Brew Hoop Community Draft Board - #11, Johnny Davis

The Brew Hoop Community Draft Board is kicking off with a bang, and a nice dose of hometown boy, with Johnny Davis out of Wisconsin ranking #11. The former La Crosse product came out with a bang in his sophomore season, vaulting up draft boards with a campaign that saw him land in the National Player of the Year conversation. As a former UW-Madison alum, I’m hyper-biased, but the guy did just deliver one of the most enjoyable Badger basketball seasons I’ve ever experienced (ending excluded), so I’m surely rooting for him to succeed in the NBA.

(H/T to StoneAge for the above draft breakdown video recommendation!)

Standing 6’5” (in shoes) with a near 6’8” wingspan, Davis’s most impressive ability to me last season was how he could always get his shot off. As the year wore on, teams were hell-bent on forcing him into difficult shots with no other surefire creators or shotmakers on the Badger roster. Still, he found ways to get his pull-up going or force his way to the tin. He had a crazy nearly 40% free throw rate last season. He shot 79% from the charity stripe, which could potentially assuage some concerns about how he’ll hold up from beyond the arc. That seems to be the main criticism levied at him thus far, that he hit 30.6% from deep on 121 attempts. I’d be curious if any of those were catch-and-shoot, based on my recollection they were pretty high-difficulty shots. I’d bank on it coming around a tad.

If we were in the Bucks front office, one tantalizing aspect of Davis would be his rebounding. I haven’t seen many guards at the college level who attacked the defensive glass like he did, averaging 8.2 boards a game and allowing him to start the break for a normally lethargic Badger offense.

I’m in the bag for Davis, but I think with his free throw drawing ability, jump-shooting, rebounding and defensive tenacity, someone is going to land a really solid contributor. It seems like the “toolsy” guys have made their annual push up draft boards, pushing Davis down into the teens. Whoever gets him will be fortunate.

All right, let’s move onto our next stage of the voting process. And thanks to G May for this reminder, but yes, you can approach this big board from a Bucks perspective, as if you’re alongside Jon Horst. The idea is still to create a board of the best players from that vantage point.

If you’re looking for a breakdown of prospects that includes their measurables and some basic stats, here’s a great spreadsheet from Adam Spinella.

We’ve officially reached the part of the draft process where I no longer have any clue about anyone on this list. Let’s dive in!

This poll will close at 8 am central, June 7.