While there’s questions of where he’ll ultimately be selected, Markus Howard has garnered some interest from the Milwaukee Bucks ahead of the 2020 NBA Draft.
By far and away, this 2020 NBA Draft will be unmatched on multiple levels as the coronavirus pandemic has set back life as we once knew it all over the world.
Clearly, the pre-draft process for all 30 NBA teams, including the Milwaukee Bucks, has been disrupted one way or another, even as teams have adjusted to these new set of parameters. If that’s tough, think of the college prospects who have gone on to declare for the draft and ready themselves for the next steps in their career, only to see it be pushed back and add another layer of uncertainty during what is such a critical point in their lives.
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That’s certainly the case for Markus Howard, who all Bucks fans, Milwaukeeans and the state of Wisconsin have been accustomed to seeing show off his gifted scoring talents at Marquette University over the last few years.
After all, Howard ascended into an absolute star for the Golden Eagles, eventually became the program’s all-time leading scorer (27.8 points per game), and led the nation in scoring as a senior before his college career came to a premature end earlier this year.
After an outstanding career at Marquette, Markus Howard has interviewed with the Milwaukee Bucks ahead of the NBA Draft.
In a recent story written by CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander that focused on Howard’s pre-draft process and having to wait longer to realize his dream of entering the NBA, the Bucks apparently stood out among the crop of 26 teams the 21-year-old has interviewed with so far:
"“Howard’s interviewed with 26 teams — Orlando, Milwaukee and Golden State being some of his standouts — but tossing a wide net is not an every-prospect approach.”"
As that tidbit suggests and is pointed out elsewhere in the story, Howard is certainly casting a wide net in trying to make great impressions with teams who he may land with in a few short months. And there’s no bones about the Bucks doing the same and inquiring into prospects that are well out of range of the 20th overall pick, their lone selection going into this year’s draft.
Teams and prospects always do their due diligence at this time of year and having followed along with the draft process for some time now, that doesn’t necessarily mean there’s an indication either way how or where a team may value a certain prospect based on interviews alone.
Whether Howard will end up hearing his name called on draft night, though, is something of a question mark right now. ESPN.com ranked Howard 64th in their Top-100 Big Board while Sports Illustrated’s Jeremy Woo ranked Howard 72nd in his most recent Top-80 Board.
No one can question Howard’s superior scoring ability. Yet there are plenty of concerns over how someone of his size (5’11,” 180 pounds) will be able to handle the jump in physicality and athleticism, hold his own defensively, and adjust to not taking on the same scoring burden he had at Marquette under head coach Steve Wojciechowski.
For Howard, being overlooked, as far as his draft prospects are concerned, is nothing new at this point in his basketball journey and his resume to this point certainly speaks for itself:
"“I just know whenever the time does present itself, I know I’m going to represent myself as best I can. If what I did in college doesn’t make people look and see me as a definite prospect then I don’t know what to say. People have always doubted me from the beginning, ever since I got to college with my size, and my thing is: Who’s going to continue make the same mistake over and over again? I was doubted in high school, doubted in college all over again. If people overlook me again, I’m going to have to prove them wrong, but you would think people would learn sooner or later.”"
Even with so many questions swirling around the strength of this class, serious doubts loom over someone like Howard, who may be as productive on the college level as any player in this class, and his ability to get selected with any of the 60 picks in this draft.
With that said, it’s possible that the likely outcome for Howard may be going undrafted and having his pick of the litter when it comes to signing a two-way contract this fall. That isn’t a route that doesn’t come without significant risk, given that two-way contracts are essentially non-guaranteed and are cycled through all over the league throughout the season.
For the Bucks, though, someone like Howard would be incredibly beneficial to bring in on a two-way contract. Between the respective ability to score in bunches and hit shots in a variety of ways, there are many similarities between Howard’s game and reigning G League MVP Frank Mason, who flourished upon coming to Milwaukee as a two-way player last summer and acting as a primary focal point for the league-leading Wisconsin Herd under head coach Chase Buford.
Of course, Howard would certainly shoot for fighting for an NBA roster spot, even if he does end up going undrafted in a few months time. But in Milwaukee, there’s the systemic fit there for Howard to translate his high-level scoring talents in a setting like the G League to find his footing upon entering the NBA.