Milwaukee Bucks center John Henson will likely always be known for his favorite shot, the left-handed hook. It's become part of his identity, with 'Hook' becoming his nickname over the years.
That may be his most identifying shot and the one he still goes to most often, but Henson has showcased more weapons than just the hook this season. He's getting more and varied opportunities and he's taken advantage with some of the best offensive numbers of his six-year NBA career.
In 33 appearances this season heading into Monday's game against the Toronto Raptors, Henson is shooting a career-best 61.7% on two-point shots. According to basketball-reference.com's leader board, he would rank sixth in the NBA in that stat if he had enough made attempts to qualify (he's on pace for 297 makes and the threshold is 300).
“Just trying to be an outlet, man," Henson said. "With the guys we have, especially with Khris (Middleton), Giannis (Antetokounmpo), Bled (Eric Bledsoe), a lot of times the big is helping, so I’m just trying to find my spots and keep them honest. The last few games they’ve been finding me.”
In the Bucks' past six games over a two-week span, Henson has been especially potent offensively. He's shooting 70.8% from the field, making 34 of 48 attempts, and is averaging 12.7 points per game.
On Friday night against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Henson had a season-high 18 points on 8 of 12 shooting. Half of those buckets came on hook shots, but the others included an athletic tip finish of an alley-oop through a foul, a nifty reverse layup after catching an inside feed, a put-back of a miss and a streaking lefty layup off a feed from Bledsoe on a pick-and-roll.
The Bucks went to that Bledsoe-Henson pick-and-roll set multiple times in the fourth quarter successfully, beginning with that finish from Henson. Having to respect him as a roll man, the Thunder faced the challenge of doubling Bledsoe or leaving center Steven Adams to try to keep up with him.
“You just have to get Adams in the pick and roll, especially the slower pick-and-roll guy," Bledsoe said. "With Giannis, they weren’t going to do nothing but switch it. So we just put the five in it and race them to the goal and if I take him with me his man’s going to be wide open, which was John, and he was just making his shots.”
Friday's performance came after another solid game from Henson, who celebrated his 27th birthday Thursday by going 7 of 7 from the field. Most of those buckets came from inside the paint, including multiple dunks, of which he has 32 this season and is on pace to eclipse his career-best of 65 dunks in 2013-'14.
He's become a primary, reliable target in the paint for the Bucks' playmakers this season and has demonstrated improvement when it comes to catching inside feeds and dump-offs in traffic before rising to finish.
“When I first got here he was kind of dropping them, fumbling them a little bit," Bledsoe said. "Now he’s looking for them and that’s a good sign.”
While Henson's shooting percentages are up across the board, his most marked improvement has come in a small but notable sample of mid-range attempts. Over his first five seasons, Henson was an inconsistent shooter from outside the paint, making 28.6% of his attempts on an average of 46.8 attempts per season. He seldom ventured out there over the past three seasons in particular after putting up 159 mid-range attempts in his first two campaigns and shooting under 30% in that span.
But this season, with all the attention that's drawn to his teammates, Henson's often been left alone outside the paint with teams willing to live with him taking those shots. He's made the most of it, knocking down 12 of his 24 mid-range shots (50%) this season.
“It is something I worked on, just trying to take the right shot," Henson said. "I get one off early to test my temperature then down the stretch I’m a little more selective, especially toward the end. It’s just about progressing and getting better every day.
“I’ve played in the NBA for a decent amount of time, so I can hit an open jump shot. It’s just about finding the right time within the set and within the offense to shoot it and knocking it down.”
While it's been a useful tool, that jumper is only a bonus for the Bucks. Henson's biggest, most efficient contributions remain inside the paint where he's a career-best 84 of 116 (72.4%) inside the restricted area and slightly above his career average in the rest of the paint, making 44.6% of those shots.
"I think he’s going to eat and get a lot of buckets if he’s just being in the right spot," Antetokounmpo said.
Head coach Jason Kidd believes the difference has been Henson finding and fitting into his role over time and finishing with confidence. When he doesn't have a good look, he's often made the right play via the pass, including a slick pass early in Friday's win to Antetokounmpo, who was rewarded for a baseline cut with a pass for a dunk.
"Guys are finding him and he’s finishing," Kidd said. "It’s just going to make the game easier offensively when John can do that because then John can be a playmaker if he doesn’t have the shot or it creates the back side of having open threes."