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Did Milwaukee Bucks Promise To Draft Jarell Martin?

By Peter Myhrer

Dec 22, 2014; Baton Rouge, LA, USA; LSU Tigers forward Jarell Martin (1) drives toward the basket between Charleston Cougars forward Adjehi Baru (1) and guard Cameron Johnson (12) and forward Donovan Gilmore (0)at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. LSU defeated Charleston 71-47. Mandatory Credit: Crystal LoGiudice-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 22, 2014; Baton Rouge, LA, USA; LSU Tigers forward Jarell Martin (1) drives toward the basket between Charleston Cougars forward Adjehi Baru (1) and guard Cameron Johnson (12) and forward Donovan Gilmore (0)at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. LSU defeated Charleston 71-47. Mandatory Credit: Crystal LoGiudice-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Milwaukee Bucks have recently intensified their search for the right player to pick with their No. 17 pick in the 2015 NBA Draft.

In consecutive days, the team has brought in projected first round talents like Justin Anderson (SF, Virginia), Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (SF, Arizona), R.J. Hunter (SG, Georgia St), Bobby Portis (PF, Arkansas), Montrezl Harrell (PF, Louisville), Terry Rozier (SG, Louisville), and Jerian Grant (PG/SG, Notre Dame).

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Add Kevon Looney (SF/PF, UCLA) to the mix from last week’s workout and the Bucks have  a smorgasbord of mid- to late first-rounders to pick from.

There’s a strong possibility that one of the names above will be wearing a Bucks snapback on draft night, but could a player who hasn’t (and won’t) workout for Milwaukee end up being the selection? Alex Kennedy of BasketballInsiders.com seems to think so, and he has a specific name in mind.

Jarell Martin, out of LSU, is a SF/PF tweener with incredible athleticism and solid frame (239 pounds). The 6’9″ forward features a respectable jumper to complement his bully in the paint mentality. These skills led him to average 16.9 points and 9.2 rebounds per game during his sophomore season in Baton Rouge.

Despite this, Martin is projected by most draft experts to go in the late first round. DraftExpress even has him falling all the way to No. 36, the same spot the Bucks selected his former LSU teammate, Johnny O’Bryant, in last year’s draft.

True to Kennedy’s word though, Martin cancelled his previously scheduled workout on June 15 with the Washington Wizards (pick No. 19), something a player projected to fall out of the first round would never do.

Due to his series of happenings, it’s pretty clear that Jarell Martin will be selected somewhere in the middle of the first round. Martin has a promise from a team and team’s very rarely back out of these promises. So the only question left to wonder is which team was enamored enough with him to reach out and guarantee his selection?

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There are a few teams in this range that make some sense. The Atlanta Hawks are the team that sticks out in particular. Atlanta is at risk to lose all-star power forward Paul Millsap in free agency this summer.

What better way to replace him than drafting his basketball clone Jarell Martin? Both are undersized power forwards with similar builds. Both are threats from the perimeter and the paint. Both are rebounding machines.

Alex Kennedy doesn’t agree with me though. Kennedy went online June 14 and answered some fan questions. The final question asked here is what matters (Steve is the fan asking the question).

"Steve – “Want to speculate who may have given Jarell Martin the first round promise?”Kennedy – “You’ll have to wait for my next mock draft, which drops on Wednesday!”"

Well Wednesday finally came, Kennedy as promised posted his updated mock draft, and the mystery team turned out to be … THE MILWAUKEE BUCKS!!! After the initial shock wore off, I thought two things to myself — does this make basketball sense and is he just speculating or does he know for sure?

From a positional need standpoint, the Bucks selecting Martin doesn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense. Milwaukee’s long-time starting stretch 4, Ersan Ilyasova, just got traded, but the best two players (Jabari Parker and Giannis Antetokounmpo) in the team’s future core can both play the power forward position.

There will be some minutes left over for guys off the bench, but players like Jared Dudley (if he doesn’t use his early termination clause), Damien Inglis (if healthy), and one of the centers on the roster can fill in when needed. It makes more sense to draft a power forward that can play minutes at center, than a power forward that can play minutes at small forward.

Perhaps though, the No. 17 pick will come around and the Bucks will feel like Jarell Martin is the best available player left on the board. If this ends up being the case, by all means draft the guy, but a team in the middle of the first round wouldn’t give a promise to a projected late first round pick if they were drafting best player available.

They’d leave their options open in case a player they like drops to them.

Alex Kennedy was right about Martin shutting down his workouts, and he is probably right about the LSU product getting a mid-first round promise, but projecting the Bucks to take him is likely nothing but speculation. Milwaukee hasn’t even brought him in for a workout and since Martin has cancelled the rest of his workouts, the team won’t have the luxury of evaluating him.

Why would a team make a promise to a player that they didn’t even get to work out?

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