Milwaukee Bucks: 5 Intriguing Draft Choices
The 2013 NBA Draft is, by most accounts, weak. There isn’t a real franchise changer or “ceiling-less” talent in this collection of graduates, undergraduates and foreigners, at least to the naked eye. For the likes of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Orlando Magic and Washington Wizards, who have the first three selections in this draft, the perceived lack of top-end talent could be a real bummer. But for a team in the middle of the draft, such as the Milwaukee Bucks, the potential is there to hit a real home run and possibly land one of the draft’s best players. When the talent pool is this muddled, often you can see teams grab some of the best players in the draft outside of the lottery.
The age-old question in all sports for teams on draft night is always whether to take the best player available or try and fill a position of need. For Milwaukee, a team with promising talent across the board at just about every position, taking the best player available makes the most sense. Can the Bucks land a player on the evening of Thursday, June 27, that gets them closer to the top of the Eastern Conference? Here are five players who just might fit the bill.
5.) Cody Zeller- Indiana
Age: 20
Position: PF/C
Height: 7’0″
Weight: 230
Why for Milwaukee: After averaging an extremely impressive 16.5 points, 8.0 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game as a freshman at Indiana, Cody Zeller entered his sophomore season as the consensus No. 1 overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft. You can’t teach size and Zeller is a legit 7-footer with a sound post game on both offense and defense. His athleticism and fluidity make a him a solid prospect at either power forward or center and his ability to run the floor makes him a great fit for a young, up-tempo Milwaukee bunch. Zeller drew comparisons to players such as LaMarcus Aldridge, Chris Bosh and Anthony Davis after his freshman year; but he has seen his stock take a hit after a bit of a sophomore slump. If he free falls out of the lottery, the Bucks may just hit the jackpot.
4.) Michael Carter-Williams- Syracuse
Age: 21
Position: PG
Height: 6’6″
Weight: 185
Why for Milwaukee: The Bucks failed to make any serious noise in the East last season for a myriad of reasons, but issue No. 1 was the inability of their starting backcourt to mesh together. Monta Ellis and Brandon Jennings may be terrific scorers and great individual talents, but having two undersized, volume shooting guards that struggle to play man-to-man defense or create for teammates is just a recipe for disaster. Enter Michael Carter-Williams, a true point guard in every sense of the word with the size to potentially be a factor defensively. The 6’6″ Carter-Williams can’t shoot (39 percent from the floor, 29 percent from deep his sophomore season at Syracuse), but his court vision is unparalleled in this class and on a team full of shooters and scorers, he may be the floor general the Bucks lacked throughout the 2012-13 season.
3.) Sergey Karasev- Russia
Age: 19
Position: SG/SF
Height: 6’7″
Weight: 197
Why for Milwaukee: We saw it in the NBA Finals: In this league, you can literally never have enough shooters. And while Sergey Karasev may not be physically ready for the rigors of an 82-game NBA season, the 19-year-old from St. Petersburg, Russia, can knock it down from anywhere. Many experts consider him the best pure shooter in this draft and at 6’7″ he has the ideal height for an NBA wing player. Karasev has been a bit of a workout wonder. Before the end of the regular season, few pegged him to be a first-round pick and now some say he could very well be headed towards the lottery. The track record for players like that historically has been a mixed bag. Could the Milwaukee Bucks take a gamble here on a foreigner with immense potential?
2.) Tony Mitchell-North Texas
Age: 21
Position: PF
Height: 6’9″
Weight: 236
Why for Milwaukee: In a word, upside. Tony Mitchell is raw. He doesn’t have a consistent post game or a go-to move. His jumper? Streaky. Against weaker competition in the Sun Belt Conference, many expected Mitchell to dominate and at times he did not. Some question his motor, others think he needs an attitude adjustment. But this is a once in a generation athlete. At 6’9″, Tony Mitchell has a higher vertical leap than Blake Griffin(!) and possesses the lateral quickness to be a multi-positional game wrecker on defense in the mold of a Kenyon Martin. His ceiling may be as high as anyone’s in this entire draft. Simply put, if developed properly, this a player who could become a superstar. In a small market like Milwaukee, those are difficult to come by.
1.) Shabazz Muhammad-UCLA
Age: 19
Position: Shooting Guard
Height: 6’6″
Weight: 225
Why for Milwaukee: After many considered him to be the No. 1 high school player in his class, Shabazz Muhammad struggled mightily at times in his lone season at UCLA. In a nutshell, he didn’t live up to the hype. Concerns about him are valid. His defense wasn’t there at any point throughout the year and he wasn’t nearly the unstoppable natural scorer many projected him to be. But after seeing Harrison Barnes shake off a so-so collegiate career and show star potential in this season’s playoffs for the Golden State Warriors, it’s easy to see how a player can get lost in the system of a big program like UCLA or North Carolina. I’m betting scouts weren’t wrong about Shabazz’s potential. Instead, I think he spent his freshman year in an unfavorable situation and will excel at the NBA level. He has as good a chance as any to be the best player in this draft. If Shabazz Muhammad is on the board when the Milwaukee Bucks are on the clock, he should be their selection.