Well, I bet you didn’t see that coming! With many players who had been mocked still on the board, Jon Horst and the Milwaukee Bucks threw Bucks fans a curveball by selecting AJ Johnson of the Australian NBL.
Many Bucks fans have expressed frustration with the pick as Johnson likely won’t be able to contribute this upcoming season. Late Wednesday evening, Horst addressed this topic and more during his press conference with the media. I was there to cover him for Brew Hoop and transcribed some of his most notable quotes. Let’s dive in!
On AJ Johnson not playing much last year:
“A lot of credit goes to our scouting team. That’s what they do. We have a global scouting department. That’s what they do. They go everywhere. They watch players as much as they can. We build a profile. You know, AJ is one of the top recruits in his class in a while. He was a four-star recruit out of Fresno. He played high school in California. He originally committed to Texas, decided to go to Australia. He grew up, as you mentioned, playing against pros. I think that’s great for him. Even though he didn’t play a lot last year in a very competitive NBL in Australia, he’s grown a lot. Physically, he’s grown a lot. Mentally, he’s grown a lot. You could see improvements studying film and watching him. Then having the opportunity to spend time with him during the draft process. We’re really excited about AJ.” When he plays and how quickly he develops, how quickly he gets his opportunities, that remains to be seen. But he’s a player with great athleticism, speed, talent… I love his mentality, his tenacity, so we’re really excited.
This was the first time Horst mentioned speed as a characteristic to define Johnson. He returned to it several times, as well as to athletics, in his responses about it. He and the Bucks obviously believe he’s going to become an athletic specimen as he continues to grow. Although he didn’t play much last year in Australia, they are confident in his ability to continue to grow as a basketball player to eventually be able to help this team. Now, how quickly will he get meaningful minutes? That remains a question.
That’s the biggest complaint from Bucks fans: This insane pick was made when the championship window is so tight. Once again, Horst mentioned the growing confidence they have in Johnson. On drafting a player as rookie as AJ Johnson and how that fits into a team that is in win-now mode:
“Yes, I think part of it is the growth and development of our current team. You saw AJ Green get on the field last year, Andre Jackson get on the field, MarJon was able to get on the field, Chris Livingston is having a great summer. We have a roster of young players who are growing and developing and already figuring out how to contribute to our team. That’s not to say AJ Johnson can’t do that. But I’m very confident in the group that we already have and it gives us the opportunity to grow, to develop in the right way, to mature in the right way, both physically and in his game. But he has a incredible speed, a certain speed. He has a passing mentality with a very high level of goal play. So I think he fits into that group skill set as well. I think these guys all have skills that make them great for our team and he brings something that Andre Jackson is maybe the only other one to really bring in terms of speed. I like the way he plays at different speeds. He can go fast. He can play in second gear, in third gear. You can really slow it down. He’s great at decelerating, which is something we’ve studied a lot. His change of pace will give him a chance – even though he’s skinny, he’s a lot stronger than he was. He has a great frame but that won’t be his gift. It’s his speed, his fluid athleticism and really his mentality.
Again, you see that he concludes his comments with speed and athleticism.
Horst was then asked if he considered this a big choice:
“When you get to that part of the draft, the evaluation that we had to do, here’s a handful of guys that are winners now and here’s a handful of guys that maybe have a higher development curve or a longer runway, I think he’s a combination of both. He has in my mind — obviously, in the minds of our group — a defined and unique skill set in speed and athleticism. He’s very fast. He’s very shifty, very fluid. He knows how to play. I think when you have something that you can rely on, it gives you a chance to take the field. It gives you an opportunity to build from somewhere. So he’s not this kind of very raw talent development prospect, I would say — like a projection pick. There are things that he does already that translate to our game. There are things that he has to improve on and work very hard on. To me, from a speed standpoint, athleticism and again that kind of pass-first mentality, he can really score in between. He can shoot threes, finish at the rim. I think those are the things that give him a chance not only now, but in the future.
It’s a new process for the Bucks’ leadership staff, with Doc Rivers now in his first full offseason as coach. On how Doc was involved throughout the selection process:
“He’s been great. Doc’s been to a lot of our practices. He’s got a homework assignment as he’d tell you right now. Tonight he’s scouting the top four or five players for tomorrow’s draft to get a formed opinion. I’ve spent a lot of time in our draft room the last few days. He’s been great. Very appropriate involvement, he kind of understands my support and the support of the group, asks great questions. And like I told him before tonight, you’ve done this a ton of times, you’ve seen a lot of draft rooms, this is the first time we’ve done this together. I have no ego in this thing. You see something, speak up. Put us on the right track if we’re missing something. It’s chaos in there. We have a lot of people working on a lot of projects in a condensed format over time. Every experienced opinion counts. He’s been great.”
That’s what you like to hear from the GM. Sure, a lot of it may seem trivial, but Horst said it all perfectly. Doc has been to this rodeo many times and brings a lot of experience to Horst and his team. It’s important to foster that two-way communication between the parties and that’s exactly what they seem to be doing. We’ll see where that takes the team tonight with the No. 33 pick.
On how AJ Johnson fits the team’s needs and plan with free agency moving forward:
“I think our needs today will be our needs in the future. And I think AJ, he’s a big guard with speed and athleticism who plays on both sides of the ball. How he gets there will be up to him and how hard he works and how much we support him and help him grow, but whether we will this season, I don’t know. But it is clear that we have these needs and that we needed to address an element of its drafting. Beyond that, what are the things we’ll be looking for in free agency, from a business standpoint, 33 tomorrow, we just think we need to continue to add guard size and wing defense. There are never too many shots on our team. We want to continue to invest in our bigs and support Bobby, Brook and Giannis to play. These are truly our needs. And I think AJ checks some of those boxes right off the bat. I think we always want to look to improve our talent at the top. There will be opportunities to do so. And we have to worry about the progress of this team. Yes, it’s about winning this year. The goal was to win last year and the year before. It’s always like that. Sometimes you succeed, sometimes you don’t. But we must always be concerned about moving forward.
It’s interesting that he noted Bobby and Brook in his response…
I’m sure you can watch the entire interview on the Bucks’ social media or via their YouTube if you’re so inclined to watch it. In case you missed our newser on the selection, you can read the commentary here.
Tonight, Bucks Assistant General Manager Milt Newton will speak to the media. I won’t be there, but stay tuned to Brew Hoop as we’ll have all the news regarding Milwaukee’s second-round pick as well as any other news that may develop.