Drafting is hard in the NBA. I won't pretend it's not. Like, I would have bet my life savings on Shabazz Muhammad being an All-NBA wing or Ben Mclemore saving the Sacramento Kings.
However, I don't get paid millions of dollars to make those decisions; the people in the Bucks' front office do though, and they are running into the same problem I am — the problem of never knowing who the hell to draft.
We're quickly approaching critical system failure with Giannis Antetokounmpo in Milwaukee. As of this week, the Bucks' all-time great is weighing his options, and a trade feels more possible (and maybe likely) than ever before. We can pontificate all we want about what led to this moment — there are probably a dozen things working in conjunction — but the Bucks' complete inability to draft looms the largest among them.
The modern philosopher, Reddit user Goosedukee, reported that after waiving Tyler Smith, the Bucks have now gone 11 straight drafts without signing a pick to a second contract. Granted, some players among those picks (Donte DiVincenzo, Kevin Porter Jr) have gotten second contracts, and Porter Jr. is actually back with the Bucks, but none of those deals have been with the Bucks.
That's almost as impressive as if every pick was a home run. At some point, you would think the Bucks would stumble into another draft gem — but that hasn't been the case. The front office's commitment to making the worst pick imaginable, year after year, would commendable if their goal is to slowly alienate their generationally talented superstar to the point where he feels like his only option is to ask for a trade.
Oh, right.
Bucks' draft history has made roster-building around Giannis impossible
Missing on pick after pick isn't something we can brush off as bad luck or a standalone problem. Those consistent fumbles have made it nearly impossible to build a competent roster around Giannis.
Developing Ryan Rollins into the player he's become has been awesome. The Bucks' development team has done a wonderful job with the young point guard. But if they can develop Rollins — who appeared to be a fringe NBA guy before this season — into a borderline star, then what does that say about the rest of their draft picks, if they couldn't even do enough to sign second contracts? Those picks may be even worse than we thought!
Franchises around the NBA seem to think that getting a superstar is the end of team-building. That's not true — it's the beginning. The real challenge then comes in finding the right pieces to fit around said superstar. In 2021, the Bucks did find those pieces, and it resulted in a championship. But a complete lack of draft success has made it impossible to replicate anything even close to that success, and it's led us to the potential doomsday scenario playing out right now.