Game recaps from January 27 to February 1
Hey Brew Hoopers, I’m going to try doing a Wisconsin Herd weekly wrap to keep those interested up to date on the happenings down in the G League. It’ll focus mainly on the Milwaukee Bucks assignment and two-way players, but there will be some notes from the other players as well. Now, the G is tougher to analyse because the league’s decision-makers, in their infinite wisdom, decided to spread the games across 3–5 platforms (I’ve genuinely lost count). As an Australian, I only have free access to one of those platforms: YouTube. Therefore, I’ll do my best to summarise stats from the games I couldn’t watch and provide deeper analysis on the games I could.
With that out of the way, here are this week’s results:
Wisconsin Herd vs. Windy City Bulls: WIN (91-81)
- Ibou Badji: 10 blocks, 10 rebounds
- Henry Ellenson: 32 points, 14 rebounds, 12/24 FG, 6/8 3FG
- AJ Johnson: 11 points, 4/8 FG
Ibou Badji is an incredible rim protector and lob threat at the G League level. I don’t care where you’re playing, recording 10 blocks in one game is absurd. You can see why NBA teams have shown interest in the past. Ellenson scored 32 points on 50% shooting; ho-hum. AJ had some crazy finishes in transition, as he is wont to do. But other than that, it’s tough for Johnson to create scoring opportunities in the halfcourt because nobody thinks he’s going to shoot it off the dribble. The shot itself is fine—he can shoot off the catch decently—but there’s no real threat he’ll launch off the dribble. Therefore, defenders are sitting back a step waiting for him to come to them. When he gets his shoulders past guys, the elite athleticism can shine; working out how to make that happen more often is the next step.
Wisconsin Herd vs. Delaware Blue Coats: WIN (128-114)
- Henry Ellenson: 29 points, nine rebounds, 12/17 FG
- Terence Davis: 24 points, 10 rebounds, 6/6 3FG
- AJ Johnson: 16 points, five assists, six rebounds, one block, one steal, five turnovers, 7/14 FG
These are the games you’re looking for from Johnson. The turnovers aren’t great, but he impacted the game in a range of different areas. The efficiency is awesome as well. Ellenson finishing with 29 points on just 2/5 from three might be more encouraging than if he’d hit a bunch. This proves that he can rack up points in other ways too.
Wisconsin Herd vs. Delaware Blue Coats: WIN (115-106)
- Henry Ellenson: 27 points, 10 rebounds, 5/6 3FG
- AJ Johnson: 14 points, 9 rebounds, five turnovers, 2/3 3FG
- Tyler Smith: 13 points, 16 rebounds, 5/12 FG
Still too many turnovers for AJ, but the flashes from this game tell you what the Bucks saw in him as an athlete; I can see that burst translating to other parts of his game at the next level too, such as defence. Tyler with 13 points and 16 rebounds (!) coming off an illness is nice.
Wisconsin Herd vs. Salt Lake City Stars: LOSS (105-118)
(The points column on the G League’s website was not visible; I did my best sourcing from the game report)
- Stanley Umude: 21 points, 6/16 FG, 3/7 3FG
- Ibou Badji: 14 points, six blocks
- AJ Johnson: 1/7 FG, 0/3 3FG, 0/2 FT
- Chris Livingston: 3/10 FG, 0/3 3FG
After it felt like AJ had taken some big strides recently, this was a really tough one for him. Johnson was pressing basically the whole game to score, and that is completely the wrong way to think about his path to NBA minutes. Maybe the fact that there were extra guys in the lineup threw him off a bit. In other news, this was Stanley Umude’s first game with the Herd in a minute; it was also his first true game simulation period, having only played garbage time with the Bucks. He barely missed in the first half, but it looked like fatigue got to him in the second. Would love to see more of him in the G. Tyler Smith played sparingly but did nail two important threes late. I continue to struggle to see Chris Livingston’s path to NBA minutes because I can’t place his NBA skill.
The Herd are currently eighth in the Eastern Conference with a 9-8 record.