Giannis' Development Made It Easier For Bucks To Sell Thon Maker Pick

[RealGM Wiretap]

The Milwaukee Bucks made a risky pick for Thon Maker in the 2016 NBA Draft that was perhaps made easier by how quickly Giannis Antetokounmpo developed.

"Now if you’re talking about the Giannis connection, I think Giannis’ rapid improvement had probably made that pick easier to sell because immediately everyone started trying to compare the two, even though that really wasn’t a part of our decision," said John Hammond.

Hammond talked about what led the Bucks to select Maker.

"We loved his length. We loved his ability to shoot the ball. With the game moving to where it is today, can he be a stretch big? We’re still hoping that Thon can be that player consistently as he moves forward. But more than anything with Thon was then when we had the chance to get to know him, we just fell in love with him as a person. I loved (director of scouting) Billy McKinney’s line on Thon. When Thon left us after the draft workout, Billy said, “You can be guaranteed that player is going to become the very best he can possibly become because he’s going to work that hard.” He’s never going to leave anything on the table. He’s always going to give you 100 percent and give himself 100 percent and give himself the best opportunity to become a player someday in this league."

Via Scott Howard-Cooper/NBA.com

[Whetzell]

It was a surprise but there wasn't a lot of talent after him.

Only a couple players drafted after him seem to have higher/equal upside in my opinion.

Skal, Zizic, Korkmaz

[Simmons25]

I still can't believe the Thon Maker age thing has just disappeared into a non-story.

It is a 99.9% chance he is a 24 year old... and that .1% is that a whole bunch of people that went to high school with him all conspired to lie about it.

[greggschapiro]

I still can't believe the Thon Maker age thing has just disappeared into a non-story.

It is a 99.9% chance he is a 24 year old... and that .1% is that a whole bunch of people that went to high school with him all conspired to lie about it.

Because who cares if he's 24 if he can ball. You seem like a liberal hung up on stupid **** bro

[GeorgeMarcus]

I still can't believe the Thon Maker age thing has just disappeared into a non-story.

It is a 99.9% chance he is a 24 year old... and that .1% is that a whole bunch of people that went to high school with him all conspired to lie about it.

Because who cares if he's 24 if he can ball. You seem like a liberal hung up on stupid **** bro

Lol why would that make him like a liberal? It's completely reasonable to care about age... If he's 20 then he's not close to peaking, but if he's 24 then he's already entering his prime. It's a huge indication of the trajectory of his career.

[Simmons25]

I still can't believe the Thon Maker age thing has just disappeared into a non-story.

It is a 99.9% chance he is a 24 year old... and that .1% is that a whole bunch of people that went to high school with him all conspired to lie about it.

Because who cares if he's 24 if he can ball. You seem like a liberal hung up on stupid **** bro

LOL What. He is 25 next season. That is a massive deal. He should be in the prime of his career... not someone who has "4 years to develop".

In 4 years time he will be thinking about retirement.

[Matches Malone]

I still can't believe the Thon Maker age thing has just disappeared into a non-story.

It is a 99.9% chance he is a 24 year old... and that .1% is that a whole bunch of people that went to high school with him all conspired to lie about it.

Care to show your 99.9% proof? I'm not saying you're wrong, but until I see it validated, I'm going with the assumption he's 20 and that the Bucks did their due diligence when researching his background.

[greggschapiro]

I still can't believe the Thon Maker age thing has just disappeared into a non-story.

It is a 99.9% chance he is a 24 year old... and that .1% is that a whole bunch of people that went to high school with him all conspired to lie about it.

Because who cares if he's 24 if he can ball. You seem like a liberal hung up on stupid **** bro

LOL What. He is 25 next season. That is a massive deal. He should be in the prime of his career... not someone who has "4 years to develop".

In 4 years time he will be thinking about retirement.

He's 20 anyways, just more conspiracy theories. No real evidence ever came out, that's why it's dead. You can beat a dead horse if you want.

[quatin]

Care to show your 99.9% proof? I'm not saying you're wrong, but until I see it validated, I'm going with the assumption he's 20 and that the Bucks did their due diligence when researching his background.

He was 18 in 2010. Makes him 24-25 in 2017.

[Matches Malone]

Care to show your 99.9% proof? I'm not saying you're wrong, but until I see it validated, I'm going with the assumption he's 20 and that the Bucks did their due diligence when researching his background.

He was 18 in 2010. Makes him 24-25 in 2017.

He was a refugee. His education was probably all f'ed up. This doesn't prove anything. Do we have a photo of his passport or birth certificate?

Again, I'm not saying I don't believe you, it just sounds like more conspiracy theories. And even if he's older, I could see maybe by a year or two at the most. These reports have him being anywhere from 4-7 years older. I just don't see it. He was a baby this year in Milwaukee and didn't have the body of a fully grown 24 year old male. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

[quatin]

He was a refugee. His education was probably all f'ed up. This doesn't prove anything. Do we have a photo of his passport or birth certificate?

