The Buck Stops Here #1: NBA Draft Day Roundtable
By Tim Wray
Regardless of whether they fit for the Bucks or not, who is your favorite prospect in this class?
AM: Hands down, my favorite prospect is Louisville’s sophomore center Chinanu Onuaku. It’s not even close, to be honest.
When you first see photos of him, or look at his stats, or start to watch tape on his game, your brain quickly decides what he’s going to be. The fun part is that he’s so much more than your first impression could possibly imagine.
He looks like no more than a stocky, undersized, traditional center, but he breaks out these incredible passes (behind the back being one of his specialities), he has this surprising athleticism and mobility, and he’s got this non-stop desire to cover guys that leads him all across the floor on defense without being found out very often.
That’s not to mention the underhand free throws! He’s likely going to go in the early second round, but I see a long, long career ahead for him as a backup big or spot starter in the NBA.
JH: Malik Beasley. I actually really hope the Bucks can package their two second round picks to move back into the late first round to grab this guy.
Beasley is a super athletic player (who is scary in transition), efficient offensively, a really good shooter (especially from three), a good rebounding guard, and a good overall teammate. I spend too much time day-dreaming about Beasley, Parker, Antetokounmpo fast breaks…
JT: Hmm, that’s a tough one honestly.
While this draft class is far from a perfect one from a quality standpoint, I think there are plenty of players who will have a nice future in the NBA. But in terms of favorite prospects, I think I’d lean towards Gary Payton II (or Two, if that suits you).
He certainly carries some glaring flaws (like PG skills and perimeter shooting), but I just think he’ll be able to carve out a role in the league, likely as a defensive stopper. That’s not even mentioning his incredible athleticism, which you can see on any highlight play of his.
Yes, he may just be a second round pick, but you could do a lot worse at that half of the draft. If you want a player who can give you solid minutes as a backup point guardwith the hopes he can play off the ball, Payton II’s your guy.
TW: As a proud Australian, it’s Ben Simmons.
About five or six years ago, a former coach of mine would rave on about how good this young kid from Melbourne was after watching him at a junior carnival. “Future number one overall pick” and “he’ll be Australia’s greatest ever basketball player” he’d say every time we talked about him and watched his footage. It’s safe to say that Simmons has been on the Australian basketball radar for a very long time, so it’s amazing that he’s been as good as advertised to this point and is finally going to the NBA, likely as the number one pick. Even more incredible is that he could become the third Australian-born player to be taken first overall in the past 11 years (Andrew Bogut, Kyrie Irving). If he does, my coach will be the first to say “I called it.”
As for his game, I’m not going to say that he’s going to be a ‘superstar’, but at the same time I’m not ruling it out either. His one year at LSU wasn’t ideal, but he did showcase why he’s such a unique talent with almost unlimited potential as an extremely versatile point forward who plays the game like very few others have. Shooting is the glaring weakness that everyone points to, but by no means do I think he will be an awful shooter in the NBA. I think many confuse his pass first orientation and decision not to shoot the ball with the notion that he can’t shoot at all. His work ethic and free throw numbers show enough promise that once he’s in an NBA environment, I believe he’ll be able to develop a decent jump shot.
I also have to mention Thon Maker. For a long time his YouTube mix tapes painted him as the “next Kevin Durant” with unbelievable length, athleticism and a seemingly amazing shooting touch for a guy that’s 7’1″. After five minutes of watching him play, it’s evident that’s not the kind of player he is, or will become, yet he still has amazing potential as a high energy big who can protect the rim. It was an interesting decision to see that he would skip college and enter the NBA draft, so it’s going to take a lot of patient development for the team that ends up drafting him, especially on the physical side of things, but he could definitely turn out to be a home run.
AM: Yeah, I get the hype and the appeal for Maker, but he’s going to need to spend probably an entire season in the D-League. I’m not sure how people can look at him and see anything other than that. Having skipped college, the team he lands with will almost have to artificially give him that extra year to develop.
That’s what I find so confusing about how passionate many Bucks fans are about him. Without a D-League team I’d be reluctant to take him at all. Even if the potential is what everyone hopes it is, if you don’t have the right infrastructure in place to develop him, he may never reach those heights anyway.
TW: That’s a fair call.
It’s going to be extremely interesting to see where he ends up. Even in a draft where there isn’t a lot of consensus beyond the middle of the first round, he definitely has the largest range in terms of draft position. I think he’ll be taken in the late first round, but It’s feasible that we could see him taken anywhere from the late teens to the early forties.
Next: Any Second Round Intrigue?