Around the League - Beasley Boogies to Detroit

[MickeyDavis]

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=1316190&hilit=2014+NBA+DRAFT

This was before the lottery, we didn't know where we'd be drafting.

[Ron Swanson]

Most people got on board with Embiid as the clear #1 in that draft until doctors found the 2nd foot injury/fracture. After that, even as someone who had Embiid the clear best prospect for months, I found it hard to blame anyone for thinking his knees and feet were a Greg Oden/Sam Bowie ticking time bomb. Shout out to 2014 me for having Clint Capella as a mid-lotto prospect in that draft I guess

[JayMKE]

I remember there being more Exum people than for Embiid at our pick after getting red flagged which upon watching Exum dominate what appeared to be Australian middle schoolers I found preposterous. Most people were for whoever didn’t go first between Wiggins/Jabari obviously. Jabari being a high character guy off the court was big plus. I wish him well, got no ill will towards him and in another universe where he doesn’t get hurt maybe it turns out different.

[paulpressey25]

Most people got on board with Embiid as the clear #1 in that draft until doctors found the 2nd foot injury/fracture. After that, even as someone who had Embiid the clear best prospect for months, I found it hard to blame anyone for thinking his knees and feet were a Greg Oden/Sam Bowie ticking time bomb. Shout out to 2014 me for having Clint Capella as a mid-lotto prospect in that draft I guess

The other issue was we had to build a new arena. And needed public support. Bucks had no fans back then, save for posters on this board. We needed an exciting marketable name right out of the gate, and couldn’t take the chance on Embiid. Besides, his medical records were evidently terrible per what we got from Cleveland.

And I’m still of belief that in the next few years we’ll see a Woelfel penned autobiography from Jabari entitled “My Journey with autism and the NBA”. I’m glad he got his $20mm from the Bulls and he’s a good guy. But there was some issue he had, beyond being labeled ‘lazy’ IMO.

[raferfenix]

That draft also was clearly ownership making the pick.

Kidd was officially hired a week later. I’m sure his opinion was taken into account with all that tampering going on too. But obviously they should have listened to ReasonablySober.

Lasry said "our decision got a lot easier" because of the broken foot suffered last week by Kansas freshman center Joel Embiid.

"I think it's hard to take Embiid," Lasry said at a Newsmaker breakfast sponsored by the Milwaukee Press Club and Rotary Club. "He's a phenomenal individual. But with the injury, and how severe and how long it will take him to recover, I think for us today we're going to want someone who is going to help us on Day 1.

"A lot of it is going to depend on what Cleveland does.”

https://www.brewhoop.com/2014/6/23/5836466/nba-draft-2014-lasry-joel-embiid-jabari-parker-cleveland-workout-andrew-wiggins

[sidney lanier]

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=1316190&hilit=2014+NBA+DRAFT

This was before the lottery, we didn't know where we'd be drafting.

I remember being part of the 1% who liked Julius Randle on top but didn't remember being this contrarian:

1. Randle—unfairly pigeonholed as inside banger only; open-court skills will be on display in NBA
2. Parker—no Elgin Baylor, but a likely all-star
3. Smart—will come into the league with a physical edge over most opposing PGs
4. Nurkic—intriguing Bosnian big man

Oops -- missed the future MVP.

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=1316190&hilit=2014+NBA+DRAFT

This was before the lottery, we didn't know where we'd be drafting.

I remember being part of the 1% who liked Julius Randle on top but didn't remember being this contrarian:

1. Randle—unfairly pigeonholed as inside banger only; open-court skills will be on display in NBA
2. Parker—no Elgin Baylor, but a likely all-star
3. Smart—will come into the league with a physical edge over most opposing PGs
4. Nurkic—intriguing Bosnian big man

Oops -- missed the future MVP.

I'm not sure we would've been in a better position with Randle. Ultimately the Lakers renounced his rights. Would he have developed differently here? Would we have gave him his first big extension when he was 23 when the Lakers didn't?

[mattg]

Most people got on board with Embiid as the clear #1 in that draft until doctors found the 2nd foot injury/fracture. After that, even as someone who had Embiid the clear best prospect for months, I found it hard to blame anyone for thinking his knees and feet were a Greg Oden/Sam Bowie ticking time bomb. Shout out to 2014 me for having Clint Capella as a mid-lotto prospect in that draft I guess

It wasn't just the feet and knees, he had the back issues too. Embiid couldn't make it through a 30 game college season while being like 50lbs lighter than he is now and having virtually no wear and tear from years of playing on his body as of yet. I was one of the posters who was adamant that Embiid was undraftable because you can't build around a player as injury prone as he is. He has ended up being far more effective than I ever thought he would be when he is on the court, but the point remains. Embiid missed 2.5 of his first 3 seasons. He gets hurt or at least banged up every single post season and has never made it past the 2nd round despite playing on objectively stacked rosters his entire career. Because of that you still can't build a true contender around him.

Obviously with Jabari's injuries in hindsight the pick is terrible. But in the hypothetical world where Jabari never tears his ACLs would the pick still be panned that hard? With no injuries Jabari seems like a sure bet to be an efficient 25/6/3 guy. Even with his defensive issues a Bucks team with Giannis/healthy Jabari/Middleton starting in like 2018 would likely still have contended had we still hired Bud.

