By Jimmy Carlton Sportswriter Published Jul 18, 2016 at 5:19 PM

The personal performance may have been an outlier, a season-high 18 points during a year when his production and playing time fluctuated greatly, but if there was one game that showed the Bucks what Miles Plumlee could do for them and convinced the team to commit to him as part of their future – as they did Monday with a reported four-year, $52 million contract – it was Milwaukee’s March 9 home win over Miami.

After starting the previous 12 games for a benched Greg Monroe, Plumlee returned to his reserve role against the Heat and proceeded to put on a clinic for center Hassan Whiteside, who would finish third in 2015-16 NBA Defensive Player of the Year voting.

Plumlee not only ran the floor hard, as he always does, but he ran circles around Whiteside and the Heat defense, making 8 of 12 shots and exhibiting the energy, athleticism, mobility and off-ball activity that made him a noticeably better fit than Monroe in Milwaukee’s unconventional and up-tempo offense, which finally started to figure itself out down the stretch and thrived when it didn’t get bogged down with slow-developing low-post play.

Plumlee scored in a variety of ways that night – catching at the high post and driving at Whiteside for a banked-in runner; muscling inside and using good footwork for another basket on the 7-foot block machine; picking Joe Johnson’s pocket at midcourt and dribbling in for a layup; displaying a nifty jump hook – but mostly he scored in his usual way: catching a lob off a pick-and-roll for a soaring slam dunk.

That’s finishing move 1A, 1B and 1C in the Plumlee Playbook; it’s how he’s most highly efficient and it makes the Bucks much more effective at the offensive end – the movement opening up mismatches, angles and space for a team desperate to score differently.

After that Heat game, Plumlee went back to being mostly an off-the-bench energy guy, averaging 7.3 points and 5.2 rebounds in a little less than 20 minutes over the season’s final 17 games. Because of his limited offensive game and his willingly marginalized, off-ball role in the Bucks’ offense, Plumlee’s output on a night-to-night basis is less reliable than the double-double dependability of Monroe. Four times in those final 17 contests, Plumlee scored in double figures; five times he had just four points. On April 11, he had 13 rebounds; in six other games he grabbed three or fewer.

Overall, Plumlee averaged 5.1 points, 3.8 rebounds, 0.8 blocks and 14 minutes in 61 games in 2015-16.

While the production was inconsistent, the fit on the floor never changed. Plumlee seemed to be intuitively aware of where he should be and how he should move on offense, a savviness that was particularly evident when 6-foot-11 playmaker Giannis Antetokounmpo, far from a normal point guard, had the ball.

The two players had a preternatural chemistry and, especially in pick-and-roll action, a demonstrable connection. Of Plumlee’s 105 field goals that were assisted last season, 34 were assisted by Antetokounmpo, easily the most on the team (next was guard Khris Middleton, another frequent screen partner, with 20).

Plumlee was the NBA’s top-ranked roll man last year, learding the league in pick-and-roll scoring, at 1.44 points per possession, and putting up the second-highest field goal percentage (76.5) in such situations. Henson was ranked 37th and Monroe was No. 49.

During his four-year career, the former Duke man – drafted 26th in 2012 by Indiana – has been a high-level rebounder, especially at the offensive end, where Milwaukee was in the middle of the pack last season. He grabbed 48.7 percent of the Bucks’ offensive rebounds when he was on the court, best on the team, and his 30.1 total rebound percentage was second, behind Monroe (35.7).

On defense, Plumlee has a tendency to leave his man to go for the big block; with his athleticism and strong build, he's considered a decent-enough rim protector. His 44.6 block percentage was second on the team, behind Henson, and he averaged 2.1 swats per 36 minutes.

Multiple outlets on Monday reported Plumlee’s four-year deal for $52 million. In the first offseason of the NBA’s increased salary cap, the restricted free agent’s $13 million average income puts him in between two other Bucks frontcourt players – above backup John Henson’s $11 million and below Monroe’s $17 million, both of which were contracts signed last summer.

Among centers elsewhere around the league, little-used plodder Timofey Mosgov signed with the Lakers for four years and $64 million, the Pistons gave hulking big Boban Marjanovic a three-year contract worth $21 million and the Trail Blazers inked defensive-minded Festus Ezeli to a two-year, $15.2 million deal.

Clearly, the Bucks felt comfortable offering Plumlee four years and confident the soon-to-be 28-year-old will still be an important contributor a few seasons down the line. Even given the new financial reality of the league, though, it’s a lot of money for a hustle player’s post-prime years, assuming it’s all guaranteed. Now, with nearly $42 million tied up in three centers, many believe Milwaukee will trade Monroe – or possibly Henson – before the season.

The Bucks currently have 13 players on their roster, including Plumlee and rookies Thon Maker and Malcolm Brogdon. Considering free agent Steve Novak has been around the team’s facilities, included in marketing campaigns and attending events all summer, it’s likely the former Brown Deer High School and Marquette University star will re-sign with Milwaukee, too, and probably for the league minimum.

Since free agency began on July 1, the Bucks have added ex-Cavaliers backup point guard Matthew Dellavedova (four years, $38.4 million) and ex-Suns three-point-shooting forward Mirza Teletovic (three years, $30 million). Last month, the team also extended head coach Jason Kidd for three more years and up to $18 million.

Meanwhile, next season, Jabari Parker will earn $5.4 million, and Antetokounmpo, who’s rumored to be close to agreeing to a contract extension, is set to make a little less than $3 million. What a world.

Did you like the Plumlee deal? What should be the Bucks' next move? Let us know in the comments!

Born in Milwaukee but a product of Shorewood High School (go ‘Hounds!) and Northwestern University (go ‘Cats!), Jimmy never knew the schoolboy bliss of cheering for a winning football, basketball or baseball team. So he ditched being a fan in order to cover sports professionally - occasionally objectively, always passionately. He's lived in Chicago, New York and Dallas, but now resides again in his beloved Brew City and is an ardent attacker of the notorious Milwaukee Inferiority Complex.

After interning at print publications like Birds and Blooms (official motto: "America's #1 backyard birding and gardening magazine!"), Sports Illustrated (unofficial motto: "Subscribe and save up to 90% off the cover price!") and The Dallas Morning News (a newspaper!), Jimmy worked for web outlets like CBSSports.com, where he was a Packers beat reporter, and FOX Sports Wisconsin, where he managed digital content. He's a proponent and frequent user of em dashes, parenthetical asides, descriptive appositives and, really, anything that makes his sentences longer and more needlessly complex.

Jimmy appreciates references to late '90s Brewers and Bucks players and is the curator of the unofficial John Jaha Hall of Fame. He also enjoys running, biking and soccer, but isn't too annoying about them. He writes about sports - both mainstream and unconventional - and non-sports, including history, music, food, art and even golf (just kidding!), and welcomes reader suggestions for off-the-beaten-path story ideas.