Milwaukee Bucks: Grading the starters after 1 month of games

Shooting Guard: Tony Snell

If a shooting guard is supposed to shoot, then Tony Snell is probably one of the best shooting guards in the league. Signed to a new deal this summer, Snell has continued to do what he has done best since first putting on a Milwaukee uniform — shoot 3-pointers.

Sixty-two percent of Snell’s shots come from beyond the arc, which ranks in the 87th percentile among wings. Exactly half of those come from the corner, Snell’s favorite spot, where he knocks down 56 percent of his shots. Overall Snell is shooting 49 percent on 3-pointers, leading to an effective field goal percentage of 68.6 — first among qualified wings, according to CleaningtheGlass.com.

This puts Snell right among the upper echelon of true shooting guards, such as Klay Thompson or J.J. Redick. When Snell catches a pass he tends to do one of two things — shoot immediately, or attack a closeout and head to the rim. His shot chart is almost entirely congregated outside the arc or at the rim. Snell scores 1.4 points per shot attempt, first among all wing players.

There are two areas where Snell is simply maintaining his role, doing what is asked of him, but where there is potential for him to help the team more. The first is an incredibly low usage rate — Snell uses just 9.4 percent of possessions while he is on the court, which is in the bottom three percent of all NBA wings.

Finally, Snell also is neither the solution nor the problem on defense. He has all of the tools to be a plus defender, and alongside Khris Middleton the Bucks have all they should need on the wing. Even so, the Bucks are a middling defensive team, but that problem seems to be more schematic than personnel based.

Grade: A-