Always a strong outside shooter, dollar wing AJ Green had inconsistent seasons in his first two NBA seasons, in part due to questions about his defense. However, he has made great strides in the field so far this fall, earning a larger role and praise from a superstar teammate, he writes Eric Nehm of The Athletic.
“His defense is incredible” Giannis Antetokounmpo Green said Wednesday. “He stays away from counterfeit pumps. He uses his body very cleverly. I think two years ago he would have gotten himself into foul trouble. He used his hands a lot, maybe jumped on the pump fake a little, and got the guy to shoot two easy free throws. But now he’s just solid.”
Green continues to shoot three-pointers – even after going 1 of 6 against Indiana on Friday, he's at 46.7% this season – but earlier in the season he had a career-high 41.2% three-pointer. , so this comes as no surprise. His defense, on the other hand, was better than expected. Entering Friday's contest, Green's defensive rating over 260 minutes this season was an impressive 103.5, the second-best mark among Bucks who have logged at least 70 minutes.
“In my opinion he is a really, really good defender and he shows that in training. He shows it in games, you can see it.” Antetokounmpo said. “Although he’s not a liability on defense, he’s actually one of our better defenders on the team. So I'm very, very happy that he's out there with me. He makes our defense better and when we grab the rebound and go the other way, he’s a threat from anywhere.”
Here's more from around Central:
- Pistons Point guard Cade Cunningham has been ruled out of Saturday's competition in Orlando due to what the team is calling a left sacroiliac joint sprain, according to Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press (via Twitter). While it's unclear who will replace Cunningham in Detroit's starting lineup, Hunter Patterson of The Athletic notes (via Twitter) The Wendell Moore took his place at the start of overtime in Wednesday's game after Cunningham was eliminated.
- Bulls forward Patrick Williams He missed the second game in a row on Friday due to inflammation in his left foot excluded also for Saturday, but he is reportedly downplaying concerns about his injury Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times. Williams told reporters that the pain he feels now is “not even close to the pain he felt before he had season-ending surgery on that foot last winter.” “I’m not really worried” he said. “Of course, with things like this I only rely on the doctors, of course on our training staff, on the team I worked with at home over the summer. Nobody seems worried. It's kind of a thing that happens after surgery. The first year after surgery is always the most difficult. (We’ll) try to work through different things.”
- Jahlil Okafor was the third overall pick in the 2015 draft. Less than a decade later, as he approaches his 29th birthday, the veteran center is playing for the Indiana Mad Ants of the G League and looking for another NBA opportunity. Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star takes a closer look at Okafor's comeback efforts with the Pacemaker' NBAGL partner.
