With lots of young talent in the Milwaukee Bucks organization, it’s hard to pick just one player to keep an eye on. After drafting Jabari Parker second overall in June’s draft and having Giannis Antetokounmpo on the roster coming into his second season, you would think those two would be popular choices for fans to watch.
While that may be true, there is another guy who just may be better than those two, and everyone else on the team: Brandon Knight.
Knight is a fourth-year guard out of Kentucky and is now in his second season with the Bucks. In the summer of 2013, the Pistons and Bucks decided to swap Knight and Brandon Jennings, and thus far, Knight has perhaps won the trade for Milwaukee.
In the still-small sample size of games played this season, Knight is beating out Jennings in all meaningful categories for a guard and is leading Milwaukee into the right direction. Jennings isn’t having a bad year himself, posting higher shooting percentages from the field and behind the arc.
Jennings also turns the ball over less than Knight, something that has arguably been Knight’s biggest weakness early on.
Either way, Knight has played fantastic this season and is well on his way to earning a very large contract this offseason, as he will become a restricted free agent. Whether the Bucks pony up the cash or not, someone will pay this man next summer … a lot.
What exactly is it that makes Knight so good, though? What is holding him back from becoming one of the league’s next best point guards?
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The first thing you notice about Knight when watching him is his speed. If he sees a lane while taking the ball up, there’s a good chance he’ll hit it and either beat you to the rim, or dump it off to a teammates nearby for the easy assist. Knight’s quickness just may be his best attribute.
If he gets the edge on you, there’s a good chance he’s going to make a play one way or another.
Being a point guard, you would hope Knight could pass. While 6.4 assists per game is nothing to fawn over, he does make some very good passes leading to easy assists. As mentioned earlier, Knight loves to drive near the basket and make passes from there.
Being so quick and capable of scoring at the rim, he draws defenses in, leaving jump shooters open with easy shots assuming the ball gets there. Knight can usually get it there.
Knight will often stand out on the perimeter after making his first pass of the possession, but when he does roam the floor, it can be a sight to see. With that elusive speed, it isn’t too hard for Knight to make hard cuts to the basket or wrap under the defense towards the strong side of the floor.
Ball and player movement are a major factor in running a successful offense, and Knight does both pretty well.
Watching Knight can be a lot of fun, but there are also a few things that could make him a lot better of a player.
It’s hard to complain about how much Knight passes because when he doesn’t pass, he usually scores, but you would like to see him move the ball more. It’s almost like he passes to begin the possession, and after that, he feels like he’s done his job.
After getting the ball back later in the possession, Knight almost always shoots. Like I mentioned, that isn’t always a bad thing, but you would like to see him pass a bit more.
Another thing to go along with the limited ball movement is the over-dribbling. Knight can go into attack mode and completely forget he is a point guard.
He’ll worry about his matchup, put his head down, and try to make a play himself. He can focus on himself too much, resulting in lots of dribbling and possibly missed opportunities to pass to open teammates.
Another small offensive worry is his early shock clock jump shots. You won’t see these too often, but Knight will sometimes pull up way earlier than he should.
At the end of the day, Knight does more good than bad. The good is really good and the bad isn’t really that bad. Being so young and full of talent, the Bucks would be foolish to not lock up this guy next summer.
It’s hard to tell what he’s worth yet, but for a rebuilding Bucks team that almost needs a player like Knight to get back into contention, that may be a lot. Knight is arguably the best option at point guard in the free agency market for 2015 (aside from Rajon Rondo), meaning someone will most likely offer the max as he is restricted.
And of course, Milwaukee would be foolish to not match.
Knight will likely have a busy summer in 2015, but there is still a lot of basketball to be played. If Knight keeps up the high-level play, there is no question he will become a very rich man in the near future.