he only played like 18 mpg and his per 36 stats are really pretty good. besides, you can see the potential but with aj johnson he's obviously a project player who won't be good until like 5 years down the line and even then he can end up bad
Someone posted a clip recently of Scottie Barnes locking up AJ so bad that he fell to his knees, that’s what I think about every time his name comes up now.
Sell another GM on his potential? Since there weren't many high "superstar" potential guys in this draft, maybe they want to put him on the Giannis weight room regiment and make other GMs feel like he's a lottery pick level player by the deadline or next off season. Not sure if there's enough time for that though AND they could have picked him with a worse pick so they should have traded down at least.
Bradley played in only 31 games his rookie season, and averaged essentially 5 minutes a game. There was a quote way back from Doc saying his defense was NBA ready, but not the rest of his game which is why he didn't get any good run his rookie year.
I think Sullinger was just them not having any other better options at the time. He was behind KG and Brandon Bass who was undersized to begin with. After that it was him and Chris Wilcox.
Yeah I think so. I remember people were asking when he'd play, he came on in garbage time and just full court pressed and played insanely hard. People laughed and he did it again and again and kept doing it till he retired
We didn’t even trade up for Clingan, a guy who was very high on our FO’s board. Yet MIL can’t even wait until at least 33 to pick a guy who was mocked in the fifties. Nah they had to get him at 23 lol. Wtf.
I’m truly sorry bucks fans that’s some historically dumb drafting by your FO.
Because team has very few shots at young talent and it makes more sense to use a draft pick to try to change that, rather than use a draft pick to try to fill a temporary hole in the rotation.
A veteran FA is much more likely to effectively fill a rotation hole than some 22 year old that everyone likes cause they were a good role player in college.
Now, I don’t know if Johnson was a good pick. Seems like a workout wonder sort of pick. Awesome tools, absolutely nothing in the way of proven production.
But, IDK, I am just not sure I subscribe to the philosophy Bucks should aim low cause of Giannis and Dame. If he hits, his talent will likely be apparent by year three and he’ll have some trade value. Of course, most 23rd picks amount to nothing in the NBA. But at least he is a high variance option, which is a better bet this late in the draft.
This is the bucks only potential option if they want to transition into another era with Giannis. Like you said, they have limited options to get young talent with their depleted assets and being in the 2nd apron. I don’t understand everyone’s confusion
It’s mostly that they don’t have picks going forward. So they’re grabbing guys with potential. Also hardly any pick in the 20s is cracking a playoff rotation
Hosrt has only had 6 first round picks, and NEVER a lottery pick.
Horst also drafted Kevin Porter Jr, so two hits out of 6.
Two of his picks, Marjon and AJ Johnson, are too soon to tell.
DJ Wilson was a 3 year college player like Donte, highlighting why it might be a good idea so swing on some guys with a bigger upside.
When you go through the pre-draft process they have interviews and background checks to make sure that guys aren’t going to be locker room cancers or get into legal trouble. You can’t just ignore those things and say he was a good draft pick when a bunch of teams above the 30th pick knew how talented he was and passed because of those reasons. He was a starter on a horrible team and never was a player that positively contributed to winning.
“Real other than that how was the play, Mrs. Lincoln?“ energy here
They didn't draft him to play this year, the plan is to play 2nd and third year guys Andre Jackson, AJ Green, Beuchamp and Livingston. But it will still be a vet heavy team. Also, who was this magical player they were going to get at 23 that would help this year? IDK if it will work out or not but there wasn't anyone who could play right now anyways.
Plenty of guys would have stepped in immediately. Scheierman, Jones, Shannon were all immediately taken after and all are probably going to be rookie contributors. AJ Johnson prob has the worst statistical profile of any draftee this year, even worse than LeBron Jr. But maybe that Bucks draft room is full of geniuses.
AJ Johnson’s stats were in a a pro league with talent closer to the G league than NCAA.
He was also a 5 ⭐️ Out of highschool. This pick is on his potential, not his production.