Again, I'm not saying I don't believe you, it just sounds like more conspiracy theories. And even if he's older, I could see maybe by a year or two at the most. These reports have him being anywhere from 4-7 years older. I just don't see it. He was a baby this year in Milwaukee and didn't have the body of a fully grown 24 year old male. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Think about what you're saying. If his education was f'ed up, he would be held back, not moved forward. If Maker is really 20, he was only 14 when he graduated high school. His birth certificate & passport has less legitimacy than ones issued in the west. It is not uncommon to fake a birth certificate or not even receive one from a lot of 3rd world countries. There was a lot of motivation (read $$) for him to fake his age. He is very lean, even for a 24 year old, imagine what he looked like 4 years ago if he tried to enter the NBA. His mentor/coach/agent also made some shady moves, like transferring him around several high schools in different countries and the whole post-graduate high school thing to make him NBA eligible. There's a long history of players faking their ages, especially from 3rd world countries to appear more NBA ready. IE Ibaka & Yi.

[Matches Malone]

He was a refugee. His education was probably all f'ed up. This doesn't prove anything. Do we have a photo of his passport or birth certificate?

Again, I'm not saying I don't believe you, it just sounds like more conspiracy theories. And even if he's older, I could see maybe by a year or two at the most. These reports have him being anywhere from 4-7 years older. I just don't see it. He was a baby this year in Milwaukee and didn't have the body of a fully grown 24 year old male. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Think about what you're saying. If his education was f'ed up, he would be held back, not moved forward. If Maker is really 20, he was only 14 when he graduated high school. His birth certificate & passport has less legitimacy than ones issued in the west. It is not uncommon to fake a birth certificate or not even receive one from a lot of 3rd world countries. There was a lot of motivation (read $$) for him to fake his age. He is very lean, even for a 24 year old, imagine what he looked like 4 years ago if he tried to enter the NBA. His mentor/coach/agent also made some shady moves, like transferring him around several high schools in different countries and the whole post-graduate high school thing to make him NBA eligible. There's a long history of players faking their ages, especially from 3rd world countries to appear more NBA ready. IE Ibaka & Yi.

I would think his passport he got in Australia would be more legitimate than any other form of documentation he got out in America or Canada. I'm not buying him being 4-7 years older. 1-2 years? Sure.

[quatin]

I would think his passport he got in Australia would be more legitimate than any other form of documentation he got out in America or Canada. I'm not buying him being 4-7 years older. 1-2 years? Sure.

That Australian passport would base his age on the Congo birth certificate, which can very well be fake. You can't judge people's age by the eye test, especially tall guys. There are scientific tests you can do to determine age, but the margin of error is around 5 years, which is no coincidence to why these guys fake their age to around 4 years.

[Simmons25]

He was a refugee. His education was probably all f'ed up. This doesn't prove anything. Do we have a photo of his passport or birth certificate?

Again, I'm not saying I don't believe you, it just sounds like more conspiracy theories. And even if he's older, I could see maybe by a year or two at the most. These reports have him being anywhere from 4-7 years older. I just don't see it. He was a baby this year in Milwaukee and didn't have the body of a fully grown 24 year old male. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Think about what you're saying. If his education was f'ed up, he would be held back, not moved forward. If Maker is really 20, he was only 14 when he graduated high school. His birth certificate & passport has less legitimacy than ones issued in the west. It is not uncommon to fake a birth certificate or not even receive one from a lot of 3rd world countries. There was a lot of motivation (read $$) for him to fake his age. He is very lean, even for a 24 year old, imagine what he looked like 4 years ago if he tried to enter the NBA. His mentor/coach/agent also made some shady moves, like transferring him around several high schools in different countries and the whole post-graduate high school thing to make him NBA eligible. There's a long history of players faking their ages, especially from 3rd world countries to appear more NBA ready. IE Ibaka & Yi.

I would think his passport he got in Australia would be more legitimate than any other form of documentation he got out in America or Canada. I'm not buying him being 4-7 years older. 1-2 years? Sure.

I could print a fake Australian passport in 5 minutes. You can even download the official Photoshop template after a 5 min google search.

You want real evidence though.

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/basketball/refugees-escaping-war-are-aiming-for-the-stars-20130810-2rovx.html

1. The President of the Sudan Basketball Association in Australia claimed that Thon was not in school in 2010 and 2011... which is both true and a lie.

However, throughout 2010 and 2011, Chagai claims, Maker was not enrolled in school.

Lie - He was enrolled in 2010 in a school basically up the road from me. He graduated in 2010 as a 17 year old as you can clearly see in the post above.... a copy of the high school year book.

Fact - Yes he wasn't enrolled in 2011..... because he was too old to be enrolled in school as an 18 year old.

Here is a copy of the school newsletter from 2009 showing him celebrating his birthday as part of the Year 11 class. That makes him 16 in 2009.



It is impossible to be in highschool in Year 11 of highschool in 2009 as a 12 year old which is what Thon Maker claims.

Even teachers have come forward anonymously saying they taught him for 4 years in Australia in Highschool and that he went over to America and basically went to highschool again to keep up this illusion that he is 4 years younger than he really is.