There’s not a whole lot to do after the Milwaukee Bucks were eliminated from the playoffs, huh? Aside from watching the Conference Finals or if your second team had stakes in the NBA Draft Lottery, then it’s a whole lot of waiting.
The Bucks do have their first-round pick this year after having not made a selection in the first round since taking Donte DiVincenzo in 2018. Milwaukee needs to use this pick to get a young player that can potentially turn into a cheap rotation option for a championship contender and help keep the window open. No more trading down to the end of the second round, this is a pick that can help this team now and into the future.
But with the NBA Draft top of mind for many Bucks fans coming out of the lottery, there are a plethora of mock drafts that have come out and that means overanalyzing the selections despite being just over a month away. So, let’s do just that and take a look at some of the mock drafts from major outlets to see who could be available at pick number 24.
Sam Vecenie, The Athletic: Terquavion Smith, G, N.C. State
Starting with The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie, he has the Bucks taking a young combo guard in Terquavion Smith (6’4″, 6’6″ wingspan, and 165 pounds) from N.C. State.
The 19-year-old Smith played just one season for the Wolfpack before declaring for the draft and he certainly put on quite a show in his freshman year to become one of the biggest risers in the draft cycle so far.
In 20 ACC games, Smith averaged 18.3 points on 54.8 percent true shooting along with 4.5 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 1.6 steals per game. The true shooting is below NBA league average but it was propped up heavily by Smith shooting over 40 percent from 3 on a staggering 9.1 attempts per game.
He isn’t a great finisher around the basket when he drives but as we saw with the Bucks in the playoffs, they’re in desperate need of someone who can create their own shot off the dribble and that’s what Smith showed he can do at N.C. State.
If you watched much of them this season, think Tre Mann from the Oklahoma City Thunder in terms of the space that he can create to get his shot off.
It would be a surprise if Smith got big minutes right away for the Bucks at 19, but playing on a contender would allow him to develop a bit more and not get thrown into the fire. It wouldn’t fill the wing depth hole on the roster, but adding more offensive creation is not a bad thing at all, and taking someone so young would be a great high-upside swing.