Season Review: Sterling Brown, Malcolm Brogdon, Tony Snell

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. Yesterday went through the forwards so today we’re diving into the collection of wings.

A promising trio of young guards with 3-and-D potential make up today’s crop of player grades. Their seasons were diverse in their outcomes, but each flashed enough potential to show possible growth under new leadership.

Sterling Brown

Synopsis

Sterling Brown’s promising rookie season was built on the back of his defensive effort. Injecting a much needed, “don’t give me s***” attitude to this Bucks team, his fiery nature spilled into his hyperactivite on the defensive end of the court. One-on-one, he often seemed like the Bucks best, and most tenacious, defender, with the physical makeup to handle guards on the perimeter and go to battle against taller forwards in the paint. Were it not for Eric Bledsoe joining the team this year, I would feel confident saying Brown already looks like the Bucks best bet at having a legitimate stopper, something they’ve lacked in the past and that a new coach should be able to leverage when a defensive scheme devoid of hysteria is employed.

Offensively, he fulfilled his end of the 3-and-d bargain he should be for the next two years. His 35.2% from deep on 1.7 attempts per game is serviceable, and could creep up given his accuracy in college and proficiency from the free throw stripe. Sterling got to the rack occasionally this year, but shot just 52.7% within 0-3 feet. That’s not Delly bad, but it’s rough for a guard of his size. If he wants to evolve into any semblance of an off-the-dribble threat, that number will have to improve.

Staff Grades

Kyle: Brown showed us what he’s capable of, now we just have to hope the next coach can give him an extended run.

Adam: Brown showed a defensive tenacity unrivaled by any other perimeter defender on the roster. He deserves more court time next year and if he can develop any semblance of an off-the-dribble game, even in the vein of Malcolm Brogdon, he’ll be enough of an offensive threat to warrant some defensive attention.

Greg: As the resident Sterling Brown Stan, I could not have been happier with how Brown’s defense and confrontational style of play translated to the NBA. He stared down Jimmy Butler after posterizing him! His three-point game and offensive IQ needs work and consistency which will hopefully come as he learns under a new coaching staff.

Malcolm Brogdon

Synopsis

Before his injury, Malcolm Brogdon took what are best described as predictable leaps for his sophomore season. Like Delly, his requirements as a creator were undercut by Bledsoe’s arrival, but he still made some slight jumps in promising categories. His 3-point attempts ticked up slightly to 4.0 per 36 minutes, while his shot from deep fell a bit to a respectable 38.5% overall. Some were fearful his rookie season might’ve been a blip in that regard, but two full seasons of competent firing from deep seem convincing enough. The one number that dipped were his assists, down to 3.8 per-36 versus 5.8 in his rookie campaign. Again, that’s not surprising given he wasn’t needed as a creator as much, but I still think he has incredible vision when flashing to the rim to find a big man like Tyler Zeller who can finish quickly, a la Brogroe. It will be intriguing to see the interplay between those two next year.

Brogdon’s injury derailed what was a serviceable sophomore season, but there are two important points to take away that illustrate an improved player with potential for more. One, while his free throw rate was down slightly from his rookie year, his finishing around the rim was exponentially better. Those long-limbed finishes where he has only a sliver of space to lay the ball in always seem too good to be true, but he shot 66% within 0-3 feet this year versus 56.2% last year. That’s a marked improvement, and one he needed to show to make his off the dribble game more proficient. The other one is his percentage of pull-up 3-pointers. He went from 0.5 to 0.8 attempts per game, a modest improvement, but he managed to nail 48.6% of those against just 26.8 his rookie year. Small sample sizes abound there, but before Bledsoe arrived there were plenty of games where Brogdon cared not for his typically slow release and let it rain from deep on a pull-up jumper. If he can hit those with confidence, those are the types of elements that will open up his driving game even further, thus creating looks for others when he drives and kicks. Brogdon’s development may’ve been incremental, but those steps came in important places for potential future jumps.

Staff Grades

Kyle: There was a stretch early in the season where you could argue Brogdon was the second best player for the Bucks. His injury happened at the worst time.

Adam: Malcolm looked like he was a capable offensive creator and shooter with the ball in his hands to start the year. His injury likely stunted some of that trajectory, but he deserves a few more opportunities to create even with Bledsoe on the roster.

Greg: Brogdon was a steadying presence whenever he was on the court and his three-point shots in Game One and Game Six showed he is unafraid of the moment. Whether Brogdon remains a permanent fixture in the starting five or used as a sixth man is an interesting, and good, puzzle for the new coaching staff to solve.

Tony Snell

Synopsis

Tony, Tony, Tony. Snell, who apparently struggled for confidence in Chicago, precipitating his departure from the team, and who garnered the confidence of this coaching staff in Milwaukee last year, seemed to have his playing time wax and wane at will. The fact that this continued under Prunty, despite the fact they knew this about Snell before his arrival here, seems like a horrific oversight and one that could’ve potentially contributed to his bizarro season. He started the year like gangbusters, shooting 41.1% from deep before the All-Star Break. He’s maintained a decent 38.8% since then, even while being sporadically pulled from the starting lineup in favor of the wizened Jason Terry. Early on, Snell was replaced by Brogdon in the starting lineup too. Brogdon can be a floor-spacer, but he’s far better utilized as a backup guard thanks to his on-court creativity that Snell lacks.

In several late season games, he seemed to disappear in a Rashad Vaughn-like shroud of on-court invisibility. Milwaukee’s 119-111 loss to Brooklyn featured 16 minutes of Snell with just two shot attempts, 0 points and just one rebound. No player with his skillset in an NBA starting lineup should really ever post a stat line like that. Something wonky was happening with him and whoever the new coaching staff is needs to inject a shot of confidence into Snell again. He showed flashes this year of an off-the-dribble game, with almost as many drives as last year but a slightly better shooting performance, more free throw attempts and more assists. Small steps, but important ones. He will always mostly be a one-dimensional player, but one or two of those plays per game make a huge difference from him being a nonexistent player on the court. The new regime needs to find a way to up his usage from 10.5%, which represented the lowest mark of his career. That’s not ideal for someone who just got their payday. He also averaged nearly one less 3-point attempt per-36 this year. Snell has a quick enough release that he should be getting up more like 6-8 attempts rather than the 3.5 he averaged this year. Run the man around screens, give him more handoff-screens from Giannis and redistribute some of Bledsoe’s threes to Snell. If Milwaukee wants to extract the value they invested in Snell, he needs to be a bigger part of their offensive plans.

Staff Grades

Kyle: It seemed like Snell had a down year, which still was around 40%. But the streaks ran hot and cold too often.

Adam: I’m going to defend Tony Snell until I die. Rag on him all you want, but he spaces the floor, shot the best percentage from deep on the team and played serviceable defense. I think a new coach can wring plenty more out of him.

Greg: Snell shooting 40 percent from three-point range was right around where he should be; his problem was that he did it very quietly and when he slumped, he slumped hard. Nothing gets me excited quite like a Snell, trailing three-point shot, or when he sprints to help out a teammate off the floor. Going forward, I think Snell is best utilized as the first option off the bench.