2018 NBA free agency grades: Bucks bring back Shabazz Muhammad

The Milwaukee Bucks decided to continue their experiment with Shabazz Muhammad, bringing him back into the fold as a possible bench option.

After a small stint that lasted only 11 games, the Milwaukee Bucks have decided to take another flier on Shabazz Muhammad, agreeing to re-sign him according to Yahoo! Sports‘ Shams Charania.

Originally a member of the Minnesota Timberwolves for the last four seasons, Muhammad was waived in early March before being picked up by Milwaukee, where he would go on to average 8.5 points in only 10.6 minutes per game.

Muhammad is what most NBA fans would call a gunner — someone who prefers to shoot first, second and third, really without any regard for his teammates or the right basketball play.

Simply put, when Shabazz gets the ball he’s going to shoot it at some point or another. That’s just the reputation he’s made for himself.

The man had a 29.5 percent usage rate for the Bucks last season, and that came as he barely cracked double-digit minutes on the court.

This type of mentality is likely what got him to this point in his life, but it hasn’t allowed him to thrive due to his unpolished skill-set as a scorer.

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At 31.9 percent for his career, Muhammad can’t space the court out to the 3-point line and his mid-range game is nonexistent, meaning that in order to squeeze just a drop of success out, he needs the ball in his hands.

His defense is and has never been even remotely average. The most defensive win shares he’s ever had in a single year is 0.2. For context, Jordan Clarkson — a notably terrible defender — posted 1.2 defensive win shares last season, which isn’t great, but is better than Muhammad.

The Bucks are obviously led by the oh-so-ridiculous Giannis Antetokounmpo and since his rise to superstardom, the team hasn’t quite lived up to expectations in large part due to the pieces that surround the Greek Freak.

Muhammad could be a talented scorer in limited minutes given the volume with which he loves to put up shots, but he just isn’t what Milwaukee needs at this point.

The Bucks need versatile defenders who can space the court out to the 3-point line and are fine playing such a role next to the ball-dominant duo of Giannis and Khris Middleton. Muhammad isn’t any of those things, which would make any sort of value he provides come in limited amounts of action.

Maybe every so often he puts up 15 points on a semi-efficient shooting percentage, but is that really worth all the terrible looks and glue hands that don’t allow him to give up the basketball?

Looking at the depth chart, there also just aren’t many minutes to go around at either the 2 or 3 position.

Antetokounmpo and Middleton are no-brainers, but then there’s also guys like Tony Snell, rookie Donte DiVincenzo and Matthew Dellavedova, who are all better fits next to Milwaukee’s two stars.

Sure, the Bucks may only be taking a flier on Muhammad and he may not see much playing time, but there appears to be little value in a guy so inconsistent on both ends, especially when his game doesn’t seem to mesh with others on the roster.

Grade: C-