AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE! Oi! Oi! Oi!
Alright so AJ Johnson is NOT Australian, but he did spend his season in the NBL in Australia last season. I would not recommend looking up his stats if you want to be encouraged about this pick.
Look, here’s the deal: This draft STUNK. Stink, stank, stunk. All of the NBA Draft pundits have been preaching that message for months. It feels like every single player is a project (at best) and there were ZERO sure things.
So, the Bucks took a swing. AJ Johnson is raw, he’s 19-years old, he’s 167 pounds*, he’s got a LONG way to go. This is not a move-in-ready house. Hell this isn’t even a house. It’s a lot/land. It’s MAYBE a blueprint. But with some investment and some good luck, with some bags of unmarked bills left to a union president, maybe it can become the home of our dreams in 2-3 years.
And I know the fact that this is a project led to a LOT of outrage on Bucks Twitter last night. Which, I get. This is an aging team, this is a team in win-now mode, this is a team with a (right now) 2-year window where you have a Hall of Fame guard and a Hall of Fame forward paired together. The team needed to get younger and more athletic, but it also kind of needed a player that can help them now. A player that you could give 10-15 minutes off of the bench next year and could have an impact. AJ Johnson in all likelihood is not going to be that.
The problem goes back to the original point of this blog: It was a bad draft. I’m guessing/hoping that Jon Horst and company looked around and determined that there wasn’t a player available who made them younger, more athletic, and could help right away. Because of that they decided to take a lottery ticket. It sounds like Johnson had a really impressive Draft Combine appearance, with some seasoning in Oshkosh and some seasoning with NBA trainers, hopefully he can develop into a useful piece before the end of his rookie contract. It’s unfortunate that that doesn’t really help Giannis/Dame/Khris in the moment, but that’s the hand this draft dealt a lot of teams.
*Lucky for him he’s moving to a state and city that specializes in Butter Burgers and frozen custard. I don’t think weight is going to be a long term problem.
PS: A lot of conversation about, ‘well the last time they drafted a skinny unknown kid who had to come to the stage from the stands it worked out pretty well.’ In reference to Giannis in 2013. Hey I’m willing to drink that Kool Aid and believe that Johnson can be the a generational player in a few years. Pass the cup! The problem with that analogy is that the stage the franchise is in is completely different. In 2013 they NEEDED to take a chance on a guy with high-upside, and pray it worked out. Not just to transform the franchise competitively, but to make sure they stayed in Milwaukee. The 2012 Bucks were a middling 8 seed with a crumbling arena and a real chance of leaving town. A lottery ticket with huge jackpot potential made sense. The 2024 Bucks are a team with title aspirations and play in a state of the art venue. A 3-year project with potential upside doesn’t make as much sense.
Double PS: 11 years ago today, a LOT going on in my Facebook post the night the Bucks drafted Giannis:
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