Looking Forward

[BrockLesnar]

A lot of pressure on AJ the next two. If he has two more goods ones we will see him on Milwaukee's bench game 1. If not he's the man in Oshkosh. Until the final twelve games last season I didn't think he would make it. Never give up on your dream.

[unipanthers8907]

A lot of pressure on AJ the next two. If he has two more goods ones we will see him on Milwaukee's bench game 1. If not he's the man in Oshkosh. Until the final twelve games last season I didn't think he would make it. Never give up on your dream.

I'll gladly eat crow if I'm wrong, but I dont think there's any way AJ cracks Milwaukee's 15 man NBA roster out of preseason as an undrafted rookie. With some of his shooting struggles I'll just be happy if he is still on a 2-way deal as the 17th man when the season starts. I think Milwaukee's 15 man NBA roster is pretty much set. AJ is likely gonna be playing for the Herd this year, nothing wrong with that. Just hoping he's still on a 2-way deal and gets called up for a few games here and there and gets at least a few minutes of real NBA experience this season.

[BrockLesnar]

I'll gladly eat crow if I'm wrong, but I dont think there's any way AJ cracks Milwaukee's 15 man NBA roster out of preseason as an undrafted rookie. With some of his shooting struggles I'll just be happy if he is still on a 2-way deal as the 17th man when the season starts. I think Milwaukee's 15 man NBA roster is pretty much set. AJ is likely gonna be playing for the Herd this year, nothing wrong with that. Just hoping he's still on a 2-way deal and gets called up for a few games here and there and gets at least a few minutes of real NBA experience this season.

There's nothing wrong with the G League period. I'm genuinely impressed from what I've seen. I think he makes the 15th man, but it's ok in my book if he is on a two way contract spent entirely in Oshkosh for his rookie season.

[sevelev711]

In the penultimate pre-season game, he had a...not good showing. Played for almost 30 minutes, went 3-11, including 2-10 from beyond the arc. 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 turnover, but given that he's on the team to be a guy who makes threes, that's not gonna cut it. Almost certainly down to Oshkosh now.

[BrockLesnar]

In the penultimate pre-season game, he had a...not good showing. Played for almost 30 minutes, went 3-11, including 2-10 from beyond the arc. 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 turnover, but given that he's on the team to be a guy who makes threes, that's not gonna cut it. Almost certainly down to Oshkosh now.

Yeah, I was hoping for better, but he played fair. He missed a bunch of 3 balls. Good to have 3 assists to only 1 TO. Got to 1 offensive board out of the 5 total. Wigginton and Vldoza didn't have good games either. The Bulls rolled 127-104. Green with 8, Wigginton 4, and Vldoza 6. A lot of regulars didn't play to allow for the last roster spots to be filled. I would guess AJ, Wigginton, and Vldoza are the choices for the 15th spot. Two of them will be sent down. It's starting to look like Wigginton makes the last spot.

[BCPanther]

Wigginton has been WAY worse than AJ

Anyway, I don't think any of us really expected that he would make Milwaukee's opening night roster, right?

He's going to keep the Two Way and get to play 35 minutes a night for the Herd and will get some time in Milwaukee. That can't be considered anything but a success. They have shown every indication of being completely on board with giving him a chance to develop. It would be totally different if he was with a bad franchise.

[BrockLesnar]

I would say Wigginton is the choice for the 15th spot because he has experience from last season. One more pre-season game left. We'll see, I still hold out hope AJ plays great the next time out. A team that contends for the NBA title does help AJ's future. I'm really glad he is playing here and away from Europe.

[BrockLesnar]

AJ finishes out pre-season with 2 rebounds in only 6 minutes of play. Nets win. Probably, starts for Oshkosh. Should get more comfortable as time progresses.

[CyCarp]

It'd obviously be cool to see him land in Milwaukee right away, but from a developmental prospective, playing 25+ minutes a night in Oshkosh will be MUCH better than cleaning up garbage minutes in Milwaukee.

[BCPanther]

It'd obviously be cool to see him land in Milwaukee right away, but from a developmental prospective, playing 25+ minutes a night in Oshkosh will be MUCH better than cleaning up garbage minutes in Milwaukee.

