Bucks Rookie Season Projections as Post Giannis Era Begins

He was acquired in the Giannis trade with Miami. He wore the Miami Heat cap on stage and never wore it again. He was a Buck practically from the start and everyone knew it.

He was one of the strangest evaluations I have had in college basketball. In theory he should be a lock to be successful in the NBA. He is a smooth jump shooting modern wing with good size and wingspan.

The biggest issue was how slow his feet were and his lack of physicality and explosiveness. That showed up in NBA preseason as well. He only played 11 minutes per game as Milwaukee opted to play more of their guards who are ready to play already.

Nate only averaged 5.5 points per game and shot 27.3% from the field. He did show off the nice shooting touch from deep hitting 1 of his only 2 attempts of the preseason. There will be some people who would say but preseason doesn’t mean anything.

Well, his college stats were not much better shooting 39.9% from the field and 33.3% from deep. He had tons of usage at Tennessee and his ability to create any separate stood out. The same issues are following him to the NBA.

His best NBA skill will be his ability to get to the foul line. He has a knack for drawing fouls. He averaged 7.1 attempts per game in college. He got to the line okay in preseason also at 3.5 attempts per game in his limited minutes. He only shot 57.1% from the line, likely due to the increased pace which causes fatigue and shows up in rookies sometimes.

Projection

He needs to be in the G-league to get reps because I do not see him playing a lot this season. He may play initially just to see what he can do but I expect most of the season he will be playing for the Wisconsin Herd.

He will also need to work on his foot speed, ball handling and defense while down there. I would count this as a developmental year.

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