Milwaukee Bucks: Grades and reactions for the Tyler Zeller trade

What the Bucks traded away (Part Two)

And now we reach the dicey waters were past mistakes lead Bucks fans to have their most visceral reactions.

Zeller is a capable NBA rotation player, and as such a trade for him was always going to require at least something of value moving in the opposite direction. Three months of Rashad Vaughn certainly doesn’t count toward that, and therefore, the Bucks parted with a second round pick.

According to the original reporting of the trade from Adrian Wojnarowski, the Nets will receive a second round pick from the Bucks in either 2018 or 2020, depending on how their obligations to the Phoenix Suns play out from the Eric Bledsoe deal.

With the Bucks currently projected to hold the 52nd pick in the second round, that pick will head to Phoenix, leaving the Nets to wait for the 2020 second rounder.

Considering Bucks fans have seen Malcolm Brogdon and Sterling Brown selected with second round picks in consecutive years, and role players like Norman Powell and Patrick McCaw selected with second rounders traded by the Bucks in previous years too, there arguably aren’t many fanbases who currently place a greater value on late draft picks.

That’s by no means irrational either. With the right drafting approach — picking up experienced, proven college players — the second round can be mined for ready-to-go NBA role players.

Even with that, there’s a cut-off point, though. Over the past five years, very few players have managed to make any real impact in the NBA after being selected outside of the top-50, and in fact when picking at that point, there’s a good chance that players you may have been interested in could be available as undrafted free agents just a few picks later.

Going a step beyond that, with the pick now unlikely to be traded until 2020 when Giannis Antetokounmpo is even closer to his prime, Milwaukee would be projecting for their pick to be even closer to the end of the second round.

If Antetokounmpo can guide the Bucks to one of the league’s three best records in a couple of years time, what’s the difference in the Bucks picking 58th or waiting for undrafted players with what we’ll term here as the 61st pick?

Even more important to note is the fact that if the Bucks want a second round pick this summer, they’ll get one. Teams are always looking to sell second rounders for cash, and that won’t change this summer.

Philadelphia and Phoenix own four second rounders each this year, and won’t have the roster spots required to use all of those, or necessarily the desire to use them to stash players. Oklahoma City and Denver both own two second rounders apiece too.

Moving a low value, end of draft second round pick in a deal like this shouldn’t be sold as some kind of crime against long-term planning, as a better pick will likely be available for cash come draft night in 2018, 2020 or even on both occasions.