less and opted to try and bully a smaller defender in the post and go with a fadeaway. That’s not always a bad thing, but someone as good of a shooter as Khris should be shooting threes at a much higher rate. Last year he attempted 4.2 3PA/game which is too low for a shooter of his caliber. Not only that, his 3 point attempt rate was 31.2% which was his second lowest number of his career, so not only is he not shooting threes, but it’s less of his offensive game. We know Frank and Eric have talked about this on Locked On Bucks plenty of times and we can only hope Jason Kidd, and his staff, will find more way to utilize him better.

Since joining the Bucks four years ago, Khris has gone from throw-in piece of a Brandon Knight-Brandon Jennings trade to being one of the main pieces in the possible Kyrie Irving trade. With a weakened Eastern Conference, Khris has a chance to be an All-Star this season. While his odds of topping Giannis are low, Khris is a vital part of the Bucks moving forward.

2017-2018 Brew Hoop Roster Ranking

2. Khris Middleton

3. Jabari Parker

4. Malcolm Brogdon

5. Thon Maker

6. Greg Monroe

7. Tony Snell

8. D.J. Wilson

9. Matthew Dellavedova

10. Sterling Brown

11. Mirza Teletovic

12. John Henson

13. Rashad Vaughn

14. Spencer Hawes

15. Gary Payton II