Milwaukee Bucks: Revisiting D.J. Wilson’s 2019-20 season so far
By Adam McGee
Milwaukee Bucks: Revisiting D.J. Wilson’s 2019-20 season so far – Where D.J. left off
When the season came to a halt back in March, Wilson found himself at the wrong end of a logjam for frontcourt minutes. With Giannis Antetokounmpo and Brook Lopez in place, starter minutes were always out of the question. Still, Wilson has failed to make his mark in the depth chart behind them.
When Ersan Ilyasova started the season impressively, carrying over his form from the FIBA World Cup, there was little Wilson could do about his lack of playing time. Yet even when Ilyasova’s contributions increasingly trended downward as the season progressed, the Bucks’ lack of trust was apparent.
Therefore, it was entirely unsurprising when Marvin Williams was added as a free agent after the trade deadline.
Similarly, the addition of Robin Lopez last offseason barred any path to backup center minutes for Wilson. Not that playing at the 5 particularly played to his strengths to begin with.
And that’s kind of the problem with Wilson at this point. He’s not strong enough to be a center, doesn’t knock down the 3-pointer with any real consistency, and remains strikingly inconsistent when he does play.
A major share of Wilson’s minutes come in garbage time, meaning motivation and urgency aren’t necessarily as easy to come by. But Wilson’s play does occasionally leave question marks over his focus, and that’s not the kind of trait that will endear him to Coach Bud.
Wilson’s defense hasn’t looked quite as formidable in his limited run this year either, for whatever reason that may be. But with only 31 games played, an average of nine minutes per game in those contests, and a shooting line of .396/.255/.667, the rest of his game hasn’t exactly been making a strong case for him to get more playing time either.