Correct. He's definitely going to hang on the Two Way (more minutes than the other Two Way and the Exhibit 10 guys got 3 minutes total) and getting tons of minutes for the Herd is nothing but a positive. He'll get his chance with the Bucks this year.

[BrockLesnar]

AJ and his family deserve all the accolades. He earned it.

[unipanthers8907]

I guess y'all have more confidence than I do that AJ hangs on to that two-way spot after next Monday when roster decisions are made. Based on the blogs and podcasts I've listened to about the Bucks they dont understand why AJ was even offered a two-way spot to begin with. While I dont agree with that, a lot of their criticism is "he was brought in to be a shooter, nothing more, and he's shooting around 30% on 3's between summer league and preseason", and if I take off my purple colored glasses for a second, it is hard to argue with that. Again, I really really hope I'm wrong. I'd rather have AJ on a two-way deal than a regular G-League contract because he'll get paid more and there is a higher likelihood he gets called up from time-to-time this season. The Bucks will have to decide if it is worth risking losing someone like Wigginton (who had better all around stats than AJ in summer league and preseason) to keep AJ on a two-way. I feel like the big guy who's the other player on a two-way for the Bucks is a lock to keep it (unless they cut someone from the NBA roster, move him to a full contract, then keep AJ on a two-way and add Wigginton as the other two-way). Who knows. Again, I hope I'm wrong. I'm cheering hard for AJ, but his cold shooting isn't helping him any.

[CyCarp]

I guess y'all have more confidence than I do that AJ hangs on to that two-way spot after next Monday when roster decisions are made. Based on the blogs and podcasts I've listened to about the Bucks they dont understand why AJ was even offered a two-way spot to begin with. While I dont agree with that, a lot of their criticism is "he was brought in to be a shooter, nothing more, and he's shooting around 30% on 3's between summer league and preseason", and if I take off my purple colored glasses for a second, it is hard to argue with that. Again, I really really hope I'm wrong. I'd rather have AJ on a two-way deal than a regular G-League contract because he'll get paid more and there is a higher likelihood he gets called up from time-to-time this season. The Bucks will have to decide if it is worth risking losing someone like Wigginton (who had better all around stats than AJ in summer league and preseason) to keep AJ on a two-way. I feel like the big guy who's the other player on a two-way for the Bucks is a lock to keep it (unless they cut someone from the NBA roster, move him to a full contract, then keep AJ on a two-way and add Wigginton as the other two-way). Who knows. Again, I hope I'm wrong. I'm cheering hard for AJ, but his cold shooting isn't helping him any.

Between Summer League and Preseason, it was only 10 games. He only played 17 mpg in the Summer League and 13 mpg in the preseason - that includes playing 29 min the 4th preseason game. I heard a lot chatter from other players about him shooting lights out in practice. We don't see what happens at practice, and I'd imagine that has a huge emphasis on where he ends up. Sure, you need to show up in games too, but at the end of the day - they've seen A LOT more action of him at practice than actual game time. There's a reason they signed him to a two-way, and I'm pretty certain they had planned for him to play in Oshkoch the entire time they had him. Maybe I'm overly optimistic, but I'd be pretty surprised if he loses the two-way.

[BCPanther]

They're looking at Grayson Allen's expiring contract after next year not what their roster looks like in mid-December of this year. They're going to give him all the time in the world to develop. I'd feel very, very different if he was hooked on to a bad franchise with roster issues. The Bucks aren't that, they've known what their 15 looks like since the day last season ended.

They're going to have to pay guys and being able to get Grayson Allen type production without the Grayson Allen price in 2024-25 is exactly why AJ's around.

[sivert]

I believe it is a one year two-way contract. He won’t “lose it” until time to resign for next year. He could spend all year in G.
He needs to light it up to get to Milwaukee.
But yeah, taking off my AJ fan glasses, AJ had one good game, (The second to last?) but he scored a couple threes in garbage time, when the game was pretty much decided.

Speaking of those games, Wigginton sure has an odd 3pt form. Almost falls on his butt after every one.