NBA: Off-season weakness each star should have worked on

17. Khris Middleton, SF, Milwaukee Bucks – Getting to the line

It’s difficult to criticize a defending champion on his game, when it was clearly good enough to win a title. That being said, the Bucks (like every champion) got lucky en route to the title, and the road to repeat will be even more difficult this season around. The Bucks have to get better or see the rest of the league’s contenders pass them by.

Khris Middleton is an offensive superhero, completely unfazed by taking difficult shots and canning them in the face of defenders. He hit a number of big shots in the playoffs last season, and really throughout the last few years as the Bucks have transformed from young team of intrigue into perennial contenders and reigning champs. He is a master of the midrange, hitting 47 percent of his shots from that difficult area, and 41 percent of his 3-point shots.

Middleton also shot roughly 90 percent from the line (89.9 percent to be exact), but he only attempted 3.5 foul shots per game. His free-throw attempt rate of 22 percent ranked 131st out of 237 qualified players, just behind Theo Maledon. For a player who has the ball in his hands as much as Middleton, this is a glaring weakness.

Increasing his free-throw rate will result in something akin to free points given his shooting accuracy from the striple. Defenders often can guard up on him to crowd his jumpshot, knowing he is unlikely to punish them for it. Improving his aggression and craftiness in drawing fouls is the obvious weakness he hopefully addressed this offseason.