Wisconsin Basketball: Will Ethan Happ get an Invite to the NBA Draft Combine

It was announced on Friday that NBA Draft combine invites were sent out and since Wisconsin Badger Ethan Happ entered his name into the pool, he is eligible to get invited to the event in Chicago.

The Wisconsin Badgers only have one player who is testing the NBA Draft waters. There are certainly plenty of names who are doing so without hiring an agent which means they’re eligible to return to school. Ethan Happ announced about a month ago that he’s interested to see where his name lands among draft prospects.

There’s no need for Badger fans to freak out. I think they have learned their lesson with Nigel Hayes. He tested the waters in 2016 and quickly found out that there was still things to be improved upon before he made it to the next level. Hayes also got invited to the Draft Combine and that’s where he found out that returning to school was his best option.

It all worked out for Hayes. He made another sweet 16 trip and has flourished in the G-League. Hayes has made a couple of appearances in the NBA, but he’s really making progress.

I expect the same to happen to Happ. There’s no need to panic If the Wisconsin Badgers Basketball Twitter account or Mike Lucas is announcing in the upcoming days that Happ is headed to the Draft Combine. I also don’t want people harping on the fact that Happ isn’t ready. If you know that he doesn’t have a jumper to speak of and his free throw shooting is below average then trust me, NBA scouts are aware too.

This isn’t going to be an article about whether Happ is ready or not. I’m also not going to bash a kid for wanting to figure out his future. A lot of folks did it to Hayes and it was wrong. Everything worked out in the end.

If he decides to go out then so be it. But I’m confident enough that he isn’t going to get top-60 rankings so I’m not going to stress out about it. On the other hand, though I know that this kid is a great basketball player and I was disappointed that his junior season went without an NCAA Tournament run.

I certainly can see why Happ wants to test the NBA waters. He’s been one of the more consistent college players the last two seasons.

Happ has played and started in every game since his first season in 2015-16 after redshirting. He chose to sit out the year before. The Wisconsin Badgers went on a National Championship run and the big man from Milan, Illinois got to learn from a guy from Lisle, Illinois.

Happ has averaged double-figures in all three seasons. He’s shot over 50 percent for his career and his rebounding has never gone under 7.8 per game. He almost hit eight during his freshman year, but he improved to nine in his second season. It took a hit this season and went to an even eight, but it was a fluke season for everyone.

He definitely showed more of his big man presence and was a better defender last year. Happ blocked 43 shots, came up with 67 steals and grabbed over 300 boards. He played it more conservatively this season and only committed 87 fouls as opposed to 102, but his blocks and steals went down.

I guess that’s the tradeoff when it comes to Ethan Happ’s game. Wisconsin certainly didn’t want Happ in as much foul trouble this season because of the lack of depth all around. They lost two backcourt players early one. One starting frontcourt player never lived up to the hype. Three guys weren’t the rebounders like typical Wisconsin big men and the other was just a raw freshman.

That’s one thing that Happ could be evaluated for. His defensive numbers go up when he plays aggressively, but make sure that there’s plenty of depth for him. It’s frustrating to watch Happ sit on the bench with three fouls early in the second half or even late in the first. But the block shots and the steals are great.

Lastly, his actual shooting numbers aren’t that great. He’s got great handles. He can move the ball up court, dribble drive and make great passes. Happ though lacks the ability to hit a jump shot. In fact, social media tends to blow up whenever the big am decides to shoot the ball.

Actually, that’s a very underrated Tweet right there. That’s probably why it may be confusing on how to truly understand what Happ will bring to the next level. We’re all used to seeing power forwards go behind-the-arc and knock down a triple a two. That’s what increases their scoring and makes them effective. Happ doesn’t do that, but he still averages almost 18 points per game on an under .500 team.

This carries over into the free throw shooting. It wasn’t bad his freshman year. He actually attempted four more free throws then as opposed to his sophomore season. Happ shot 64 percent in his first collegiate season, but the number went down to exactly 50 percent last season. He slightly improved this year but was still under 60.

So here’s a big man who doesn’t hit free throws well, has gone 1 for 11 from downtown in his career, doesn’t have a jump shot and still averages 14.7 points per game in 105 of them.

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The law of basketball averages doesn’t add up. One would think in order to make it to the next level, the free throw shooting and the three-point shooting has to improve. That should be the case, but Happ is still a great force in the paint. He’s been on watch lists for a couple of seasons now. Happ has never finished on National lists, but he has been getting recognized by the Big Ten.

Whether or not Happ stays in the NBA draft is yet to be determined. He has until June 11 to make a decision with the draft coming on June 21. The NBA Draft Combine will be May 16-20. We should know in the next day or so who all have been invited. My guess would be that we’ll find out from the Wisconsin Badgers Basketball Twitter page or Badger insider Mike Lucas if Happ goes to Chicago.