Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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50 OCT. 29, 2018 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED IRISH IN THE PROS BY COREY BODDEN D uring the 2017-18 campaign, for- mer Fighting Irish guard Pat Con- naughton put together his best season in the NBA. The third-year pro played in all 82 games for the Portland Trail Blazers, and averaged 5.4 points and 2.0 re- bounds per contest while connecting on 42.3 percent of his shots overall and 35.2 percent from behind the arc. His scoring output more than doubled his previous career high of 2.5. Even with the little taste of success and potential Connaughton began to show in Portland, the Trail Blazers opted not to bring him back and al- lowed him to become a free agent. "When you're in free agency, you have to, A, make sure you can get a job, and, B, look at what's going to help accelerate your career and the di- rection you want to go," Connaughton told The Eagle-Tribune. After weeks of searching, Con- naughton found a new home rela- tively close to where he made his mark on the basketball court in South Bend — with the Milwaukee Bucks. The 6-4, 209-pounder signed a two-year deal with the organization. "For me you look at the Bucks, you look at the new coach, coach Mike Budenholzer, and the way he likes to play," Connaughton said. "They're young, it's a playoff team in the East and it's an area where they love their basketball. "We've got a new arena and they're really growing as a team; that's what I want to do with my career. "I did a good job of being able to do that in Portland, but obviously at some point I was going to have to branch out and try to build off the success that I've had and take stuff that I've learned from guys like Damien Lillard and C.J. McCollum. Those guys have accelerated their careers — and I want to make sure that I put in work and create my own type of story." Connaughton spent three years learning from the established back- court of Lillard and McCollum, both of whom averaged more than 20 points per game a season ago, and now joins an emerging one with Eric Bledsoe (17.8 points per game in 2017-18) and Malcolm Brogdon (13.0). Giannis Antetokounmpo will re- main the focal point of the franchise heading into the new campaign. "The Greek Freak" averaged 26.9 points, 10.0 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game a year ago. Connaughton sees a new fit with his superstar teammate. "Giannis will be awesome to play with; I think it'll be really cool," Con- naughton said. "I think I'll be able to play off him really well. Obviously in Portland, the franchise guy Dame [Lillard] was a point guard and had the ball in his hands a lot, similar to Giannis. "But Dame's game is a lot differ- ent than Giannis' from a standpoint of shooting as opposed to getting in the lane and things of that nature. So I'm excited to play with him and hopefully complement him well." Connaughton averaged 18.1 min- utes played per game last year and likely won't see his court time increase too much. But he is ready to take his game to another level, no matter how he is used with his new team. "My focus is to try and get ready for the season and make sure that I can carve out a role on the team to help the team win," Connaughton told The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "To make sure that we're in a position not just to make the playoffs but to advance in the playoffs and have some success. "I think we have the talent, the guys and the coaches to do it." Becoming more of a sharpshooter and knocking down deep three-point attempts continues to be part of Con- naughton's offseason focus to reach his goal. "You can't really think about where the line is, so this summer I tried to shoot on some courts that didn't have lines … because so much of that gets instilled in your brain and you want to Pat Connaughton Ready To Take His Game To Next Level At New Home After establishing new career highs in scoring (5.4 points per game) and rebounding (2.0 boards per contest) with Portland last season, Connaughton signed a two-year deal with the Milwaukee Bucks. PHOTO COURTESY MILWAUKEE BUCKS