JULY 1: Green’s two-way contract is now official, the Bucks confirmed today in a press release.
JUNE 24: Undrafted rookie AJ Green of Northern Iowa will sign a two-way contract with the Bucks, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
The 6’4″ combo guard played four seasons with the Panthers and was named Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year in 2020 and 2022. Green missed most of his junior year because of hip surgery, but he bounced back strong as a senior, averaging 18.8 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game while shooting 38.8% from three-point range.
Green, who had one year of eligibility remaining, entered the transfer portal at the same time he declared for the draft. He ultimately decided to pursue a pro career rather than return to school.
Milwaukee’s other two-way slot currently belongs to Sandro Mamukelashvili.
Hugo Besson, whom the Bucks took with the final pick in Thursday’s draft, might have been a candidate for a two-way contract, but the team plans to keep him overseas next season, according to Eric Nehm of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Based on limited sample size, I think Mamu can be a decent contributor with regular court time..maybe 8-10 minutes a game instead of the 8-10 minutes a week (aside from garbage time) he got last year.
I was a big fan of him predraft last year, wanted the Dubs to nab him somewhere in the 2nd round. I felt a center rotation of Looney(6’9/222), Wiseman(7ft/245), and Mamu(6’11/245) would’ve provided some nice depth. And, just due to one player being 11yrs younger than the other, I feel like Mamu can at least eventually do a lot of the things the Warriors liked from Bjelicia, but with far more athleticism due to his youth and lack of back injury history.
Sandro fits the Bucks similar to how he’d fit GSW, so I wasn’t too ticked off he landed there. I assume they hope he can fill a stretch 5 role, and won’t try to change the type of player he is, rather develop the talents he obviously has. He’s like the Charizard to Alen Smailagic’s Charmander. Just seemed like the right fit for my Dubs, but I wish him nothing but success in Milwaukee, and hope to see him crack that rotation soon…
Although the rise of Bobby Portis likely prevents Sandro from being in the long term plans as a starter, I think his best fit in the NBA is as a rotation big anyways. Ever since I saw Portis and Mirotic on the Bulls in 2k, I wanted the Dubs to nab one of them too. Is it too much to ask for a 6’10+ dude not named Wiseman, Durant, Boogie, or Willie Cauley-Stein? Because those are the only 6’10+ guys GSW has had in the last 4 years and it’s somewhat annoying to see clearly nights where Loon/Belly/Dray/JTA/etc get overwhelmed by a team that has 2-3 guys that are 6’10-7’0/245-270lbs.
Pretty sure Jonas Valancuinas has an average statline of 19pts/17reb when playing GSW in that time…
Then they go and win a championship. Process that
Damn. From elite status on the Bengals to a two-way contract on the Bucks.
His fate was sealed when he failed to even turn around on the final play of the GB/AZ game last fall.