3 Milwaukee Bucks breakout players of 2019

1. Donte DiVincenzo

The player on the Milwaukee Bucks who best fits the expectations for a “breakout candidate” is former Villanova guard Donte DiVincenzo. The second-year player had a rocky rookie season, plagued by injuries and cold shooting en route to just 27 games and 4.9 points per game.

This year DiVincenzo is available and making an impact despite a crowded backcourt. In 21 minutes per game he is an unequivocal positive while on the court, with a strong rebounding rate and a modest usage rate. Perhaps unexpectedly his impact has been mostly on defense, where he is prolific at generating steals.

It’s somewhat a tale of two seasons for DiVincenzo, as it was his number that was called when Khris Middleton went down due to injury in early November. DiVincenzo started 10 games, all Milwaukee wins, averaging 26 minutes per game and putting up 10.5 points and 5.3 rebounds.

Only twice during that stretch did he have a negative on/off number (a collective minus-3) but six times he had a positive on/off of plus-10 or more.

DiVincenzo was drafted based on his offensive ceiling, a microwave scorer who in college got white-hot just in time to win a championship for Villanova. That area of his game has flashed inconsistently this season.

If he can grow into a more efficient scorer then his improved defense should make him an extremely effective player, one who by the end of the season could be a regular starter in place of Wesley Matthews, or the first man off the bench.

He headlines a collection of Milwaukee guards stepping up for a dominant start to the regular season. While all of the player movement around the league got the offseason attention, the Bucks are having an even better season than a year ago, when they won 60 games.

DiVincenzo, George Hill and Pat Connaughton are all breaking out, if not into stars than into players who can excel in the role the Bucks need them to in order to pursue an NBA championship.