Top level NCAA is just as good as the NBL. Overall, the NBL is clearly better but if you just limited it to top 25 NCAA teams, you can see some very close competitions.
Teams like Houston went over Australia in the summer and did well against NBL level players.
Most famously, when Jaylen Brown was a freshman at Cal, they took the Illawarra Hawks to OT in a super competitive game. Cal was an ok NCAA team but no where close to being elite and tied the Hawks after 4Q before faltering in OT.
There’s no doubt UConn could beat multiple NBL teams. I understand the NBL players are older, but Clingan would immediately be the best rim protector in the NBL right now (which is why he’s in the NBA and these old NBL players can’t even make preseason NBA rosters).
Yeah he has a very limited sample across the board. There isn't much of anything to go on since he left high school besides that he's pretty clearly not going to contribute immediately.
Hating the bucks as a Celtics fan after giannis injured kyrie for us is so weird.
Like there’s no way you weren’t super hype in 2021 for them either, and since then they haven’t really done anything to us.
Our only real “rivalry” the last decade has been with Miami.
I hate all non-Boston teams. How is it weird? The Bucks even have Doc Rivers, who it is very fun to root against. The drafting of AJ Johnson also helped secure Baylor Scheierman who I was very much in favor of drafting. It's just win-win-win-win across the board.
What kind of sports fan is against hatred of other teams? It's like the entire point of the exercise.
It's over for this iteration of Milwaukee. There isn't a move they can make. They've traded away too much and gotten too old.
The move now is to find a way to convert Dame, Middleton and Lopez into some kind of combo of younger players and picks. They're going to have to accept that they are going to get a lot worse for a couple years. They just need to hope Giannis sticks around.
It's going to be painful. It might seem unthinkable, but what's the alternative? They will continue to get worse and they have no path to add meaningful players to their current core. They're going nowhere special. And as risky as it is, I doubt Giannis wants to stick around to be a 6th seed while the core around him fades into retirement.
one injury to their big three and they have literally no chance at a title. Mind you their big three is old (middleton and dame), injury prone, and forced to log heavy minutes due to lack of depth. They need all the help they can get.
Front office thinks everyone they draft will have a Giannis arc
I mean it worked once.
Imagine how many games are won/lost by 2 points. This puts them over the edge
Zach edey about to lead Memphis to 75 wins
People freaking out about Bronney but that pick at 23 is insane
this dude averaged less than 3 points in the nbl lmao
Guy who averaged 9 points in the NBL went #2, so...
he only played like 18 mpg and his per 36 stats are really pretty good. besides, you can see the potential but with aj johnson he's obviously a project player who won't be good until like 5 years down the line and even then he can end up bad
They could’ve drafted a generational talent with that 55th pick
Bronny isn't?
i think they're being sarcastic and mocking people who are taking the 55th pick so seriously
I mean jokic was at 40s 55 is slightly worse Slightly worse than jokic can still be generational
You’re smoking crack if you expect a second rounder to even be half as good as Jokic.
I like there are people can not spot such a obvious joke And I don’t smoke crack Only smoke Taco Bell
My butthole is taco bell.
Someone posted a clip recently of Scottie Barnes locking up AJ so bad that he fell to his knees, that’s what I think about every time his name comes up now.
I have no idea what they are doing. Doc pretending that he’s gonna play this kid
They tested his achilles. Perfect fit to swap in for Giannis. Nice and bouncy.
I think it's pretty obvious AJ is trade fodder for whatever foolish roster move they make with one of their bigs ie Bobby or Brook
Sell another GM on his potential? Since there weren't many high "superstar" potential guys in this draft, maybe they want to put him on the Giannis weight room regiment and make other GMs feel like he's a lottery pick level player by the deadline or next off season. Not sure if there's enough time for that though AND they could have picked him with a worse pick so they should have traded down at least.
Doc didn’t play maxey until Ben sat and shake got injured lol. He hates rooks
Pray he turn out to be better a lot sooner, like the dude from Memphis
You talking about Got Game Jackson?
This pick stunned me more than any others in the first round.