[Ron Swanson]

Embiid still going strong while all of Jabari, Randle, and Exum tearing their ACL's in their rookie year just goes to show you how impossible some of this stuff is to predict. Who knows what the butterfly effect would have been with us drafting Embiid though. Kidd probably doesn't get fired in 2018. No Bud, no culture reset, etc. As much as I probably just take my chances with any roster and coach around Giannis/Embiid, a championship in any of those years is far from likely when you factor in his inability to stay healthy in the postseason.

[midranger]

I’m glad Jabari seems fulfilled in his current life. That’s awesome.

We don’t need to reinvent history though. He was a losing player at Duke. He was a losing player pre- and post-injury here. He was a losing player at his next NBA stops.

Just not the dude we needed.

[SirChurros]

I’m happy Jabari has found passion for the game again. Injuries really derailed his career.

And, think what you want of his game/career, but posting about how he was such a dick to Milwaukee residents with absolutely zero proof or context is a dick move in itself. Granted I don’t live in Milwaukee, but I’ve never heard he’s that kind of dude.

[jakecronus8]

Ignoring all else.

Jabari intentionally tanked his minutes in a playoff series we lost in 7. F*ck that dude forever.

[chonestown]

Yeah, well I was for taking Exum!

<speeds off in Jet-Ski>
<tosses double birds>

[jschligs]

I can't blame the FO for taking Jabari. But I can fault the FO for picking DJ Wilson (Allen and Collins available), Thon Maker (Sabonis available), Rashad Vaughn in the subsequent years.

[BUCKnation]

Jabari blew 2 acls before embiid even hit 50 games played. In retrospect, its a bizarre draft.

Despite the well known injury history for embiid, he’s been probably way healthier than even the biggest pro-embiid people could have imagined.

[BUCKnation]

Most people got on board with Embiid as the clear #1 in that draft until doctors found the 2nd foot injury/fracture. After that, even as someone who had Embiid the clear best prospect for months, I found it hard to blame anyone for thinking his knees and feet were a Greg Oden/Sam Bowie ticking time bomb. Shout out to 2014 me for having Clint Capella as a mid-lotto prospect in that draft I guess

The other issue was we had to build a new arena. And needed public support. Bucks had no fans back then, save for posters on this board. We needed an exciting marketable name right out of the gate, and couldn’t take the chance on Embiid. Besides, his medical records were evidently terrible per what we got from Cleveland.

And I’m still of belief that in the next few years we’ll see a Woelfel penned autobiography from Jabari entitled “My Journey with autism and the NBA”. I’m glad he got his $20mm from the Bulls and he’s a good guy. But there was some issue he had, beyond being labeled ‘lazy’ IMO.

I think we were extremely worried about drafting someone who wouldn’t want to be in milwaukee too. Jabari being a chicago guy is an easier sell.

[yannisk]

I’m glad Jabari seems fulfilled in his current life. That’s awesome.

We don’t need to reinvent history though. He was a losing player at Duke. He was a losing player pre- and post-injury here. He was a losing player at his next NBA stops.

Just not the dude we needed.

He was a slightly worse Michael Beasley when both played for the Bucks. I was finding quite funny that the majority of the board was disparaging Beasley and praising Jabari while they had similar impact. Jabari was young of course so you could hope for improvement but the red flags were there pre-injury.

Regarding the 2014 draft, Embiid had emerged as the clear number one with Wiggins edging out Jabari for second place. After Embiid's health issues surfaced nobody was taking Embiid first while you had two other players considered substantial talents. At the end neither Wiggins or Jabari amounted to much.

[GHOSTofSIKMA]

Parker was as obvious a #2 pick in his draft as Beasley was in his. How the hell are you supposed to know what their adult mental deficiency is.

On court they were nasty and super duper young.

Embiid was projected as Bowie Oden 3.0

Exum was silly as ****

Randle and Smart would have been great picks if they fell and we were drafting anywhere after 4 but we were at 2 so...

The pick that gets me and will always get me was Thon if were gonna talk about homework and diligence when Sabonis is right there.

That's the pick that tanked a dynasty

[raferfenix]

Thon really was Hammond jumping the shark.

I vividly remember the confidence he carried at the presser announcing the pick while reveling in being the guy who found Giannis and hey I found another.

Has there been a retrospective of what actually happened in that draft room where we took him so dramatically higher than anyone else was considering?

Remember reading something about how Hammond planned to trade down but it didn’t work out so we just picked Thon anyways.

[Fotis St]

We had a 7'0 modern 5, before modern 6'9 existed.
If Thon was drafted and coached by Spoelstra and the Heat, their player development program would have turned him into Chris Bosh.
Bucks are the worst Franchise at drafting and developing. They can't even teach a dog to sit.
Bring Thon back Horst. He even set better screens than Brook and Giannis for f sake.

Young Players:
What are we playing coach?

Budenholzer:
Random basketball with a 7'0 ft fake point guard.

Young players:
What's Random Basketball coach ?

Budenholzer:
Just stand still in these blue boxes and wait for a Giannis pass.