Milwaukee Bucks: 5 reasons Donte DiVincenzo was a good pick

2. Solid team defender

If one knock against bench guards with a knack for scoring is inefficiency, the other knock is that they are a liability on defense. While it would be incorrect to say that DiVincenzo is a lockdown defender, he also shows some strengths on that end.

DiVincenzo has great instincts — on both ends of the court — and despite less-than-ideal length, was able to contest opponent shots. Standing at 6’4.5″, DiVincenzo was nevertheless able to block 18 shots over the past two seasons.

Those instincts and a natural intensity helped to fuel transition opportunities for Villanova off of live-ball steals as well. While he doesn’t have the lateral quickness or length to be an elite one-on-one defender, he projects as a solid team defender. If given the green light, he also crashes the boards and comes away with a large number of rebounds for his size.

Milwaukee has a number of players who should be good — if not truly elite — on defense, but has been unable to put those pieces together into an above-average defense for the past few seasons under head coach Jason Kidd. With a high-level and proven defensive coach in Mike Budenholzer now at the helm, there is hope that DiVincenzo can play a part in a top-flight defense.