Xavier Munford represents winning gamble for Dave Dean, Wisconsin Herd

Xavier Munford is surrounded by reporters in the Wisconsin Herd locker room. It’s March 21 and he has just set a Herd single-game scoring record with a 46-point outburst in a loss to the Westchester Knicks. Munford is fielding questions about his historic scoring performance, and answering them each in typical X fashion.

“Shoutout to my teammates, just finding me with the ball and putting me in good situations,” Munford says. He goes on to also credit the coaching staff, the fans, and his general manager, and many of them more than once over the course of the media scrum’s session around his locker. 

This is typical of Munford. The four-year G League veteran set some impressive Herd records, including total points scored with 830 and that 46-point single game outburst. Looking back on what ended up as a rough season for the Wisconsin Herd, who collapsed in part due to losing James Young to a call-up via the Philadelphia 76ers, Munford is a doubtless bright spot.

Still, at the time Wisconsin brought Munford in, some questioned first-year general manager Dave Dean for giving up so much — two first round picks for Munford and a second-rounder. Dean knew he saw something special in Munford, though, so despite being just months into his new gig he pulled the trigger on what certainly should qualify as a blockbuster in the G League.

Watching his guy drop 40-plus points twice in a week around the end of the season, and having signed him to a two-way deal with the Bucks as well, Dean now rests assured his decision was the right one.

“X will always hold a special place in my heart, in that he was the guy that we first identified, had him into training camp, and said, ‘We got to get this guy, whatever it takes,’” Dean said. “So we traded two first round picks. People at the time were like, ‘That’s a lot.’ It wasn’t. It wasn’t a lot for X. He’s been probably one of the best players in the G League, and obviously we saw enough in him to give him a two-way contract.”

Much like the player he took a chance on was quick to share the praise, Dean also went on to point out that it’s not just him who deserves credit for finding impact players, whether they be Munford, James Blackmon Jr, or Ricky Ledo.

“it’s not just me,” Dean said. “It’s our entire staff. Our staff watching these guys, and saying this would be a good player to get, let’s try to get him.”

When asked about Dean taking a risk bringing him into the Herd, Munford quickly noted that the feeling was humbling, and he now simply tries to help prove his general manager and front office right.

“It feels good to me that I could repay them for taking a chance on me, and letting them know that it was the right chance, and they made the right decision,” Munford said. “It’s a great feeling. Dave has been there, giving the whole team confidence throughout the whole year, he believes in us. Everybody, one through 15. He believes in everybody, the coaching staff. It’s good to go out there and be able to repay him with our performance.”

X was one of the top scorers in the G League in his first season with the Herd, but it took him just 17.4 field goal attempts to get his 24.4 points per game. Much of the reason for that efficiency is his 3-point shooting: Munford shot 44.4 percent from deep on 5.3 attempted 3s per game this season.

He won’t force shots, but when he starts to feel the energy of a hot streak, Munford said it’s something the whole team can tune into.

“Energy is contagious,” X said. “Somebody gets hot, it’s contagious, it runs through the team. It helps a lot when I start feeling it, then they start feeling it–it just feels good. It’s a great feeling.”

Munford’s coach, Jordan Brady, said X had been able to string together some spectacular stat-lines thanks to gaining continuity with the Herd after he ran out of days to spend with the Milwaukee Bucks.

“That continuity and rhythm that he’s been available to develop has really helped him out a lot,” Brady said. “Guys that are high level scorers like that, they depend on consistency. While he was back and forth a lot fulfilling his role with the Bucks I think it was hard for him to get the in-game consistency that he needed. It’s really good seeing him back playing at that level.”

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Although it can become easy to simply pencil in 20-30 points each night from Munford, Brady said he never takes it for granted when X has a fantastic offensive performance for Wisconsin.

“X is obviously really talented, and we do appreciate what he does,” Brady said. “I never take that for granted as a coach, that we have a high-level scorer there.”

Herd forward Brian Williams shared the floor with Munford at times during Munford’s record-setting evening. Despite Williams not getting consistent minutes on the Herd, he said he knew well enough to fight the urge to force shots and to instead to make the smart play.

“When X got it rolling like that, make sure you get him the ball,” Williams said, laughing.