https://youtu.be/jCmLfIgZ2Os
Sam Merrill can be the next Nate Wolters for the Bucks. He was implying such a thing earlier in the season, in his limited appearances, but now it’s a certainty. I’m not sure if I’m emotionally ready for the next Nate Wolters so soon after the first Nate Wolters was taken from me, but Merrill doesn’t care if I’m emotionally ready or not emotionally ready. He’s here, he’s white, and he’s saying “I can be the surprise contributor at the point guard position”.
Yeah, he’s not really a point guard, but neither is anyone else on the Bucks roster other than Jrue Holiday, so here we are. The Bucks have a bunch of other point-guard-sized midgets (Forbes, Connaughton, DiVincenzo), but besides DiVincenzo (sorta), but I don’t trust those dudes to do much handling of the orange. I don’t think I trust Merrill either, but I know so little about his game that I wouldn’t be as surprised to see him flash playmaking ability as I would with someone like Forbes.
In this game he was definitely looking more to score, flashing no playmaking ability as he dropped 15 easy points without getting his teammates involved at all. What he did flash, though, is some never-before-seen athleticism, with a high-flying (okay, maybe “medium-flying”) dunk that shocked everyone in attendance, including himself. 15 points is kind of a low total for a semi-retired DownToBuck to be making a highlight video for, but remember, it’s DownToBUCK. I’m, nominally, a bucks fan, and maybe my standards are a little lower for Bucks players. Those standards are still not low enough to make a vid for Thanasis Antetokounmpo scoring 12, though, I’ll let someone else rake in the views for that one.
Aside from Wolters, do you know who else I see in Merrill? Luke Babbitt. Honest to god. I would never joke about such a thing, this is serious. There are Luke Babbitt vibes emanating from Merrill. I think it’s the shooting form. And the unpigmentedness. Wolters and Babbitt vibes coming from the same person, who also happens to be on the Bucks? Be still my beating heart.