Badgers in the NBA: Johnny Davis and Wizards brass speak to media

Former Wisconsin Badgers star Johnny Davis was selected with the No. 10 pick in the NBA Draft on Thursday night. He is heading from the capital of Wisconsin to the nation’s capital and will suit up for the Washington Wizards next season.

“Johnny proved his scoring capability and showed the ability and willingness to defend at a very high level at Wisconsin,” said Wizards President and General Manager Tommy Sheppard. “His versatility, toughness and extraordinary basketball IQ stood out during our evaluation process and we’re excited to have him join our team.”

“He seems like a very cerebral player, a guy that is going to do his homework,” Wizards head coach Wes Unseld Jr. said. He then went on to talk about how impressed he was with Davis, during the interview process, drawing up defensive plays on the whiteboard and breaking them down.

Throughout the draft process you may have noticed that Davis was often listed as a point guard which is...not the role he played at Wisconsin, like, ever. However, listening to the Wizards brass talk it sounds like something he is going to be asked to do in D.C. on occasion.

The major swing skill for Davis that will determine how his NBA career goes is his shooting. His slash numbers weren’t particularly great last year, but there is a bunch of context that needs to be examined when looking at his shooting percentages. Davis mentioned that his shooting percentage was lower than he would have liked due to his high usage and, well, he’s right.

Davis will also need to expand his range to be a more consistent threat from beyond the arc in the NBA.

Another thing that some had questions on was Davis’ playmaking ability. He addressed that too in a...tough way for some of his former teammates. To be fair, Modderno later noted that Davis said this as “delicately as [he] can” which would track with how Davis is talked about as a teammate.

And also to be fair...he’s probably right about this too.

Anytime you can make Knicks fans sad you are doing a good job, so congratulations to Davis and the Wizards on making Stephen A. Smith upset.