2017 NBA free agency grades: Milwaukee Bucks re-sign Jason Terry
Despite last year’s playoff berth, the Milwaukee Bucks are one of the youngest teams in the league. They kept their vet around to guide this young core, re-signing sharpshooter Jason Terry.
The Milwaukee Bucks were not expected to be a playoff team last season. With Khris Middleton set to miss most of the year, the team was predicted to win somewhere between 32 and 36 games. Instead, the team rode Giannis Antetokounmpo to the sixth seed and a close playoff battle in the first round.
Giannis is the present and future of the Bucks, but he is a young star on a young team. Their oldest regular starter, John Henson, was 26 last season. Mirza Teletovic at 31 was the only player who started for the Bucks who was older than 28 last year — and he started two games.
Given the team’s youth, as well as the relative youth of coach Jason Kidd, the team desperately needed a veteran presence in the locker room last season. Jason Terry did an excellent job in that role last year. Apparently, he contributed enough both on and off the floor to earn a deal for his age-40 season:
Sources: Free agent Jason Terry is signing a guaranteed one-year, $2.3M deal to return to Milwaukee.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 15, 2017
While Jason Terry’s main role might be as a veteran presence, he is more than just an old head in the locker room. Before signing with the Bucks, Terry was in consideration for a college coaching job. His basketball IQ has helped him to stick around in the league for 18 years despite being an undersized shooting guard at 6’2″.
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However, Jason Terry is not just an assistant coach with a roster spot. He played in 74 games and averaged 18.4 minutes per game coming off the bench for the Bucks. Terry, currently third all-time in made 3-pointers, knocked down 42.7 percent of his triples last season on a healthy 2.3 attempts per game.
Given that Giannis’ biggest weakness is his outside shooting, keeping Jason Terry around might be valuable just to help the Greek Freak from deep. However, everyone on the Bucks roster loves Terry. He was an easy choice for the Bucks’ Teammate of the Year award.
Paying a 40-year-old player is always a decision that could end in disaster. However, Jason Terry showed last season that he is still a valuable contributor both on and off the floor. The Bucks could have opted to use Terry’s roster spot on a younger player with more upside, but the team will once again be one of the youngest in the league next season. For $2.3 million per year, the Bucks got a veteran mentor who can still provide a shooting element that the team could always use.
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Grade: B+