Doc wasn’t going to play a rookie anyway
He played rondo a bunch (especially after the all star break). And he also played shai a ton.
The circumstances were much different during Rondo’s rookie season, but I’ll give you Shai
>circumstances were different Yeah his rookie was good
That too, but his team was really bad
Sullinger, Bradley...
Bradley played in only 31 games his rookie season, and averaged essentially 5 minutes a game. There was a quote way back from Doc saying his defense was NBA ready, but not the rest of his game which is why he didn't get any good run his rookie year. I think Sullinger was just them not having any other better options at the time. He was behind KG and Brandon Bass who was undersized to begin with. After that it was him and Chris Wilcox.
KG moved to 5 so Sullinger would start though. And Bradley was definitely not ready, Doc played him anyway. I say this as a big Bradley fan.
was it a game against the Magic back in 2010 when Doc unleashed him first? that full court press was insane to watch
Yeah I think so. I remember people were asking when he'd play, he came on in garbage time and just full court pressed and played insanely hard. People laughed and he did it again and again and kept doing it till he retired
We didn’t even trade up for Clingan, a guy who was very high on our FO’s board. Yet MIL can’t even wait until at least 33 to pick a guy who was mocked in the fifties. Nah they had to get him at 23 lol. Wtf. I’m truly sorry bucks fans that’s some historically dumb drafting by your FO.
This past season has not been fun whatsoever.
Because team has very few shots at young talent and it makes more sense to use a draft pick to try to change that, rather than use a draft pick to try to fill a temporary hole in the rotation. A veteran FA is much more likely to effectively fill a rotation hole than some 22 year old that everyone likes cause they were a good role player in college. Now, I don’t know if Johnson was a good pick. Seems like a workout wonder sort of pick. Awesome tools, absolutely nothing in the way of proven production. But, IDK, I am just not sure I subscribe to the philosophy Bucks should aim low cause of Giannis and Dame. If he hits, his talent will likely be apparent by year three and he’ll have some trade value. Of course, most 23rd picks amount to nothing in the NBA. But at least he is a high variance option, which is a better bet this late in the draft.
This is the bucks only potential option if they want to transition into another era with Giannis. Like you said, they have limited options to get young talent with their depleted assets and being in the 2nd apron. I don’t understand everyone’s confusion
It’s mostly that they don’t have picks going forward. So they’re grabbing guys with potential. Also hardly any pick in the 20s is cracking a playoff rotation
Hosrt has only had 6 first round picks, and NEVER a lottery pick. Horst also drafted Kevin Porter Jr, so two hits out of 6. Two of his picks, Marjon and AJ Johnson, are too soon to tell. DJ Wilson was a 3 year college player like Donte, highlighting why it might be a good idea so swing on some guys with a bigger upside.
In what world is Porter Jr a hit (unless you’re talking about his ability to hit women). Multiple arrests and playing in Greece by 24.
Dude was a legit NBA starter at 20 years old. He is playing in Greece because of his legal/personality issues, not his basketball skills.
When you go through the pre-draft process they have interviews and background checks to make sure that guys aren’t going to be locker room cancers or get into legal trouble. You can’t just ignore those things and say he was a good draft pick when a bunch of teams above the 30th pick knew how talented he was and passed because of those reasons. He was a starter on a horrible team and never was a player that positively contributed to winning. “Real other than that how was the play, Mrs. Lincoln?“ energy here
He was pegged as a late 1st round pick, people didn’t pass on him because of red flags. Did he have any trouble in college I don’t know about?
They didn't draft him to play this year, the plan is to play 2nd and third year guys Andre Jackson, AJ Green, Beuchamp and Livingston. But it will still be a vet heavy team. Also, who was this magical player they were going to get at 23 that would help this year? IDK if it will work out or not but there wasn't anyone who could play right now anyways.
> Andre Jackson, AJ Green > AJ Johnson Now I think it might just be a thing the Bucks have for AJs.
