Milwaukee Bucks: Damien Inglis Is Coming

By Miles Wray | Aug 15, 2014

Damien Inglis was a second-round pick of the Milwaukee Bucks and it appears he will be in Milwaukee and not Europe in 2014-15. /

Back in May, the lottery ping-pong balls didn’t hurt the Bucks all that bad, but they didn’t really help the Bucks, either. Even though Milwaukee finished with a league-worst 17-65 record, they ended up with the second overall pick of the draft, which would eventually be spent selecting Jabari Parker.

One benefit that the Bucks received by having such a poor record, however, was being able to pick the 31st pick of the draft, or the first of the second round. The 31st pick is a highly advantageous pick to possess because, while the talent available at that position is hardly different from the talent available at the end of the first round, the contracts that those prospects are signing are significantly different after the 30th pick is taken.

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And with that 31st pick, the Bucks selected Damien Inglis.

With the 30th pick of this year’s draft, the San Antonio Spurs selected Kyle Anderson out of UCLA. Anderson’s salary starts at $1.09 million for 2014-15, and has two guaranteed years followed by two team options. If the Spurs pick up both options, Anderson will be owed $2.15 million come 2017-18.

Contrast this with the 33rd overall pick of this year’s draft, where the Cleveland Cavaliers selected Joe Harris out of the University of Virginia. Next year, Harris’ salary will be $880,000, and includes two total guaranteed years, followed by one unguaranteed year (2016-17), which would be worth $980,000.

Inglis’ salary is going to look a lot more like Harris’ than Anderson’s. (Salary information via shamsports.com.)

Inglis is a native of French Guiana, a practically microscopic coastal country in South America. (Kevin Séraphin of the Washington Wizards is also a native of the country.) Inglis is extremely young, turning 20 next May, and has been spending the last few years playing professionally in France.

Inglis is long, agile, and tremendously focused on defense. It’s a rough profile that is exceptionally similar to that of Livio Jean-Charles, whom the Spurs selected 28th overall in the 2013 Draft.

Jean-Charles did not play basketball anywhere in 2013-14 due to recovering from knee surgery, and there has been no news thus far about Jean-Charles coming to San Antonio for the 2014-15 season. Since Inglis broke his foot in the pre-draft process — which both caused his draft stock to plummet, and also prevented him from participating in Summer League — it seemed that he, too, might wait a year before arriving in Milwaukee.

But, this week, RealGM reports that Inglis is expected to come to Milwaukee, sign a contract, and play as a Buck for the 2014-15 season.

This is great news for the Bucks. As this DraftExpress scouting package shows, what Inglis lacks in offensive firepower he makes up for with lock-down defensive tenacity:

To listen to Inglis talk off the court, one can’t help but be reminded of the humble passion for the game that we’ve grown used to seeing with Giannis Antetokounmpo.

With Giannis and Damien patrolling the wings, with their huge wingspans and even bigger desires to improve their games, the Bucks could have the foundation of a defensive menace.

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