Bucks' Brogdon quietly shooting lights out

Published

Welcome to the 2018-19 edition of the Young Bucks Tracker. Each Thursday we'll either track the progress of the players who might be of help to the Bucks in the future from the Wisconsin Herd or a current member of the Milwaukee roster. We'll also give updates on the other young players from the previous week.

This is the 10th edition of the 2018-19 Young Bucks Tracker.



SPOTLIGHT ON …

Guard Malcolm Brogdon

Head coach Mike Budenholzer's Bucks can shoot.

We know this.

Milwaukee trails only Houston in 3-point attempts so far, and ranks fourth in team field-goal percentage.

Veteran big man Brook Lopez has been the player most-often used to illustrate this new reality -- a 7-footer averaging nearly seven 3s per game is pretty notable -- but Brogdon is quietly putting together a remarkable season of his own.

The third-year shooting guard scored a season-high 24 points on an efficient 9-of-12 shooting in the Bucks' win over the Houston Rockets on Wednesday.

A career 46.9 percent shooter through his first two seasons with the Bucks, Brogdon isn't shooting much more in Year 3 -- 11.5 field-goal attempts per game, up from 10.5 last year -- but his percentages have improved across the board.

He's currently on pace to join the elusive 50-40-90 club, a group of seven players who have finished a full season shooting 50 percent from the field, 40 percent from the arc and 90 percent from the foul line.

Those players: Larry Bird, Mark Price, Reggie Miller, Steve Nash, Dirk Nowitzki, Kevin Durant and Steph Curry.

Maintaining that line for another 42 games is a tall order, but at 52.1-42.9-98.7 following his outburst against the Rockets, it seems doable.

Brogdon has been better from the field, but he's been automatic at the free-throw line.

Brogdon went 6-for-6 on free-throw attempts against the Rockets, and has missed just one free throw this season, back on Nov. 11.

BUCKSHOTS

-- Thon Maker played just 2:50 against the Rockets, but played well against Utah on Monday, playing 18:07 and scoring a season-high 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting.

-- Antetokounmpo had a 27-21-5 game against the Rockets. It's just the 20th time a player has had at least 27 points, 21 rebounds and five assists in a game since 2000.

-- Second-year forward D.J. Wilson has missed the Bucks' past two games with a hip injury.

-- Rookie Donte DiVincenzo missed his fourth straight game with an ankle injury.

-- Second-year shooting guard Sterling Brown had a season-high 13 points and made three 3-pointers against the Rockets.