It wasn’t the best showing for former Badgers out in Vegas.
With five former Wisconsin Badgers playing in Summer League this year, it was an exciting offseason for UW/NBA fans. However, uh, none of the former Badgers exactly covered themselves in glory out in Las Vegas.
Here are the stats:
Aleem Ford, Orlando Magic: 18 mpg, 5.0 ppg, 23.5 FG%, 21.4 3P%, 100 FT%, 3.0 RPG (1.0 ORPG), 0.7 APG, 1.3 TOPG, 0.7 SPG, -3 plus/minus
Johnny Davis, Washington Wizards: 24.8 mpg, 8.3 ppg, 27.6 FG%, 33.3 3P%, 100 FT%, 4.0 RPG (0.7 ORPG), 1.7 APG, 2.7 TOPG, 1.0 SPG, -3 plus/minus
Micah Potter, New York Knicks: 11.2 mpg, 5.6 ppg, 59.1 FG%, 0.0 3P%, 50.0 FT%, 2.8 RPG (0.8 ORPG), 0.6 APG, 0.4 TOPG, 0.4 SPG, 0.2 BPG, +3 plus/minus
Nate Reuvers, Cleveland Cavaliers: 11.6 mpg, 3.5 ppg, 30.0 FG%, 0.0 3P%, 50.0 FT%, 3.5 RPG (1.0 ORPG), 0.5 APG, 0.5 SPG, 0.5 BPG, +7 plus/minus
Vitto Brown, Los Angeles Lakers: 12.7 mpg, 5.8 ppg, 45.5 FG%, 25.0 3P%, 50.0 FT%, 2.0 RPG (1.3 ORPG), 0.3 APG, 0.8 SPG, 0.3 BPG, -3 plus/minus
Only Potter and Reuvers finished with a positive plus/minus and none of the former Badgers averaged double-digit points. The most disappointing performance was from lottery pick Johnny Davis, who struggled shooting the ball and with turnovers. While his trademark hustle and competitiveness were on full display, fans of Wisconsin and the Wizards were expecting more from him.
Johnny Davis runs the floor hard and has laid out for several loose balls. So there’s that.
— Bullets Forever (@BulletsForever) July 13, 2022
In his article on the “best and worst performances” in Summer League, The Athletic’s John Hollinger ($) listed Davis as his top (?) “first-rounder who struggled.” As you may have noticed above, the stats definitely back that up:
Look, I was down on him heading into the draft, but I wasn’t this down on him. Davis played three games for the Wizards and never got going, shooting 8 of 27 and making a limited impact in the other box score categories. Washington had him mostly playing off the ball, which also was how he played at Wisconsin, but it was odd to see how uninvolved he was given the lottery pick investment in him. Overall, his 4.9 PER was the third-worst of any draftee in summer league, and the other two weren’t lottery picks.
Potter should find himself a home in the G League again this season, as should Ford who is a better shooter than his Summer League numbers indicate. All eyes will be on Davis, though, once the season starts to see if he was simply just slowly adjusting to the NBA game or if he has more work to do than we thought coming out of college.