A Boogie Wonderland
Exploring the DeMarcus Cousins signing and checking in on the Wisconsin Herd
The Milwaukee Bucks are rolling, having won their last seven games following their 118-100 win over the Indiana Pacers over the weekend.
Now up to 13-8 on the season and 1.5 games back of the East-leading Brooklyn Nets, reinforcements are on their way and a high-profile one at that. As first reported by ESPN’s Adiran Wojnarowski Sunday night, the Bucks have brought in four-time All-Star DeMarcus Cousins on a non-guaranteed deal to fill their lone vacant roster spot, a move that has since been made official by the team.
Cousins certainly needs no introduction, but how we once talked about the big man has changed dramatically. A pair of devastating injuries, first a torn Achilles suffered nearly five years ago and a torn ACL more than two years ago, has sapped much of what made Cousins such a special talent at his peak.
It’s left Cousins bouncing around the league since then as he missed the entire 2019-20 NBA season, though was a member of the Los Angeles Lakers for much of the year, and split last season between the Houston Rockets and the L.A. Clippers.
Still, because of who he is, Cousins’ namepower certainly brings plenty of intrigue behind the Bucks’ decision to bring him in as does the timing of it as well. Brook Lopez’s mysterious absence has gone over a month with nary an update, save one from the man himself more than a week ago with The Athletic’s Charania.
Cousins’ arrival doesn’t dispel any of the concerns around the reported back injury that has sidelined Lopez for all but one game and what his extended absence might mean now that the Bucks have gone out and brought in Cousins. No one should mistake Cousins for being a Lopez replacement. Cousins is far from it at this stage of his career and doing so minimizes just how integral Lopez has been to the Bucks since arriving to Milwaukee.
But, at long last, the Bucks have finally answered some fans’ prayers by bolstering their limited frontcourt with Lopez sidelined. Can Cousins give just enough offensive juice and be disciplined enough defensively to fill a needed role within Milwaukee’s rotation? That’s the big question and it will determine whether he can ultimately stay long-term in Milwaukee for the rest of the season, given the nature of his non-guaranteed deal.
It’s fair to be skeptical about how this all goes, but the motivation is at least there for Cousins to make his mark.
The Wisconsin Herd are streaking
The Bucks aren’t the only team streaking in the state of Wisconsin. Like father, like son, the Wisconsin Herd are now 6-0 on the G League season following their 124-116 comeback win over the Windy City Bulls Monday night.
Trailing by 12 at the start of the fourth quarter, the Herd have continued to turn to their rally caps throughout the season and made quick work of erasing second half double-digit deficits on the regular so far this year. They did so on the backs of assignees Jordan Nwora and Sandro Mamukelashvili, who combined to score 37 of the Herd’s 48 fourth quarter points to power Wisconsin to a dramatic victory.
Nwora’ first assignment with the Herd was very much a struggle before then, however. The second-year forward struggled with his shot selection, got into foul trouble and was pressing to find his way while playing in an unfamiliar environment prior to last night. That’s especially important when considering the fact Nwora hadn’t practiced up in Oshkosh at all this season.
Still, it didn’t slow Nwora from finishing with 22 points on 10-for-20 shooting (2-for-7 from three) 18 of which came in the final 4:31 of the fourth quarter, five fouls, three rebounds and two assists in nearly 23 minutes.
Mamu, on the other hand, continues to excel in his assignments down to the G League. With 19 of his 28 points coming in the fourth quarter, the Bucks rookie continues to shine in a featured role with the Herd and doing so by scoring efficiently and playing to his strengths whenever the ball comes his way.
To Mamukelashvili’s credit, though, he’s growing his game out and Monday night saw him stretch the floor and going 5-for-7 from three on the night. He may not hit shots at that high of a clip every night, but he’s looking to make opposing teams pay if they continue to sag off of him regularly.
On the other side of the ball, Mamu continues to make plays when defending the rim in impressive fashion. Just look at this recovery where Mamu gets vertical and extends to reject this layup attempt by Bulls guard Ethan Thompson.
Plays like the one above are why his development will be so fascinating to watch whenever he makes his way up to Oshkosh throughout this G League season.
He’ll do so with a new two-way player alongside him as the Bucks reportedly elected to waive Justin Robinson in favor of bringing in Ja’Vonte Smart from the Sioux Fall Skyforce.
Smart’s benefited from a hot start to the year in earning this call-up where he’s averaged 22 points per game this season on 48.7 percent shooting from the field, went 19-for-48 from three (39.6 percent) and 4.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists in five appearances with the Miami Heat’s G League affiliate.
I won’t profess to know much about Smart outside of the cursory glances at what he did during his three years at LSU before going undrafted last summer, but it’s clear shooting has been the biggest swing skill in his career. Going from a 32.6 percent 3-point shooter as a sophomore to a 40.2 percent marksman in his junior campaign certainly speaks to that.
Time will tell whether Smart can maintain his hot start in the pros now that he’s Oshkosh bound, but the rich could certainly get richer, considering the Herd remain undefeated despite many close calls.