Hello everybody, welcome to today’s edition of Bango’s Minute. I quickly wanted to say that Bango’s Minute isn’t going to be a weekly review of Buck’s games. Bango’s Minute is going to become a bi-weekly article on something that is related to the Bucks. Enjoy!
Bango’s Minute – The Big Ragu and Wing Depth
“The redhead kid with the nickname Big Ragu came off the bench to make five 3s and score 31 points,” said the Associated Press, following the 2018 NCAA Men’s Basketball National Championship Game. Donte DiVincenzo, after just being named the Big East Conference Sixth Man of the Year as a sophomore, had just lead Villanova past Michigan to win the national championship. However, the accolades weren’t finished coming in for DiVincenzo. He would shortly learn that he was named the Final Four Most-Outstanding-Player. Now, Donte had a tough decision to make. Should he stay at Villanova for his junior season, or should he declare for the NBA Draft. Donte eventually decided on the latter of the two options.
Donte would originally declare for the draft without hiring an agent, but he did hire one, meaning that he could not back out and go back to college. On June 21st, 2018, Donte DiVincenzo waited for his name to be called by Adam Silver. With the 17th pick in the Draft, DiVincenzo was selected by the Milwaukee Bucks. Coming off of a heartbreaking 3-4 loss in the first round at the hands of the Boston Celtics, Milwaukee had some pieces at the 1 and 2 guard, but not many players that would greatly affect the game. Besides Eric Bledsoe and Malcom Brogdon, the only other notable guards were Matthew Dellavoadova, a young Sterling Brown, a washed up Jason Terry, and a below average player in Tony Snell. Me, and many other Bucks fans thought that Donte would be a vital piece in helping the Bucks improve to somewhere around the five seed. However, the Bucks would do much better that the five seed, recording 60 wins and 22 losses, and earning the #1 seed. Donte looked like he would be a bust after this season. In 27 games, Donte would average just under 5 points per game. But, maybe it was just because of the depth that the Bucks had coming into this season. Eric Bledsoe and Malcom Brogdon were both solid starters. Sterling Brown had blossomed into a good second string player, and George Hill was a great fit on the team as a consistent role player that the Bucks got after trading Matthew Dellavadova early on in the season. However, the Bucks lost Brogdon in the off-season in a Sign & Trade with the Pacers, where Milawukee received two draft picks. Heading into this season, the Bucks had signed Kyle Korver and Wesley Matthews. And I had given up on Donte DiVincenzo.
However, this season, has looked different. Through 33 games, Donte has been averaging 8 points, 4 ½ rebounds, and just over two assists. Donte has even been getting good minutes. He comes off of the bench as one of the first subs most games, but he has also been one of Coach Bud’s first choices to fill in as a starter, when players like Eric Bledsoe or Wesley Matthews are out. That’s impressive, considering how deep the Bucks are at the two guard positions. This brings me into my next topic. The Bucks have great wing depth.
Eric Bledsoe is a solid starter, dropping 27 points against the Lakers, recently. (Check out BucksNation.com, the best source on the internet for everything Bucks, for in depth, stats, highlights, and reviews of every single Bucks game.) Jon Horst also found two solid bench pieces, in Wesley Matthews and Kyle Korver, to replace Malcom Brogdon in the summer. Not to mention George Hill, who is still playing at a high level compared to other role players around his age. Sterling Brown however, has not been playing nearly as much, but still looks like a promising, young piece for the Buck’s organization. This wing depth will finally give something that the Bucks can look at for drafting purposes. If the roster stays the same (which it may not, you may see a trade for somebody like CJ McCollum around the trade deadline), the Bucks can focus on a true center, or power forward to come off of the bench. Besides Giannis and Brook, we only have two other players at the 4 and the 5, in older players (but still good) Ersan Illyasova and Robin Lopez.
Thank You for Reading this week’s edition of Bango’s Minute, and go Bucks!
