Milwaukee Bucks’ biggest draft mistakes of the last 10 years

Milwaukee Bucks select Jabari Parker: Pick #2, 2014 NBA Draft

You really cannot do Bucks retrospective draft analysis without touching on Jabari Parker. Back in 2014, the Bucks were given an incredibly rare opportunity from a team building perspective. While by no means were people expecting Giannis to turn into what he is today, it definitely looked like the Bucks had a future star on their hands. In the 2014 draft, the Bucks had an opportunity to add a second overall pick to that mix. In comes Jabari Parker.

Drafting the idea of Jabari Parker to pair with Giannis could not have made more sense at the time. He was an excellent college player who could score at all three levels and create his own shot. 6’7″ guys who can do that are about as rare and as valuable as they come. However, his skillset and size ultimately led the Bucks too overlook some glaring weaknesses in his game.

I want to stress that things absolutely look different for Jabari if his ACLs hold up. He was a 20 points a game player and although his defense was never even kind of good, there was hope that could be taught. It is much easier to teach effort on defense than it is to teach the kind of scoring Jabari possessed, but due to injury and circumstance, we will never find out what could have been.

Noteworthy Players the Bucks Passed On:

• Joel Embiid, the 76ers weathered the storm that is his injury history and it is paying dividends for them.
• Aaron Gordon
• Marcus Smart
• Zach Lavine
• Spencer Dinwiddie
• Jordan Clarkson
• Jerami Grant
• Back to back MVP Nikola Jokic (in fairness Jokic was passed on 40 times)

Hopefully 2022 becomes a draft success akin to 2013 when Giannis Antetokounmpo was selected, rather than another draft we look back on in a few years and wonder what could have been.