Milwaukee Bucks: How Nikola Mirotic will fit

In a hectic trade deadline when teams at the top of the Eastern Conference made big moves to attempt to catch the Milwaukee Bucks, General Manager Jon Horst wheeled and dealed at the deadline to turn a disgruntled Thon Maker and non-factor Jason Smith into proven stretch-four scorer, Nikola Mirotic.

Maker had not played in the last seven games for the Milwaukee Bucks and Jason Smith had not played in the last eight. After a seemingly small one-for-one deal that sent Maker to the Detroit Pistons and Stanley Johnson back to the Bucks on February 6th, Horst turned right around the next day to make a deal for Mirotic.

So with the Philadelphia 76ers making trades for Tobias Harris and Jonathon Simmons, and the Toronto Raptors acquiring Marc Gasol in a blockbuster trade, is Mirotic enough of a boost to keep the Milwaukee Bucks on top?

I think it does. The Bucks are the top team in the Eastern Conference by a full two game margin and just dropped 148 points on the Washington Wizards. They aren’t going away any time soon.

Mirotic is a versatile scorer capable of putting up big numbers on any given night. For a top team like the Milwaukee Bucks, his scoring will no doubt, dip a bit but his efficiency will likely increase. With less of a load to carry on offense, he can look for open shots and get many more catch-and-shoot looks than on his first two teams the Chicago Bulls and New Orleans Pelicans.

This season he is putting up numbers that would have earned him All-Star consideration in the East, but not in the talent-rich Western Conference. He is averaging 16.7 points and 8.3 rebounds per game while shooting 36.8 percent from 3 and 84.2 percent from the line. If these numbers kept up he would be the third leading scorer on the Bucks behind All-Stars Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton.

Most likely, Mirotic will not continue to average almost 17 points per game and will have to take a smaller role on a much more successful team than he has ever been a part of in the NBA. If all goes well, he will become a lethal sixth man, giving the Bucks a huge scoring punch off of the bench.

Since Thon’s removal from the lineup, it has been D.J. Wilson and Ersan Ilyasova manning the backup big roles. Ersan has struggled to score in recent games but has continued to do his part by rebounding and taking charges. Wilson has been a revelation for the Milwaukee Bucks this season as a very serviceable bench player. However, neither of them can create their own shot quite like Mirotic.

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Being able to give Mirotic the ball with the reserves will increase their flexibility in both the backcourt and frontcourt. With a proven scorer, they can now take Antetokounmpo, Middleton, and Bledsoe off of the court at the same time and still have a true number one scoring option. In these situations, they will still have primary ball handlers like George Hill or Malcolm Brogdon to run the offense, but in these lineups, he will be the premier scorer.

Fitting him into the frontcourt is an interesting proposition. He has to take minutes from someone, and the Bucks have gotten steady production from their bigs all year. Brook Lopez and Giannis will continue to man the starting spots, making Wilson and Ilyasova the candidates for minute loss. Considering Ilyasova’s recent shooting struggles, Mirotic will likely be slotted in a lot of his minutes.

However, coach Mike Budenholzer and the Bucks have gotten creative lately with their bigs, rolling out a lineup that included Wilson, Antetokounmpo, and Lopez. Giannis is one of the most versatile players in the league and can play with two other big men on the court with no issues, especially because all of the Bucks’ bigs stretch the floor so well, and Mirotic is no exception. This could lead to wing players that sometimes play the small forward position like Tony Snell and Sterling Brown losing minutes in favor of the extra height lineup.

It is hard to think of a more perfect fit on this Milwaukee Bucks team than Mirotic. A sharpshooting big man who is averaging the most points and rebounds per game of his career and the best field goal and free throw percentages of his career. His career is peaking at the same time that the Bucks are as a team and he will be a huge boost to keep the Bucks one step ahead of other Eastern Conference contenders.

There will be growing pains in his first few weeks with the Bucks, as there always are with a new team, but there is much cause for optimism in Milwaukee. Hopefully, when the playoffs come around they are in position to win their first playoff series in 18 years and possibly much more.

His ideal role for the Milwaukee Bucks is settling into a sixth man role averaging 12 points and 6 rebounds per game in 25-30 minutes per game. Getting more open looks created for him by the likes of Bledsoe and Antetokounmpo will ideally boost his 3-point percentage to around 40 percent. This is Jon Horst investing in this season and making a necessary move to keep the Bucks the favorites in the East.