Bucks Newcomer (Very) Confident In Ability To Mitigate Threat Of Celtics

The Milwaukee Bucks scoured the free agency market like everyone else this offseason and signed guard Delon Wright, a nine-year veteran fresh off a playoff series against the Boston Celtics that's left the 32-year-old extremely confident entering a clean slate.

"Just to talk about the Celtics team, I do a good job of guarding all four of those guards -- (Jayson) Tatum, (Jaylen) Brown, (Jrue) Holiday and (Derrick) White," Wright told reporters at Tuesday's team media day, per team-provided video. "I feel like for the most part, they're trying to pick on matchups so with me being able to switch one through four with them, something against Al Horford with him switching on the perimeter, I feel like it just adds to what I can bring to the team. It just allows me to stay on the court longer and affect the game in different areas."

Wright added: "Just being able to guard the point of attack. I know people use that a lot. That's just something I take pride in, is playing defense, being able to stop my man, getting steals and just doing the little things defensively to try to help the team win."

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Boston crossed paths with Wright in the first round of last season's NBA playoffs when the Miami Heat, without Jimmy Butler, fought desperately to compete with the Celtics. Wright pulled his weight for the most part, averaging eight points, three rebounds and 1.8 assists while shooting 60% from the field and 60% from 3-point range in four games. He scored 17 points in Game 1, shocking Boston with an 85.7% shooting night that included a 5-for-5 showing from three with two steals in 26 minutes off the bench -- outscoring four of Miami's starters in the 114-94 Celtics victory.

Theoretically, Wright is an ideal mold to help alleviate several of Milwaukee's premier issues from last season. Wright is a combo guard capable of providing outside shooting and sparking a fuse defensively, essentially a more polished version of Patrick Beverley. Bucks head coach Doc Rivers, who Milwaukee hired 43 games into the season last year, failed to transform the team's disastrous defensive identity that suffered throughout its first year without Celtics guard Jrue Holiday -- a three-time All-NBA Defensive First Team selection.

"I knew I was gonna have to step up and play (against the Celtics in Round 1)," Wright recalled, per team-provided video. "It was a perfect opportunity for me."