Are the Bucks the worst drafting team of the last 20 years? Quick analysis

[jakecronus8]

For this exercise I’m looking at players drafted by and kept or traded for mid draft and kept. Players drafted and traded don’t count.

I tried to analyze each pick based on where they were drafted and how their skills translated into the pro game, even if they ended up coming to fruition with other organizations. The gist of this is to evaluate the Bucks evaluation skills. Can you think of any that have been worse over the last two decades?

2018
Donte DiVincenzo: Net neutral-
Shows tremendous effort on defense though sometimes he overplays and gambles. Jumper is very streaky and for someone who tested so great athletically he’s not a great finisher (I believe it’s due to small hands. Book is not closed yet.

2017
DJ Wilson: Bust-
Showed very little in his rookie year and looked lackadaisical in his limited minutes. Brief showing of potential for a few weeks in his sophomore year but has done nothing in limited minutes since. Bucks made a mistake in picking up his option.

Sterling Brown: Net neutral-
Drafted mid second and has shown flashes of good hustle play here and there. Likely gone after his rookie deal. Definition of just a guy.

2016
Thon Maker: Bust
What was viewed as a pretty big reach at the time quickly turned into a laughing stock when with a very small amount of effort was all but proven to be a guy who cheated the system and repeated high school. Great athlete that didn’t have the capacity to harness it and could not gain the requisite weight or strength to play in an nba front court. 3rd time over this twenty year stretch the Bucks were likely bamboozled over someones pre draft age.

Malcom Brogdon: Hit-
Only second round pick to win rookie of the year. Turned into a starting two way player and obviously terrific value being picked that late. Shame that his tenure only lasted three seasons given the Bucks lack of ability to draft talent.

2015
Rashad Vaughn: Bust
Here in an instant. Gone in a flash. Maybe a handful of individual moments where he may have looked like he could have develop into a rotation player. Wasted pick.

2014
Jabari Parker: Bust-
Even when healthy never showed the flashes of brilliance you’d expect from a #2 overall pick. One of the worst off ball defenders I’ve ever seen and didn’t provide a modicum of effort on that side of the ball. Quit on his team in a playoff series that went to 7 games in a contract year. Not a lot going on between the ears.

Damien Inglis: Bust-
Was taken for his potential as a long rangy defender who’d hopefully develop into a great 3+D guy. Never got much of an opportunity and was mostly hurt. Sucks to think who was drafted after him.

Johnny O’Bryant: Bust-
Could hit an occasional open mid range jumper and do little to nothing else.

2013
Giannis Antetokounmpo: Homerun
Future hall of famer. Bucks were one of the teams in early on him and extremely lucky he fell to them in the mid first.

Nate Walters: Bust
Jack of all trades, master of none type player whose game just didn’t translate to the pro level. Not Athletic enough to play in the league.

2012
John Henson: Net Neutral-
There’s been worse mid round picks but the Bucks moved down and picked up a boat anchor in Samuel Dalembert for the honor of drafting him. Looks like he’s on his last legs in the league after battling some injuries.

Doron Lamb: Bust-
Never showed much promise. Never made any impact and was in the league for a cup of coffee.

2011
Tobias Harris: Slight Hit
I put Tobes in the minor hit category for his eventual development, albeit the majority was once he was gone from Milwaukee. His lack of impact in a Bucks uniform was certainly not his fault as moron scott skiles preferred the likes of an aging Marquis Daniels over him. Should be noted that the Bucks traded down passing on Klay Thompson, Kawhi Leonard and Nikola Vucevic in the process.

Jon Leuer: Slight hit
He developed into a decent rotational stretch 4 for a handful of years but similar to Tobias, it was mostly in other teams uniforms.

2010
Larry Sanders: Slight miss-
Sanders is one of the tougher guys to categorize given how up and down he was. Sanders showed next to nothing his first few years in the league but was eventually able to put together a few month stretch where he looked like a first team all NBA defender. Immediately fell off a cliff after he got paid and Bucks were forced to eat a portion of his long term deal that to this day has cap ramifications. Hit on talent but missed on character.

Darington Hobson: Bust-
For whatever reason he was the darling of Bucks RealGM fandom for a few minutes but never got healthy and never made any impact.

Tiny Gallon: Bust-
Was not a good athlete, couldn’t stay in shape and was essentially drafted because he was Brandon Jennings’ pal.

2009
Brandon Jennings: Slight hit
To land a talent like Jennings where the Bucks did was good value and he obviously showed huge promise the first month of his rookie season where a lot thought he was going to develop into Chris Paul. Unfortunately after the double nickel game Brandon wanted to play less of a true PG game and got too comfortable with his streaky jumper. Career mostly declined after his rookie season.

