Thon Maker came into the NBA as an enigma, and not much as changed mid-way through his second season in the league. As a prep player in Canada, Maker was revered for an offensive skill set not common for a player his size. Despite that potential, and his famous trainer and mentor, Thon has had only brief flashes to prove himself worthy of playing with the world’s best.
Training With KG
After retiring, Kevin Garnett has made it a point to mentor and work with young big men in the league. He spent the final years of his playing career in Minnesota mentoring Karl-Anthony Towns. Since, he has worked with Joel Embiid, Towns, Giannis, and Thon; among others.
One of Garnett’s main goals is to help young men adjust to life in the NBA, on and off the court, to get them in the right place mentally to be able to maximize their game. When asked about the improvement Embiid has shown in the league, after a dominant game against the Lakers, one of the first things KG said was “He looked like he was free. He looked like he was having fun.”
Given the caliber of players he has worked with, Bucks’ fans have to love what Garnett had to say about Thon:
“Thon Maker reminds me a lot of myself. He loves the game. He’s a young, exuberant athlete who has a lot of tools—he has touch; he has agility; he has really, good feet. He has a really good shot from three-point all the way up to 19 to 21 feet. He has very good bones, as we say. Thon is going to be the MVP of the league one day. Mark it down. He has the bones. He has the appetite to be able to chase something like that.”
Stats Only Say So Much
Thon is on pace to play in more games than his rookie season, and is averaging nearly twice as many minutes per game. Although, last year he started 34 games, he still only averaged 9.9 minutes per game. You can thank Jason Kidd for the weird rotations. This season his minutes have fluctuated, as has his production.
As a rookie, Thon averaged 4.0 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 0.5 blocks per game; shooting 45.9% from the field, 37.8% from 3PT, and 65.3% from the free throw line. So far this year, he has raised most of those numbers, only slightly, but with a dip in efficiency as his volume increases. Maker’s averages for the 2017-18 season as we enter the All-Star break are 4.9 points, 3.5 rebounds, 0.9 blocks on shooting splits of 41.4% / 31.6% / 68.6%.
For the month of February he has seen a small uptick in efficiency, shooting 51% and scoring over 7.0 points per game. It was about this time during his rookie season that Thon started to step up his game. In the last two weeks of his rookie campaign, Maker’s minutes increased and he set his career-high scoring (23) in a game against the Pistons. Hopefully Thon is able to find similar success in the second half of his sophomore season.
Own The Future
If I could relay one message to Bucks fans regarding Thon Maker, it would be to relax.
When Milwaukee drafted him 10th overall, it was understood that this would be a project for the future. This has been the Bucks M.O. throughout their current rebuild. Giannis was drafted as an unknown out of Greece, because the Bucks’ front office recognized the potential. I’m sure not even John Hammond could have predicted just how dominant Antetokounmpo would become. And perhaps his rapid ascent has unfairly lifted expectations on the rest of this team to be as great as he is, right now.
But if we can trust in our own process, and let these young players develop and mesh together, Thon Maker will prove himself in this league. I believe the young core that Milwaukee has drafted, Giannis-Jabari-Thon-Brogdon, will lead this organization and this city to the promised land.
