Season Review: Jason Terry, Matthew Dellavedova, Brandon Jennings

After Mitchell Maurer bravely went through each player on the Bucks roster with this Three B’s series, we’re following it up with the rest of the staff’s thoughts on Milwaukee’s player performances this year. Each installment will include a trio of players with a synopsis of their season, the staff’s collective grades for their season and some follow-up thoughts. Today, it’s the backup guard’s turn.

Milwaukee’s three backup nominal guards each tried their damnedest to make an impact, but even the nostalgia of Brandon Jennings return wasn’t enough to cover up some of the stink emanating from this group the past year. Sorry Jason Terry, you were still decent at least.

Matthew Dellavedova

Synopsis

Delly had a strange year, playing in by far the least games of his career (37). His 3-point percentage ticked up a bit from his career low 36.7% to 37.7%, albeit on the least attempts per game (2.1) of his short time in the NBA. Set to work in more of a truncated role when the season began, he was marginalized even further by the arrival of Eric Bledsoe. Thankfully, that seemed like it put him in his rightful position as a third guard. A third guard getting paid a boatload, but someone who could work exclusively off the ball rather than feeling like he needed to create.

That played out most significantly in crunch time, when Delly was relegated to just 28 minutes total in clutch situations as opposed to last year when he posted 108 minutes. He was also turning the ball over at his highest clip this season, despite smaller usage. His most meaningful attribute, probably defensive tenacity and the ability to fight through screens, was also redundant with Bledsoe’s ability to do so with superior athleticism and strength. Another piece that fell off a cliff in his limited court time was the patented Delly Floater, as he shot just 25% on shots within 3-10 feet after rocketing to 43% in that area last year. With Brogdon and Bledsoe shoring up point guard duties and Sterling Brown/Tony Snell likely taking a larger backcourt role, it will be interesting to see how a new coaching staff handles Delly’s duties, who was considered a favorite of the previous regime.

Staff Grades

Adam: Delly missed a significant amount of time for really the first time in his career, upsetting what could’ve actually been a decent chance for him to slot into his proper role as a limited minutes backup. Eric Bledsoe’s arrival put Delly into his rightful slot in the pecking order, and while his screening remains a useful wrinkle in Milwaukee’s wackadoo offense, he needs to hit threes at his Cleveland clip if he’s going to make any noise these next two years on his contract. Milwaukee’s lack of point guard depth may preclude them from properly exploring ways to get off his deal in the trade market.

Kyle: With better guards on the team, Delly was not relied upon as much which was a good thing. His contract and lack of ability should make him the first person Milwaukee tries to ship out to help its cap situation.

Greg: The worst thing about Delly is his contract. When healthy, he is a pesky defender and smart offensive facilitator, however, those qualities only come in handy from time to time and do not make up for the other holes in his game. Like Adam mentioned above, he needs to return to being a reliable-ish three-point threat next season for the bench unit to have some bite.

Jason Terry

Synopsis

Terry wasn’t the surprising plus-minus darling this year that he was last year, when the Bucks were +1.5 points per game with him on and the inverse (-1.5) with him off. The team was just 0.4 with him on and -0.5 with him off, so slightly above a wash. Still, his ball movement while on the court remains one of the reasons I think the coaching staff stuck with him so willingly this year. Terry’s team-low 10% usage remains a hallmark of that mentality, as the ball never sticks in his hands long before finding its way to the basket or another Bucks player. Hopefully, he imparted that sort of play style into some of the Bucks’ younger backcourt players.

Terry’s acumen gave the Bucks a jolt of veteran savvy and know-how, generally finding the right spots on the court to space the floor and slinking into the corners in transition. Defensively, he knows where to position his body for steals, 0.8 in just 16 minutes per game is fairly impressive, but he doesn’t have the speed to handle guys one-on-one anymore. In Milwaukee’s scheme he was able to float into passing lanes, but I’m not sure the Bucks need to keep him around and worry about hiding him defensively for long stretches of the game. JET’s run in Milwaukee has been fruitful, but it’s time to cede his playing time to the younger guys.

Staff Grades

Adam: Terry remains a vexing player for me. On one hand, he garnered far too much run in the postseason and at regular intervals during the season. On the other, his unselfish play does seem to power a more generous style of side-to-side passing play by the Bucks that can open up the floor.

Kyle: The reliance on Terry is an indication both of the player and the roster. JET knows where he needs to be and what to do on offense which you can’t say about many of the players. But he is still a 40 year old who is trying to keep up with players half his age.

Greg: Props to JET for still lacing them up and carving out a role on a playoff team’s roster. Unfortunately for Milwaukee, Terry is not a player to build around due to his age, but his style of play is a good injection off the bench and he is a great teacher with aspirations of being a coach. If he comes back to Milwaukee next season, hopefully Delly can became a Jason Terry type player through osmosis or through the basketball the Monstars used to steal NBA players’ talent in Space Jam.

Brandon Jennings

Synopsis

Brandon Jennings near triple-double debut provided a delightful bit of nostalgia for Bucks fans, but he was a non-factor in almost every game he played this season. Providing point guard depth in a pinch, Milwaukee’s coaching staff clearly didn’t think Xavier Munford wasn’t ready for prime time despite his star year in the G-League. Jennings did have a decent assist to turnover ratio this year (2.44), but that might’ve been his only appreciable positive attribute.

Milwaukee was -64 total with Jennings on the court this season in 205 minutes. Part of that had to do with him running primarily with bench crews, but there was a reason Jennings wasn’t even on an NBA team to start the year. His only flashes in the pan were with the combustible ingredients of tanking teams and poo-poo players aplenty. The only curiosity this year was the fact Milwaukee signing Jennings seemed to acknowledge that they made a mistake having Eric Bledsoe as their sole point guard for a month, but it still felt strange they didn’t just sign Jennings earlier then. BJ11’s return was fun, but his deficiencies offensively and particularly defensively can’t be overlooked.

Staff Grades

Adam: Jennings’ highlight this season was more nostalgic-driven than actual results. No NBA team wanted him for a reason, and that reason was likely that he was useless against competition stiffer than tanking G-league squads. Still, his theatrics in the Orlando game warrant admiration, as few scrap heap guys help a team even win one game. He shouldn’t be retained for next season.

Kyle: Two or three games aside, Jennings looked like a G-League player. He was a nice bridge between older Bucks fans with new fans. Probably doesn’t need to be brought back but it the Memphis game was memorable.

Greg: Having Jennings was a fun trip down memory lane and his flirting with a triple-double against the Memphis Grizzlies probably lands in the Top-10 moments of the season. At times he energized the second and third units with always pushing the pace, and at other times he looked like the third or fourth point guard option.