How can DeAndre' Bembry help the Bucks?
DeAndre' Bembry stands as the Milwaukee Bucks' latest signing
Reinforcements continue to be on the way for the Milwaukee Bucks right before heading into the All-Star break.
Tuesday afternoon saw news break that the Bucks were close to terms on adding veteran wing DeAndre’ Bembry, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Bembry was a surprising roster castoff following the trade deadline last week after the Brooklyn Nets cut bait with him amid their blockbuster dealing of James Harden.
What is now Brooklyn’s loss is the Bucks’ gain as Bembry comes to Milwaukee in the middle of a highly efficient year. The sixth-year wing is averaging 5.8 points on .568/.417/.600 shooting splits (60.9 true shooting percentage), 3.2 rebounds, 1.3 assists and a steal across 48 appearances, all on a 11.8 usage percentage.
Bembry immediately bolsters a Bucks wing rotation that has taken a severe hit over the last week between the departure of Donte DiVincenzo and with Pat Connaughton sidelined for the next month after undergoing surgery Monday to repair the fractured metacarpal in his shooting hand.
With that said, Bembry isn’t a traditional wing that the Bucks have coveted over the Mike Budenholzer-Jon Horst era.
Bembry’s 3-Point Shooting Questions
The biggest knock on Bembry in his NBA career has been his range shooting. A career 28.3 percent 3-point shooter, Bembry’s career year shooting the ball from three feels hollow when you consider he’s just 15-for-36 from downtown over his 949 total minutes. That’s just 0.8 3-point attempts per game.
Horst referenced in his post-deadline press conference Monday afternoon that he and the team are always looking for shooting. Bembry, though, is not just a poor shooter, but a non-shooter at that and often relegated to spotting up in the corner.
That’s where has been Bembry’s saving grace as far as how he functions in half court settings. Bembry is 12-of-22 on 3-point shots from either corner this season and he surely benefited from seeing a lot of space with opposing defenses keying in on Brooklyn’s former ‘Big 3'.’
Another way to fight against his non-shooting status is Bembry’s exquisite movement off the ball.
The St. Joseph’s product may be one of the league’s most stealthy cutters and it’s played a big part in why 66.1 percent of his 213 total shot attempts have come within the restricted area this season. Per NBA.com/stats, Bembry is averaging 1.52 points per cutting possessions, good for the 90th percentile.
It’s not just about finding cracks in opposing defenses either as Bembry is capable of finishing through plenty of traffic when making a timely cut or hitting the glass and converting a second chance bucket. Now coming into a similar ecosystem where plenty of attention will be focused on Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jrue Holiday and Khris Middleton, Bembry will look to continue being an opportunistic scorer in Milwaukee.
Another wing defender
As the Bucks look to regain some of their defensive steel and versatility with all of the injuries to key rotation players they have at the moment, Bembry is sure to help in this regard.
At 6’5” and 210 lbs., Bembry brings versatility, high IQ and a strong set of disruptive hands, in large part due to his 6’9” wingspan. His strong defensive numbers this season with the Nets (2.4 steal percentage and 2.3 block percentage) certainly bolsters that case.
Bembry’s ability to guard multiple positions and use his length and athleticism to bother opposing offenses will certainly come in handy for a Bucks team that is looking for more wing help on that end of the floor, even before Connaughton’s injury.
Whether it is in switching situations or the occasional times the Bucks break out their matchup zone to throw off other teams, Bembry’s utility is useful as Milwaukee looks to regain the defensive versatility across all sorts of schemes.
A necessary flyer
Horst talked Monday about the Bucks being well balanced in their roster makeup, more so following their recent flurry of activity headlined by the addition of Serge Ibaka before the trade deadline.
They couldn’t have accounted for Connaughton suffering his injury that very day and it brought a level of urgency to add Bembry from the Bucks’ end. Even with that in mind, Bembry stands to help Milwaukee in ways they have sought dating back to their shortened offseason after winning last year’s title.
Banking on either one of Semi Ojeleye and Rodney Hood to fill out a role within the rotation didn’t come to fruition and Horst lumped both players in the four-team trade that saw them land with the L.A. Clippers last week.
The thing Bembry has going for him that neither Hood or Ojeleye had going for them this season is that he’s playing his best ball of his career. With the familiarity he has with Budenholzer dating back to their shared time with the Atlanta Hawks, Bembry will have some level of knowledge of what he expects his role to be.
Milwaukee is far from done in adding to their team as they’re reportedly in hot pursuit for Goran Dragic, who’s slated to hit free agency after contract buyout from the San Antonio Spurs. Whether the interest in Dragic leads to him coming to Milwaukee remains to be seen, though.
For now, Bembry gives the Bucks some help on the wing. He isn’t the snuggest fit as we outlined, but he’s managed to carve out his own lane into becoming a solid rotation player at the very least.