Milwaukee Bucks: A look back at NBA Draft history before 2017

The Milwaukee Bucks have a long history in the league, with hundreds of selections over the years. How has the team fared in the past picking at 17 and 48? Can they hope to strike gold?

The Milwaukee Bucks enter the 2017 NBA Draft armed with a pair of selections, both their originally earned picks. By ending the season with a 42-40 record, the Bucks tied the Indiana Pacers for the 13th best record in the league. A coin flip decided that Milwaukee would pick at No. 17 in Round 1 and No. 48 in Round 2.

The goal for the Bucks this year was to make the postseason, and they achieved that goal despite a maelstrom of injuries and setbacks. Giannis Antetokounmpo took a major step forward as a star player, making a case to be considered among the league’s 10 best. A first-round exit showed the team that while their arrow is trending up, this roster still could use improvement.

Sitting outside the lottery, the 17th pick isn’t generally thought of as a producer of stars. Their selection at 48 is no better than a 50-50 proposition that they will find a reliable rotation player. But smart front offices can find unexpected value and outperform their draft position.

Milwaukee has found success in recent years, selecting players such as Malcolm Brogdon and Giannis Antetokounmpo outside of the lottery. However their record isn’t all successes, as they recently held the same 17th pick and may have whiffed on their home run shot. As the front office goes through a season of transition in the weeks leading into the draft, what will happen on draft night becomes even more uncertain.

The Milwaukee Bucks as a franchise began in 1968 as an NBA expansion team, and after a poor first season were awarded the No. 1 pick in the draft — and selected Lew Alcindor of UCLA. A few seasons into his Hall-of-Fame career he changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and led the team to its first and only title in 1971.

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Since their inaugural season the Bucks have held the 17th pick a total of three times. The first was in 1969, when Milwaukee selected Bob Greacen out of Rutgers University one round after selecting Alcindor. He represents one of the lows of the Bucks’ draft history, totaling just 43 games in the league and accumulating -0.1 win shares. Abdul-Jabbar ended his career with 273 win shares, the highest total in league history.

The Bucks had the 17th pick again in 1971 after winning the title, and chose Collis Jones of Notre Dame. Jones never made it to the NBA at all. It would be 44 years until the Bucks once again owned the 17th pick in the draft, selecting Rashad Vaughn out of UNLV in the 2015 NBA Draft. Like his Milwaukee predecessors taken at No. 17, Vaughn has not made an NBA impact yet, spending much of his time in the D-League or riding the bench.

If the Bucks struck out at 17 throughout their draft history, they didn’t fare much better at 48. Through 1998, the Bucks never took a player with the 48th pick, but have done so twice since. In 1999 they took Galen Young from UNC-Charlotte, but he never played a minute in the NBA. In 2014 they took wing Lamar Patterson out of Pittsburgh, who was immediately traded to the Atlanta Hawks and never played a game for Milwaukee.

There is hope for the Bucks, if they look outside of their own past and to the history of the 17th pick itself. In recent years valuable NBA players have come from that draft slot, including NBA champion Iman Shumpert and All-Stars Jrue Holiday and Danny Granger. Longtime NBA center Jermaine O’Neal was taken 17th overall Eau Claire high school in Columbia, SC.

The most distinguished player to be selected 17th in the NBA Draft is perhaps Shawn Kemp, Seattle SuperSonics legend and a six-time All-Star. Kemp put together a long successful career that has his name in Hall of Fame discussions every year since his retirement. Other notable picks at No. 17 include Larry Drew and Don Nelson, whose coaching careers eclipsed their accomplishments as player.

The majority of picks at 48 make little to no impact on the NBA; in fact only 23 of the 63 players selected 48th notched positive career win shares, and just five have accumulated double-digit totals. By reference, 22 players selected 17th overall have reached double-digit totals; draft projections may be a shot-in-the-dark, but they do balance out overall.

Even if most picks at 48 make a minimal impact, there is still hope for something greater. Players such as Cedric Ceballos and Craig Ehlo hung around the league for lengthy careers, highlighted by Ceballos’ win in the 1995 NBA Slam Dunk Contest.

Ehlo’s career is noteworthy for the opposite reason, as the victim to one of the all-time shots in NBA postseason history.

The 48th pick may also end up with the best player between the two, as Memphis Grizzlies center Marc Gasol was taken with the 48th pick and soon thereafter traded to Memphis for his brother Pau.

The younger Gasol brother is on track to pass Shawn Kemp, the best of the 17th pick, by the end of his career in win shares. He has already amassed three All-Star appearances, two All-NBA selections (including first-team in 2015) and was the 2013 Defensive Player of the Year.

Next: Milwaukee Bucks: 5 options at pick No. 17

While the Milwaukee Bucks cannot guarantee a superstar selection at either pick, history suggests the possibility for a home run is possible. More so, a strong recent draft record should give Milwaukee and its fans confidence that this team can maximize the options at each selection and improve the roster moving forward.