Jodie Meeks: Slight hit-
Has played in the league for a long time due to his good long range game but most of it in other teams uniforms.

2008
Joe Alexander: Bust
Inexplicable pick given that the Bucks would end up drafting another guy at his position and earlier in the same day traded for an established fringe all star guy in Richard Jefferson to play the same position. Was the inspiration for the term ‘Bucket of Ass’ and was the earliest first round pick to ever have his 3rd year option decline. Was drafted largely due to being a high character/high work ethic and showed the exact opposite of both in his time in the league. Embarrassing pick.

Luc Richard Mbah a Moute: Hit
Never developed a jumper but given where he was drafted was a definite hit. Great hustle/energy guy and one of the best one on one defenders I’ve ever seen. Shame he never grew into Milwaukee as a hometown and we weren’t able to keep him longer.

2007
Yi Jianlian: Bust-
The entire process of Yi becoming a Buck starting with dropping from 3-6 in the lottery was one of the lowest points of my Bucks fandom. Was 4 years older than his listed draft age, publicly acknowledged he didn’t want to play in Milwaukee and needed Herb Kohl to make an international odyssey just to convince him to let the Bucks make him a millionaire. Did provide many great moments in Bucks meme history however.

Ramon Sessions: slight Hit-
Turned into a good nba point guard after nearly going undrafted. The Bucks bungled his value by passing on a Mike Conley deal and David Lee potential sign and trade. Can’t fault the talent though.

2006
David Noel: Bust-
Insane athlete with little to no nba skills. Didn’t play with much effort either.

2005
Andrew Bogut: Slight miss
Another guy tough to categorize given so many of his misgivings were injury and coaching related. Stotts turned him into a glorified garbage man early and a trade for Jamaal Magloire forced them To play him out of position, stunting his growth. As he was finally looking like a good to great player he mangled his arm, but I think even the most staunch Bogut defenders would say with full health you’d want a little more for a #1 overall pick. Ended up being a key contributor to two nba championship Warriors teams.

Ersan Ilyasova: Slight hit
Ersan developed into a good stretch 4 despite being older than his listed age. Didn’t show much in his first stint but had good stretches in his second and third stints with Milwaukee.

2003
TJ Ford: Slight miss
A catastrophic injury severely hampered his career in his rookie year. Early on he was dynamic and exciting and perhaps the fastest player I’ve seen with a basketball in his hands up and down the court. Ended up recovering to play a few more years but fell in love with his terrible jumper.

Szymon Szweczyk: Bust-
Can’t call a guy that never played in the league anything but a bust given that most at the time he was drafted said it was highly unlikely he’d ever come over to the US. Wasted pick.

Keith Bogans: Net neutral-
2nd round guy that played a few years. About what you’d expect.

2002
Marcus Haislip: Bust-
Freak athlete with decent looking form on his jumper. Never showed even a slight bit of work ethic and ended his career in Europe after his rookie deal. Looked like Tarzan, played like Jane.

Dan Gadzuric: Net neutral
Another freak athlete for a man his size but similar to thon, could never harness it and made some Javale McGee like Shaqtin plays over his career. Played a decent amount of years but most of the fan base probably held their breath when he was on the court.

Ronald Murray: Net neutral-
Short stretch where he looked like he could be a player with Seattle after he was traded from Milwaukee. Showed a pulse at least for a 2nd rounder.

2000
Joel Przybilla: Bust-
Bucks traded up for him and never gave him much of a shot. Played for awhile for his defensive abilities and size but not much else.

Michael Redd: Home Run-
Will probably be a highly contested categorization due to the mediocre stretch the Bucks endured while he was their best player but you can’t call him anything but a home run pick given he was drafted as a defensive prospect with some slashing ability and developed into a premier scorer in the league.

Home Runs:
Giannis Antetokounmpo
Michael Redd

Hits:
Malcolm Brogdon
Luc Richard Mbah a Moute

Minor hits:
Tobias Harris
Brandon Jennings
Jon Leuer
Jodie Meeks
Ramon Sessions
Ersan Ilyasova

Neutral:
Donte DiVincenzo
Sterling Brown
John Henson
Keith Bogans
Dan Gadzuric
Flip Murray

Slight misses:
Larry Sanders
Andrew Bogut
TJ Ford

Busts:
DJ Wilson
Thon Maker
Rashad Vaughn
Jabari Parker
Damien Inglis
Johnny O’Bryant
Nate Wolters
Doron Lamb
Tiny Gallon
Darington Hobson
Joe Alexander
Yi Jianlian
David Noel
Marcus Haislip
Szymon Szwecyk
Joel Przybilla

[Pachinko_]

Looks about average to be honest.

