Milwaukee Bucks: 15 greatest draft steals in franchise history
89. . Shooting Guard. 1979. Sidney Moncrief. 6. player
The pride of Arkansas basketball, Sidney Moncrief is one of the greatest players to ever suit up for the Bucks. After leading the Razorbacks to the 1978 Final Four, he was taken No. 5 overall in the 1979 NBA Draft.
Moncrief played 10 seasons with the Bucks, and in his tenure the team never missed the postseason. He was a talented offensive player at the shooting guard, averaging 16.5 points per game. Yet Moncrief made his impact on the other end of the court as one of the very best defenders of the decade — not just for the Bucks, but for the league.
Five times Moncrief made an All-Defensive team, a perennial choice based on his nasty on-ball and team defense. He generated a number of steals, averaging 1.2 per game for the franchise, but his impact went well beyond counting stats. The Bucks had a defense significantly above average for his entire time there, a major part in propelling them into the playoffs each year.
The pinnacle of his career came in 1983 and 1984, when Moncrief won back-to-back Defensive Player of the Year awards and helped propel the Bucks to the Eastern Conference Finals each time.
Despite being on a strong team with plenty of offensive weapons, he led the team in win shares for five straight seasons, and ranks second to only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in career win shares for most in franchise history.