Wisconsin Herd Inaugural Season Set to Begin

The Wisconsin Herd have finalized their roster ahead of their season opener Monday, November 6th against the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, the affiliate of the Houston Rockets.

The Herd officially have 12 players on their roster, two of which are on two-way contracts with the Bucks.

Gracin Bakumanya, Kyle Casey, Michael Dunigan, and Jarvis Summers were all selected by the Herd in the G League Expansion draft. The Herd’s number one pick in the expansion draft, Vince Hunter, signed a two-way contract with the Memphis Grizzlies – trumping his G League rights, which the Herd held.

Bakumanya is an interesting prospect, and I wrote more about him, and the G League Expansion Draft, here: https://theleadsm.com/wisconsin-herd-expansion-draft-results/

Only one player selected by the Herd during the 2017 NBA G League draft will be on the roster. Joshua Blamon averaged over 17 points per game each of his last two seasons at Stockton University in New Jersey, where he was a D3 All-American, but went undrafted in the 2015 NBA Draft.

Also undrafted by the NBA in 2015, and joining the Herd via a local player tryout, is Brian Williams from Louisiana-Lafayette. Williams averaged 10 points per game as a senior for the D1 NCAA school in the Sun Belt Conference.

The backbone of this roster, however, are the more experienced players. The two guys on two-way deals, Joel Bolomboy and Gary Payton II both bring NBA and G-League experience to the squad. James Young has been in the league for a few years with the Boston Celtics organization, where he spent time on the NBA roster and with their affiliate, the Maine Red Claws. Young was in training camp this preseason with the Bucks.

Also at Bucks training camp, and a member of the Herd’s roster, is JeQuan Lewis. Lewis, a combo guard out of VCU, was on the Bucks radar during the NBA Draft this past summer. I thought he’d be a candidate for a two-way spot, but he ended up with the Herd instead.

Herd GM Dave Dean was active in trading to fill out this roster, and acquired two G-League vets in Cliff Alexander and Xavier Munford who figure to play big roles with the team. Munford was highly sought after this summer, and was thought to be on some teams radar for a two-way contract. The Herd traded this year’s and a future 1st round pick to bring him in from the Hornets’ affiliate, the Greensboro Swarm.

The Herd open their season Monday night at Rio Grande, in Hidalgo, TX. Their in-state debut will be at the BMO Harris Bradley Center, November 17th against the Windy City Bulls. This was initially slated to be their true home opener, but that has been pushed back due to finishing touches still being put on the Menomonee Nation Arena in Oshkosh. The Herd will debut in their new arena on December 1st when they host the Iowa Wolves.