Milwaukee Bucks: 15 greatest draft steals in franchise history
Point Guard. 1976. Quinn Buckner. 11. player. 89.
The history of the Bucks can be divided into chapters. The first chapter, arguably the best, saw a fledgling franchise draft one of the five greatest players ever and ride him to a title and six straight years of dominance.
Yet as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar embraced his Islamic faith, he wanted to be in an area where he could better engage with that culture, and his trade to the Los Angeles Lakers was born.
Thus a second chapter was begun, where the Bucks picked up the pieces and rebuilt a contender. A key part of that second chapter was Quinn Buckner, drafted seventh overall by the Bucks in the 1976 NBA Draft.
Buckner was a two-sport athlete at Indiana, playing football (he was drafted by the Washington Redskins), as well as basketball for head coach Bob Knight. The Hoosiers went undefeated in his senior season, winning the 1976 NCAA Tournament, a feat no team has replicated since.
Over Buckner’s first few seasons, the Bucks were transitioning into a different sort of team, adding players such as Junior Bridgeman and Marques Johnson. Buckner, the team’s first draft selection after the Abdul-Jabbar trade, fit in as a defensive weapon who did not need many touches on offense.
Buckner’s ability to generate steals was deadly for opponents, and he was recognized four times by the league as an All-Defensive player. New head coach Don Nelson, who came on for Buckner’s second season, proved to be the perfect choice to oversee the Bucks’ fast rebuild. Buckner spent six seasons in Milwaukee and was a great choice at seventh overall in the 1976 NBA Draft.