Milwaukee Bucks: Damien Inglis Solid In D-League Debut

Milwaukee Bucks’ prospect Damien Inglis impressed in D-League debut while helping the Canton Charge to their first win of the season.

While the Milwaukee Bucks were busy forgetting how to defend during their track meet loss to the Sacramento Kings, one of their key young prospects was trying to grab a win of his own in a game couple of states over.

20-year-old Bucks rookie Damien Inglis made his first appearance since being assigned to the D-League with the Canton Charge, and as Milwaukee had hoped for he got the chance to play and show what he can do.

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It wasn’t always pretty, and you can be sure that many of the problems that Inglis had encountered during Summer League, pre-season and even his brief glimpses of action in the NBA will persist at this level too.

At the same time, the raw talent that has gotten many Bucks fans excited about the man from French Guiana was on display for everybody to see in his debut outing at the Canton Memorial Civic Center.

Heading into the game the Charge were still in search of their first win of the new season, following an 0-3 start, and the first quarter was pretty grim as the Fort Wayne Mad Ants looked likely to be the next team put them to the sword.

By the time Inglis finally made his first appearance with just over a minute remaining in the first quarter, Canton found themselves trailing by six points. In the second period the young Buck would get to work to change that though.

It took Inglis a few minutes to work himself into the game, in large part due to the fact that he had to work for his teammates to involve him. Initially he was ignored when perfectly good opportunities were there for him, but it wouldn’t be long before the youngster let his teammates know what he’s capable of.

When the opportunity did present itself soon after, Inglis showed no hesitation in taking a three-pointer even if it didn’t drop. A strong offensive rebound gave him confidence though, and a first score wouldn’t have to wait much longer.

Finding himself with the ball in the left corner, Inglis showed good strength to back his man down before finishing with a beautifully soft right hook lay in.

A minute later there was more to come from him. The ball arrived in his hands 17 feet out just left of the painted area. Inglis showed great hesitation moves in isolation to force his man to bite on the fake, freeing up the opportunity for a smooth and easy jump shot.

From there Inglis showed a little more of the rough edges that led to him being assigned to the D-League in the first place.

First of all he tried to overcomplicate what should have been a simple pass from under the basket, and ended up committing a wild turnover. Moments later, he grabbed a strong defensive board and looked to push the pace in transition yet blew it with a missed layup when he got down the floor.

A major positive came in seeing that Inglis didn’t hang his head based on those mistakes though. With 4:30 remaining, Inglis once again showed how adept he is at faking to create his own shot. Standing behind the three-point line, Inglis conned his defender before stepping inside for another sweet mid-range two.

After faking from behind the arc on the previous possession, Inglis didn’t step in the next time around, knocking down a confident three ball the second the ball landed in his hands.

Canton’s no.22 would finish out the half with a couple of strong defensive plays. First he forced a Mad Ant into a turnover with strong pressure, while then as the clock wound down it was his contest that denied Fort Wayne a late bucket going into the interval.

Having sat for most of the third quarter, it was the final period before Inglis really started to get going again. He was aggressive coming out of the break, and eager to try and score his share of points.

Inglis showed a knack for making nice cuts towards the rim throughout the game and he got his reward with a nice and-one as the fourth quarter began to gather pace.

His final bucket of the game would come not long later off the back of a strong effort on the offensive glass and a simple putback at the second attempt.

Inglis finished the game after 23 minutes of play with 14 points, five rebounds, an assist and a steal. He shot 6-15 from the field, 1-3 from deep and 1-1 from the free throw line.

The game was a perfect representation of what Inglis is right now. There’s plenty of good, and there’s plenty of bad. At least in Canton he’ll get the opportunity to play through it and develop.

The Charge picked up their first win, knocking off the Mad Ants 107-87. They’ll return to action on Saturday against the Bakersfield Jam.

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