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

[Plossum]

I think Larry was a good pick. He just turned out to be crazy.

Bogut pick was fine. Just didn’t live up to the impact level you'd want from a #1 pick.

Henson sucks. I couldn’t go with him being a slight hit.

[Baddy Chuck]

Being a hit or miss basically comes down to how they are valued during their rookie contract rather than their tenure here or something to me, and there it comes down to your talent evaluation. It's like the Philly/MCW thing. He came in and won ROTY for them but they knew that like, he wasn't good, so they moved him for a top 10 pick. They drafted a terrible player but that pick was a hit. A guy like Brandon Jennings for us probably could've gotten us pretty good returns at certain points in his time here (not even just the first month), but we **** that up. Even Joe Alexander still had value in a Memphis/Conley trade with Sessions and we botched that one. We dump Larry after 12/13 we probably come out like bandits. I mean looking back it certainly did nothing to help the franchise much but identifying that Yi Jianlian wasn't good and using him as piece to get an All-Starz like Richard Jefferson could have been great if we got someone other then Richard Jefferson.

[emunney]

I think you're underestimating how bad the whole league is at this thing called draft.

Here's the 2015 draft for example.

Past #1 you really have to squint to see any correlation between where players got drafted and what they have done since then.



In short, the whole League collectively is pretty bad at drafting the players they actually want, it's not just the Bucks.

Are the draft rank lines not straight because some undrafted guys snuck in?

[emunney]

Ah it's because some guys never played in the NBA at all. I think this chart would look a little more like you'd expect if they were represented the same way as the picks who accumulated a stat. Those guys tend to go later.

[Pachinko_]

Are the draft rank lines not straight because some undrafted guys snuck in?

Nah it's because I've deleted the drafted guys who haven't played at all

[DrWood]

It’s super early still but since we don’t have an incomplete or too early to tell category, I’d say Donte’s a hit. Legitimately good role player in his first healthy year who has a chance to be a GREAT role player in his prime (maybe peak Danny Green level or even better) is a win at 17. If he never improves or gets derailed by injuries we can reevaluate but for now that was a good pick imo.

Donte can be a lot more than a great role player, all depends on how much more his skills can develop. His game's got great bones.

The sad thing is I see Donte’s upside as current Tyler Herro. Not an indictment on Donte as much as it is painful to miss and have a rival team hit and eliminate us when we are supposed to be owning the future today with the oldest roster in the playoffs.

Donte's a completely different player as he's probably the most athletic guy out of his draft and is far better defensively than Herro.

[GrandAdmiralDan]

I'm going to need to review little_cleo's draft tiers for the past 20 years to be able to answer this question responsibly.

[chonestown]

I look at the Bucks draft history of the last 20 years. Have to say, they could have done better. imo

[Ruzious]

I think Larry was a good pick. He just turned out to be crazy.

Bogut pick was fine. Just didn’t live up to the impact level you'd want from a #1 pick.

Henson sucks. I couldn’t go with him being a slight hit.

I think Ford was a very fine pick. He was on his way being an excellent PG. His career was hampered by a very bad fall on his tailbone - he was never regained the great speed and quickness after that. One could make the point that a small guard who had a high-flying playing style in challenging bigs to the basket was going to be an injury risk - that's probably fair to factor in that risk with the pick - especially since... it happened.

[emunney]

I think Larry was a good pick. He just turned out to be crazy.

Bogut pick was fine. Just didn’t live up to the impact level you'd want from a #1 pick.

Henson sucks. I couldn’t go with him being a slight hit.

Counterpoint:

[emunney]

From a pure enjoyment level, I think Jennings was worth the pick for the double nickel game alone, and TJ Ford for his first 55 games. So much joy crammed in such a small time window.

[emunney]

Watch on YouTube

[jakecronus8]

Watch on YouTube

That building was still loud with the memories of the 2001 run still fresh. Oh silly Bucks fans, do I have some bad news for you..

[skones]

Nearly every guy on the "Neutral" list save for Henson is better than neutral. Harris, Meeks, Sessions, and Ilyasova being only "minor hits" is crazy talk. In what world are decade long careers for 2nd round picks "minor hits?" Larry Sanders as a "slight miss" is comically bad. He went crazy, that shouldn't be held against Milwaukee. Draft position matters, expected outcomes, matter. Drastically outplaying your draft position makes you a win, it doesn't make you "neutral" or a "minor hit," or "slight miss."

The real problem on this list is the consistent middling draft position which resulted in lack of top end talent. We knew it then, why are we suddenly ignoring that it was a thing now?

[mediocrityrules]

I'm going to need to review little_cleo's draft tiers for the past 20 years to be able to answer this question responsibly.

This has a lot of potential.

I would love for someone to go back and review little cleo's draft tiers. Does anyone have the patience to start delving right down into those bottom tiers, where you're talking about the 300th best baller potentially and was the prediction accurate?