$50 million for fit and finishes: Why the Bucks paid Miles Plumlee

Another restricted free agent returned to his most recent employer on Monday, as another free-agent big man drank deeply of the bounty of this summer’s $24 million salary cap spike.

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The Milwaukee Bucks agreed to terms with restricted free agent center Miles Plumlee on a four-year deal, as first reported by Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that the deal is worth $50 million, but could reach $52 million with “relatively easy to reach” incentives that would earn Plumlee a flat rate of $13 million per year. All four years are fully guaranteed, according to Michael Scotto of Sheridan Hoops.

That might not inspire Mozgov-to-Hollywood levels of sticker shock. But after the big-man market ran hot and heavy for the first few days of free agency, and after it cooled down the point that the likes of Meyers Leonard, Festus Ezeli, Cole Aldrich, Boban Marjanovich and Roy Hibbert inked deals averaging $10 million per year or less, it’s kind of surprising to see Plumlee lock up a $50 million pact, even in a new-cap environment in which a $13 million annual salary accounts for a shade under 14 percent of a team’s cap figure rather than nearly 19 percent, as it did under the 2014-15 financial structure. (It’s also something of a credit to Plumlee’s agent, Mark Bartelstein, as Bartelstein client/recipient of a three-year, $30 million contract/new Phoenix Suns forward Jared Dudley tweeted on Monday.)

Likewise, the decision by Bucks general manager John Hammond and assistant GM Justin Zanik to lock Plumlee up seems a bit curious given Milwaukee’s commitments last summer to centers Greg Monroe and John Henson, and the presence of prized power forward Jabari Parker:

Add to that mix gunning stretch four Mirza Teletovic and 7-foot-1 first-round draft pick Thon Maker, and suddenly the Bucks’ frontcourt looks awfully crowded and pretty expensive.

Then again, we have to remember that this money isn’t as crazy anymore in context as it looks on the page:

… and that, while his individual numbers might not leap off the page, Plumlee might have been the Bucks’ best big man in the second half of the season. (For what that’s worth.)

With Henson, a springy shot-blocker who has struggled with inconsistency, missing time due to injuries and Monroe frequently ineffective, as his low-post mauling proved an at-times awkward fit and his defensive issues led head coach Jason Kidd to begin bringing him off the bench, Plumlee found himself playing a more significant role in the second half. The 6-foot-11, 250-pound Duke product proved a useful reserve and spot starter, averaging 7.7 points on 60.9 percent shooting, 5.3 rebounds and 0.9 blocks in 19.9 minutes per game after the All-Star break.

Perhaps most importantly, the former Phoenix starter seemed to fit comfortably and effectively alongside Milwaukee’s young linchpins. Lineups in which Plumlee played the five next to Parker, ascendant world-wrecker Giannis Antetokounmpo and smooth-scoring swingman Khris Middleton blitzed the opposition last season, according to lineup data compiled by NBAwowy.com, scoring an average of 105.9 points per 100 possessions (which would have finished between the Portland Trail Blazers and Houston Rockets as the NBA’s No. 8-ranked full-season offensive efficiency mark) while allowing 103.3-per-100 (which would’ve been 13th, right between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Detroit Pistons).

Plus-2.6-per-100 would’ve been right in line with the Miami Heat for the league’s 10th-best full-season efficiency differential. The performance only improved with more Plumlee after the All-Star break, with Bucks groups featuring that foursome outscoring opponents by a very strong 8.5 points-per-100 — now we’re talking “better than anybody but the San Antonio Spurs and Golden State Warriors” territory — thanks to a killer offense keyed by the rise of one of the NBA’s most exciting forces: Point Giannis.

Plumlee doesn’t profile as an elite interior deterrent; opponents shot 52.6 percent at the rim with him defending after the All-Star break, 44th among 84 players to defend at least four attempts per game, according to NBA.com’s SportVU player tracking data. But Milwaukee defended more effectively with him on the floor after the break (104.4 points allowed per 100 possessions) than off it (112.3 points-per-100), and rebounded the ball better in his minutes (pulling down 51.2 percent of all misses) than when he sat (just 48.2 percent of available caroms).

Plumlee doesn’t offer much offensive punch away from the bucket, with 68.7 percent of his field-goal attempts last year coming directly at the rim, according to Basketball-Reference.com’s shot charts. But he flourished when pairing with Antetokounmpo in the two-man game late in the season, helping spring the 6-foot-11 ball-handler to create for himself and others as the Bucks finally got unstuck offensively late in the season. He’s a stiff screen-setter and a whale of a finisher after the pick, averaging 1.44 points per possession finished as the roll man in the screen game last season — tops among players to have finished at least 50 such plays, better even than high-volume havoc-wreakers DeAndre Jordan and Hassan Whiteside, according to Synergy Sports Technology’s game-charting data.

Plumlee’s big, athletic and hardworking, a good low-usage finisher, and can fit into Milwaukee’s plans either in the starting lineup or off the bench. More than that, though, he’s a means to an end. For the Bucks, everything is about making life easier for and more fully unleashing the gifts of Antetokounmpo, Parker and Middleton. Plumlee might not be the best scoring threat or rim protector among Milwaukee’s bigs, but he looked more effective than Monroe or Henson in accomplishing that primary goal last year, and giving Giannis and Jabari the steadiest possible launching pad to the stratosphere is worth paying a slightly-eyebrow-arch-inducing price.

Re-upping him just one year after doing the same for Henson while also adding Maker — a project, yes, but a big one — in the first round suggests that the Bucks remain serious about trying to move Monroe, last year’s prize free-agent acquisition but a square-peg-in-round-hole fit in Kidd’s systems, provided Hammond, Zanik and company can find something of value for him. What that might be, and how much it might be, remains to be seen; if there’s anything this summer — and, for that matter, this Plumlee contract — has taught us, it’s that “value” means very different things to very different teams depending on their specific circumstances.

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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!

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