As tall and lanky wings, there are some clear physical similarities between Jaden McDaniels of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Milwaukee Bucks rookie Nate Ament. Both players were also prestigious high school recruits, with Ament ranking fourth in his high school class per ESPN and McDaniels ranking seventh. Yet both players had less-than-ideal freshman seasons, which caused them to slip in the draft.
Inefficient scoring (Ament posted a 45.2 effective field goal percentage and McDaniels posted a 46.9 effective field goal percentage) was at the center of their struggles. Both players also struggled to finish through contact in college. In the end, this caused Ament to fall to the 13th pick and McDaniels to the 27th pick.
Of course, McDaniels has earned his stripes and is now a fantastic complementary player due to his elite defense. At least early in his career, defense will be Ament's ticket to minutes and to sticking around in the league.
Perhaps Ament will also have a similar path of steady offensive growth and eventually blossom into a real weapon on offense. He did show flashes of a face-up and mid-range game in college, and of course, was a skilled scorer in high school. But for now, Ament's offensive game is raw, and the task should be clear: defend, defend, defend.
Much like McDaniels, Ament must earn his stripes by playing great defense
What makes McDaniels such a special defender is his ability to defend opposing guards while being a near 7-footer. This wasn't always the case, though; McDaniels guarded more forwards and often played as a secondary rim protector while at Washington. As a rookie, McDaniels spent 36.5 percent of his time defending guards, a number that increased to 49.7 percent in year two. Regardless, from the second McDaniels stepped on an NBA court, he was a high-impact and effort defender.
Ament wasn't a point-of-attack defender at Tennessee. However, he flashed this upside in spurts and has the lateral quickness needed to do so. And despite Ament's rocky offensive season, defense remained a strength.
With his size and length, Ament could be a disruptive jumbo-sized point-of-attack stopper, just like McDaniels. If Ament reaches this ceiling, he could defend opposing stars and be a massive cheat code for the Bucks.
Even if he doesn't follow the McDaniels' blueprint step by step (it's a really high bar, in all fairness), Ament must prove that he's a positive defender to become a quality pro. He could be a highly disruptive defensive playmaker, or a legitimate forward stopper. In any event, defense is clearly where he can impact the game the most.
Despite Ament being a lottery pick on a rebuilding Bucks squad, he won't be a priority for their offense early in his career. Ryan Rollins, Tyler Herro, Jaime Jaquez, and Myles Turner are all established players who will prevent Ament from being a featured offensive piece. And frankly, unless he's massively improved since then, Ament doesn't deserve a large offensive role. He has to earn his stripes.
If McDaniels' career path is any indication, jumbo-sized wings take time to develop on offense. McDaniels really showed his offensive upside in year three, when he averaged 12.1 points with 51.7/39.8/73.6 shooting splits. Slowly but surely, McDaniels improved as a finisher, mid-range scorer, and mismatch punisher. Last season, he averaged a career-best 14.8 points.
Entering year seven, McDaniels could still level up, and the Timberwolves will look to empower him even further. McDaniels isn't done improving, but he has lived up to his prestigious high school standards and has well outplayed his 27th overall draft selection. Still, his offensive growth wouldn't have happened without him becoming an elite defender, since he wouldn't have been given ample court time to develop.
As such, for Ament to fulfill his upside, it will start with becoming a high-level defender, and the offensive growth will eventually come.
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