Milwaukee Bucks: How Will Tony Snell Adjust To His New Role?
The Milwaukee Bucks recently acquired Tony Snell in a trade involving much maligned point guard Michael Carter-Williams. Can the former Chicago Bull become a suitable one-season replacement for Khris Middleton?
The NBA preseason can be a cruel beast. One minute your team is a sexy pick to go from the lottery to a playoff spot, and the next your most important player goes down with an injury that will keep him out for most of the regular season. The Milwaukee Bucks know this all too well.
Starting shooting guard Khris Middleton will miss most of the season after he tore his left hamstring during a workout on Sept. 20. The optimism around the Bucks and their potential breakout season started to lessen with the news of Middleton’s injury.
Sure, point-Giannis Antetokounmpo will still be exciting and Matthew Dellavedova will bring an edge (and solid three-point shooting) to their roster, but Middleton was the glue holding the team together.
Last season he led the team in scoring and shot 39.6 percent from three-point range, while asserting himself as their best perimeter defender. It will be impossible for the Bucks to completely replace his production, but they have found a way to replace him in the starting lineup.
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After what felt like years of trade speculation, the Bucks finally found a taker for Michael Carter-Williams. They shipped MCW to the Chicago Bulls for 6-foot-7 wing Tony Snell in a swap of players that were often unfairly ridiculed by their home fans.
Snell spent three seasons in Chicago, averaging 5.3 points and 2.3 rebounds per game on 39.6 percent shooting and 35.1 percent from outside.
His best season came in 2014-15, Tom Thibodeau’s final season with the Bulls, when he averaged six points per game and shot 37.1 percent from three-point range.
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Despite never having averaged more than 20.3 minutes per game Snell will most likely spend the majority of the season as Milwaukee’s starting shooting guard.
He was never a full-time starter with the Bulls, but he did start 67 games over his three seasons.
He’s obviously a significant downgrade from Middleton, but considering the other wing players on the roster, he looks like the best option.
Malcolm Brogdon projects to the be the backup point guard and is undersized on the wing, Rashad Vaughn hasn’t even looked like a rotation player yet in his young career, and Jason Terry is 39 years old.
Snell doesn’t look so bad compared to those alternatives.
Despite his limited production there are things to like about Snell. He’s a long and rangy defender that is capable of shooting at league average or better from three-point range. Those types of players don’t grow on trees.
Ti Windisch of Behind the Buck Pass gave his take on what Bucks fans can reasonably expect from Snell this season.
"It seems reasonable that Snell plays something like 28 minutes per game next season. That’s a smidge less than what Jerryd Bayless played per game, and much less than the team-leading 36.1 minutes Middleton logged each night.Snell averaged 9.4 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.7 assists per 36 minutes last year with the Chicago Bulls. That’s 4.1 more points, 2.4 more rebounds and 0.7 more assists than his per game numbers.Splitting the gains in half gives a rough sketch of Tony Snell’s per 28 minutes averages: 7.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.3 assists. Those are the numbers Snell would average if he played around 28 minutes per game in Milwaukee, and his production remained exactly the same as last season."
That analysis feels spot on, given Snell’s history. Nothing spectacular, but solid contributions that will help replace part of Middleton’s production.
The biggest question is how Snell will handle going from role player and occasional starter to full-time starting shooting guard for a fun young team that has playoff aspirations. Will he flourish in his new role or sink under the weight of expectations?
Middleton could be back by the end of the season, and Snell is most definitely not going to replace him in the starting lineup long-term. A restricted free agent after the season, Snell could earn himself a nice contract next summer with a breakout year.
Whether that’s as a shooter off the bench in Milwaukee or as a starter elsewhere remains to be seen.
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The real challenge will be if Bucks fans can resist comparing him to Michael Carter-Williams for the entire season.