3 Goals Bucks rookie AJ Johnson must achieve to change the narrative around him

Goal 2: Becoming a good shooter for the Bucks

AJ Johnson wasn't supposed to be a strong shooter coming into the league. He shot 28.6 percent from three last year in Australia, so the Milwaukee Bucks didn't expect much from him in that regard. Yet, maybe they should have? He's shown promise early on.

If you look at his Summer League stats, where he shot 32.3 percent from downtown, you'd think they mainly reinforced that idea. But that number doesn't tell the whole story. This percentage is heavily lowered by Johnson's atrocious last game in Las Vegas, in which he shot 0-of-12 from the field, including 0-of-7 from three, plummeting his overall shooting stats. If we take that game away for a second, the numbers change quite a bit.

In his four first games, he was 10-of-24 from three, a way more respectable 41.7 percent, which is actually exciting. Yes, taking one game away is somewhat of a cheat, but it wouldn't be fair to let one bad game dismiss Johnson's shooting either.

He sunk multiple threes in every game outside of the last one and shot over 40 percent from the perimeter in three out of his five Summer League games, stats that draw a better overall picture than just his overall shooting percentage.

The thing is that Johnson is also showing glimpses of good shooting in preseason. He was 3-of-6 in the first two games the Bucks played, but then inconsistency struck again, and he wen 0-of-5 against Chicago Monday night. He hasn't been the most consistent shooter out there, but he's proving to be more promising than his NBL stats told.

Johnson needs to figure out how good he can really be as a shooter in his rookie season. He will for sure have some rough nights, but can he also keep these flashes up and have multiple threes a game from time to time? That would be a way for him to get into River's rotation with the Milwaukee Bucks.