Now I know what fans of other teams are talking about when they claim that such-and-so random role-player is actually SO GOOD and everyone who isn’t a fan of the team just can’t know how good he is. Because that’s Donte DiVincenzo for the Bucks. His stats don’t jump off the page for you except for his steals numbers, but man, he’s just SO GOOD. You have to watch the games to understand, otherwise you have no idea.
DiVincenzo does have some pretty nice advanced defensive stats though. He’s got one of the very best defensive ratings in the league, and the Bucks outscore opponents by a ton when he’s on the court, he’s better than even Giannis in that stat. Even ESPN’s Real Plus-Minus loves him, ranking him 10th out of all NBA players, just ahead of Joel Embiid just behind… Dennis Schroder? Okay, since I don’t watch Thunder games maybe that guy is really good, I don’t know.
And the eye-test matches with all his good impact stats. He’s so active on defense, I guess with some of the best rim protectors in the league backing him he can afford to be aggressive with the steals. But even without the steals, he plays hard defense, even when he’s facing bigger opposition. What the Bucks get on offense is basically a bonus. If he can become a consistent scorer, hoo boy. Wouldn’t even need Giannis anymore at that point.
Tonight was his career-high in points, a mere 18. That should say it all when it comes to his offense, which has been actually pretty nice, but low volume. Can we get just one game where he takes over and shoots a bunch of shots? I don’t want to have to rewatch the highlights from the National Championship Game for the bazillionth time to get my fix.