Milwaukee Bucks: The rise of D.J. Wilson

Unexpectedly, D.J. Wilson has come out of nowhere this season to contribute to this Milwaukee Bucks team that currently sits atop the Eastern Conference standings.

D.J. Wilson’s extremely unanticipated emergence this season reminds me of the famous sentiment from Pixar’s Ratatouille, that “Anyone can cook” and “Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere.” In the Milwaukee Bucks’ case, this means a great player can come from anywhere.

After his extremely lackluster rookie season in which he only played in 22 games, averaging 3.2 minutes, and had multiple G-Leauge stints, Wilson was widely seen as a wasted draft pick and cursed to sit at the end of the bench and be in the middle of pre-game dance circles until his rookie contract ran out.

This summer when general manager, Jon Horst, decided to pick up his third-year option, it was met widely with hostility from Milwaukee Bucks fans. But now, under new coach Mike Budenholzer, he has found his role on this first place Bucks squad.

Budenholzer expanded Wilson’s role on December 17th, the day after Ersan Ilyasova broke his nose in practice. That night D.J. scored an efficient 9 points on 4-5 shooting and 1-1 from beyond the arc while adding three assists, three rebounds, and a block in 25 minutes. This coming only two days after being recalled from the Wisconsin Herd on December 15th.

Surprisingly to Bucks fans, he continued to build on that performance. Only 10 days later on December 27th, he notched his first career double-double tallying 10 points and 14 rebounds. He continued to give the Bucks solid bench production until January 31st when, in the biggest game of the year to date, he poured in a career-high 16 points on 6-10 shooting and 3-6 from deep and contributed five rebounds and two steals in a 13 point win over the Toronto Raptors.

The Bucks are 19-4 in games that Wilson has played in since he got his first taste of significant minutes in December. He has given them a spark off of the bench both offensively and defensively.

Offensively, he has spaced the floor extremely well, opening up the lane for drives by Giannis Antetokounmpo, Malcolm Brogdon, and Eric Bledsoe. 48.4 percent of Wilson’s field goal attempts are coming from beyond the arc this season and he is converting those attempts at a scorching rate of 42.6 percent on 2.4 attempts per game. He is averaging a solid 11.9 points per 36 minutes and an above average 113 offensive rating.

Another big reason why the team scores more efficiently while he is on the court is that he does not turn the ball over, as evidenced by his 1.0 turnover per 36 minutes and very low 8.6 percent turnover rate.

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Defensively, Wilson has been the personification of energy and effort. He has been overmatched many times by the likes of Blake Griffin, Andre Drummond, Anthony Davis, and Al Horford, but has not backed down from the challenge and has put in valiant efforts night in and night out for this Milwaukee Bucks team. Fivethirtyeight.com rates Wilson as the Bucks’ third-best defensive player at +1.8 behind only Antetokounmpo and Brook Lopez.

His defensive tools are highlighted by his 7’3″ wingspan, living up to his twitter handle, Lanky_Smoove. This wingspan has helped him defend the perimeter and protect the rim. Opponents are shooting only 40.8 percent against him, a rate identical to Antetokounmpo, who leads the league in defensive win shares. He also has the lowest opponent field goal percentage at the rim on the team at 50.7 percent. By this metric, he is the best rim defender that the Milwaukee Bucks have on their roster.

Wilson is not just contesting opponents’ shots well, but swatting them away too, averaging 1.5 blocks per 36 minutes. It’s also worth mentioning that he is willing to put his body on the line, ranking second on the team in charges taken, and he has no chance at first place because the Bucks have league-leading, charge-taking machine Ersan Ilyasova.

D.J. is also finishing off possessions with strong rebounds. He is averaging the second most box-outs per game on the team behind only Brook Lopez. He is also securing 7.4 defensive rebounds per 36 minutes. This, combined with him crashing the offensive glass and grabbing 1.7 offensive rebounds per 36 gives him almost a double-double per 36 minutes.

Wilson has thrived this season in coach Budenholzer’s modern pace-and-space system and has used his length on the defensive end to contain star players and stifle anyone else that dares to challenge his freaky 7’3″ wingspan at the rim. All of his contributions have added up to a plus 13.0 rating for every 100 possessions he is on the court.

He earned the right to keep his minutes even after veteran, Ersan Ilyasova, returned from his broken nose. This cemented Thon Maker’s place out of the rotation and on the end of the bench. With the position of benchwarmer being obsolete due to the Bucks’ newly engineered heated seats, Thon had nothing left to do and requested a trade.

As a result of this trade, Wilson may lose some minutes. He is still a young and inexperienced player which could hurt him in the playoffs. Nikola Mirotic is an established pro who will be a huge asset for the Milwaukee Bucks and is simply more talented than Wilson. However, Wilson can play alongside multiple other bigs, and Budenholzer will certainly get creative in how he utilizes all of his weapons.

Looking forward, D.J. is definitely in the Milwaukee Bucks’ plans for at least the next two years. While still on his rookie contract, he is a huge asset to a team that will have as many expiring contracts this summer as Jason Smith had games played in Milwaukee. Big men with length that can space the floor and defend are extremely valuable in today’s NBA and the Bucks found one in DJ. Wilson.

To go back to my very sophisticated Ratatouille metaphor, “It is difficult to imagine more humble origins than those of the genius now cooking at Gusteau’s.” It truly is hard to think of an NBA player who got off to as rocky of a start as D.J. Wilson, only to suddenly turn it around on a dime and start contributing to any team, much less the best team in the NBA.

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He deserves credit for his hard work over the offseason and in his G-Leauge stints, the front office deserves credit for continuing to believe in their first-round pick by picking up his third year option, and most of all coach Budenholzer for seeing Wilson’s talent, not caring what the fans backlash might be from giving him meaningful minutes, and working his magic yet again as he has throughout his entire first season in Milwaukee. D.J. Wilson has been a revelation for the Milwaukee Bucks this season, truly showing us all that, “anyone can cook”.

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