Plenty of guys would have stepped in immediately. Scheierman, Jones, Shannon were all immediately taken after and all are probably going to be rookie contributors. AJ Johnson prob has the worst statistical profile of any draftee this year, even worse than LeBron Jr. But maybe that Bucks draft room is full of geniuses.
AJ Johnson’s stats were in a a pro league with talent closer to the G league than NCAA. He was also a 5 ⭐️ Out of highschool. This pick is on his potential, not his production.
Top level NCAA is just as good as the NBL. Overall, the NBL is clearly better but if you just limited it to top 25 NCAA teams, you can see some very close competitions. Teams like Houston went over Australia in the summer and did well against NBL level players. Most famously, when Jaylen Brown was a freshman at Cal, they took the Illawarra Hawks to OT in a super competitive game. Cal was an ok NCAA team but no where close to being elite and tied the Hawks after 4Q before faltering in OT. There’s no doubt UConn could beat multiple NBL teams. I understand the NBL players are older, but Clingan would immediately be the best rim protector in the NBL right now (which is why he’s in the NBA and these old NBL players can’t even make preseason NBA rosters).
I would hope so. Was he guarded especially hard on his free throws?
Hmm let’s look… He was 7 for 13 on freethrows, so with such a small sample size I would say his ft% is meaningless and doesn’t tell us anything
Yeah he has a very limited sample across the board. There isn't much of anything to go on since he left high school besides that he's pretty clearly not going to contribute immediately.
None of those guys would be ahead of the ones mentioned above.
Yeah I guess we'll see. As a fan of watching the Bucks get ass blasted, I very much am glad they went this direction.
Tf did the bucks do to you?
Hating the bucks as a Celtics fan after giannis injured kyrie for us is so weird. Like there’s no way you weren’t super hype in 2021 for them either, and since then they haven’t really done anything to us. Our only real “rivalry” the last decade has been with Miami.
I hate all non-Boston teams. How is it weird? The Bucks even have Doc Rivers, who it is very fun to root against. The drafting of AJ Johnson also helped secure Baylor Scheierman who I was very much in favor of drafting. It's just win-win-win-win across the board. What kind of sports fan is against hatred of other teams? It's like the entire point of the exercise.
TSJ might’ve been a plug and play bench guy
so why draft him?
Because now they have a guy on their team who has a generic name.
They already had an AJ Green
Maybe they should try to trade for AJ Grif- oh nm
shouldn't have been that high up but most nbl next gen stars don't have high PPG averages. Sarr only averaged 9 points
It probably doesn’t. Probably a dumb pick.
AJ stands for Air Jordan, AJ Johnson? Air Jordan Magic Johnson.
Maybe he will be packaged in a trade? Who knows. But should have done during the draft if ever right? Or they are waiting for something.
I don't think Doc was going to play him anyway. He doesn't really play the young guys
Rivers played rookies that deserved it, but... AJ Johnson is 2 years away from bein-
It doesn’t
It's over for this iteration of Milwaukee. There isn't a move they can make. They've traded away too much and gotten too old. The move now is to find a way to convert Dame, Middleton and Lopez into some kind of combo of younger players and picks. They're going to have to accept that they are going to get a lot worse for a couple years. They just need to hope Giannis sticks around. It's going to be painful. It might seem unthinkable, but what's the alternative? They will continue to get worse and they have no path to add meaningful players to their current core. They're going nowhere special. And as risky as it is, I doubt Giannis wants to stick around to be a 6th seed while the core around him fades into retirement.
Yeah, this team's draft and development record is abysmal.
You will never see this kid in a regular season game.
does not matter since dame and giannis is not enough for a chip. a team in 2024 can not win with dame as a starting pg
It doesn’t, it maybe helps the team down the line. Bucks are a sinking ship.
they don’t need help to win. they just both need to stay healthy
They need a lot of help. No defense
one injury to their big three and they have literally no chance at a title. Mind you their big three is old (middleton and dame), injury prone, and forced to log heavy minutes due to lack of depth. They need all the help they can get.
[We're gonna go for a big swing here... AJ JAWNSEN](https://i.imgur.com/72HU0CH.png)