Bucks back to basketball profile: Sterling Brown
With the announcement of the NBA’s 22-team plan to close out the rest of the season, the Milwaukee Bucks are waiting for late July when play restarts in Disney World. It will undoubtedly be an odd postseason experience, but if Milwaukee can be at its best in the bubble then it will be tough to beat.
As coach Mike Budenholzer and the Bucks prepare during this hiatus, FOX Sports Wisconsin will analyze each player on the Bucks and what their role might be in the playoffs.
This edition: Sterling Brown
Previously: Brook Lopez | Khris Middleton | Donte DiVincenzo | Kyle Korver | Wes Matthews | Robin Lopez | George Hill | Pat Connaughton | Ersan Ilyasova | Marvin Williams
BACKGROUND
Milwaukee completed a draft-night trade to acquire Brown, the 41st overall pick by Philadelphia in 2017. As a rookie, Brown appeared in 54 games (four starts) and shot 40% from the field and 35.2% from deep. He improved last season, earning an increase in minutes (17.8 per game) and shooting 46.5% from the field while displaying toughness on defense.
SEASON REVIEW
Like most of Milwaukee’s role players, Brown has accepted a smaller part of the pie for the sake of having a deep, playoff-ready roster. But a contributing factor to his fewer minutes is his regression shooting the basketball. Brown is sinking a career-worst 31.6% of his 3-point attempts, and he’s logged a mere 36.7% field-goal percentage. While his per-36 rebounding numbers are up (8.9 compared to 6.4 last year), Brown ranks 12th on the Bucks in minutes per contest, behind the likes of fellow reserves Pat Connaughton, Kyle Korver and Ersan Ilyasova.
STATS
| MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | FG% | 3P% | FT% |
| 14.8 | 5.0 | 3.7 | 1.0 | 36.7 | 31.6 | 77.1 |
GAME TO REMEMBER
Brown made his lone start of the season March 9 against Denver, a game in which Budenholzer decided to sit his top-six leading scorers – Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton, Eric Bledsoe, Brook Lopez, George Hill and Donte DiVincenzo. Playing 36 minutes, Brown tallied 16 points on 6-of-16 shooting, with six rebounds, three assists, one block and one turnover. Denver pulled away in the fourth quarter and beat the short-handed Bucks 109-95, making Brown’s most productive game of his forgettable season not too memorable, either.
Sterling Brown throws it down!!#FearTheDeer pic.twitter.com/LrCqKAoM9N
— FOX Sports Wisconsin (@fswisconsin) March 10, 2020
WHAT TO EXPECT THIS SUMMER
Unfortunately for Brown, he hasn’t proved he can be trusted with a substantial playoff role. There are too many players ahead of him on the depth chart. Brown will be a restricted free agent after this season, so his future with the Bucks is rather murky.