[tski1972]

Pick another random team and do the same, I bet you’re surprised at the results.

[jakecronus8]

Looks about average to be honest.

Pick another random team and do the same, I bet you’re surprised at the results.

I suppose that’s a huge portion would be the comparison. Overall though, two all stars in 20 years seems low.

[emunney]

Do the Cavs.

[emunney]

General question: is Kyrie a hit at #1 overall despite being no better than the 5th best player in his draft class?

[jakecronus8]

General question: is Kyrie a hit at #1 overall despite being no better than the 5th best player in his draft class?

I’d say slight hit. He’s got multiple all star appearances but isn’t quite an elite superstar type. I’m not a huge fan of his game personally but I think he’s what you’d expect out of most #1 overall type guys.

[DingleJerry]

I'd guess they're in the bottom half but there is probably a handful or more teams you could probably lump together pretty similarly and tough to say who's worst. Getting Giannis, 2x MVP with a 1st mid pick is huge in any comparison.

Probably grab what you guess as the 5 worst teams and put together a comp and see how different. Top of my head think of teams like Sac, Cle, Nets, Hawks, Knicks, Wolves, Suns, Det, Cha

[emunney]

Tobias was a great pick, that shouldn't be qualified. You get a starter quality player at 19, how can you be anything other than thrilled? There's a reason trading him for Redick set off a multi-year riot on this board.

[ReasonablySober]

General question: is Kyrie a hit at #1 overall despite being no better than the 5th best player in his draft class?

He hit one of the biggest shots in NBA history on the way to a championship. He's a hit.

[emunney]

General question: is Kyrie a hit at #1 overall despite being no better than the 5th best player in his draft class?

He hit one of the biggest shots in NBA history on the way to a championship. He's a hit.

By this standard, would John Paxson have been a worthy 1st overall pick?

[ReasonablySober]

General question: is Kyrie a hit at #1 overall despite being no better than the 5th best player in his draft class?

He hit one of the biggest shots in NBA history on the way to a championship. He's a hit.

By this standard, would John Paxson have been a worthy 1st overall pick?

Kyrie was also an All-Star in four of six seasons in Cleveland. Consider the shot to be the factor that tips the scales.

I've never been a big Kyrie fan by any stretch, but he delivered as much as Cleveland could have hoped for.

[trwi7]

Bogut has to be more than a slight miss, right?

[ReasonablySober]

Bogut has to be more than a slight miss, right?

Yea, Bogut was a hit. Deron Williams or Paul would have been the hope runs in that draft. Lou Wil and Have It All were obviously steals in the 2nd round, but if you do a re-draft I think Bogut goes third.

[trwi7]

Bogut has to be more than a slight miss, right?

Yea, Bogut was a hit. Deron Williams or Paul would have been the hope runs in that draft. Lou Wil and Have It All were obviously steals in the 2nd round, but if you do a re-draft I think Bogut goes third.

I actually meant worse than a slight miss. He had like a two year peak and took several years to reach it and the peak wasn't even great.

[Chuck Diesel]

Andrew Bynum was more impactful for the Lakers than Andrew Bogut was for the Bucks.

[ReasonablySober]

Bogut has to be more than a slight miss, right?

Yea, Bogut was a hit. Deron Williams or Paul would have been the hope runs in that draft. Lou Wil and Have It All were obviously steals in the 2nd round, but if you do a re-draft I think Bogut goes third.

I actually meant worse than a slight miss. He had like a two year peak and took several to reach it and the peak wasn't even great.

Sorry, read that wrong. Bogut was slow to becoming an impact player, but he did eventually get there. And like I said, the rest of that draft was garbage.

[Chuck Diesel]

Yea, Bogut was a hit. Deron Williams or Paul would have been the hope runs in that draft. Lou Wil and Have It All were obviously steals in the 2nd round, but if you do a re-draft I think Bogut goes third.

I actually meant worse than a slight miss. He had like a two year peak and took several to reach it and the peak wasn't even great.

Sorry, read that wrong. Bogut was slow to becoming an impact player, but he did eventually get there. And like I said, the rest of that draft was garbage.

Disagree. There were like 10 dudes taken after Bogut in the 1st and second round who were as good or better.

[MickeyDavis]

This is interesting. Of course it's subjective as to hits and misses but interesting nevertheless.

[LuessiT]

IDK much about anything pre Jabari but what is painfully obvious is the need to cash out early to minimize the misses.