Welcome to the ninth installment of 30 Teams, 30 Years, 
30 Drafts featuring the Milwaukee Bucks. This series takes you through each of the teams’ draft picks from 1978-2008 and evaluates how they fared. The Bucks ended up with a surprisingly good score. Second only to the Celtics. While the only HOF player they drafted was Ray Allen, they have drafted solid contributors with many late first round picks and second round picks. Sadly for Bucks fans, this hasn’t contributed to much success on the court.
Total Score: 3.616
View the previous teams and their scores here:
Boston Celtics – 3.885
Philadelphia 76ers – 2.561
Toronto Raptors – 2.659
Orlando Magic – 2.861
Charlotte Bobcats – 2.225
New York Knicks – 2.471
New Jersey Nets – 2.49
Atlanta Hawks – 1.258
Miami Heat – 2.743
Let us know in the comments below who you think their best and worst draft picks were.
To see how the score was calculated, check out the intro post here.
[table id=107 /]
1- Nothing of note on George Johnson, but the Bucks gave up two picks in this draft that ended up being spots in which NBA All-Stars were drafted. Mike Mitchell (15) and Maurice Cheeks (36).
2- Ted Kitchel ended a streak in which the first seven players drafted all registered at least one point, the longest streak to begin so far.
3- Drafted over Terry Porter and AC Green.
4- Skiles has been all over the map. In his college years he was quite the little delinquent; getting charged with felony cocaine possession, misdemeanor marijuana possession and a DWI. The felony cocaine charges were dropped and he would spend 15 days in jail. Skiles is most known for setting, and still holding, the single game assists record at 30. He also had one of the greatest coaching quotes of all time. When asked what Eddy Curry could do to improve his rebounding, Skiles answered with one simple word, “Jump”. Oh yeah, and he was drafted before Sabonis, so we have to subtract something for that. Like I said, all over the map.
5- In 1982 lost the Indiana State Championship game to a team led by a player drafted by the Bucks a year earlier, Scott Skiles.
6- Tito was the first Dominican born player to play in the NBA, and is also the father of Hawks star Al.
7- Apparently Kevin graduated from White Castle. Feel free to make any Eddy Curry/Boris Diaw/Raymond Felton jokes at this point in time.
8- Bobby Phills was the first player to have his number retired by the Hornets organization. As one could probably guess it was due to tragic circumstances. Bobby was killed in an automobile accident in January of 2000, when it appears he was racing against teammate David Wesley. RIP Bobby.
9- Ray Allen is borderline OCD, much like I am. He accredits his shooting style to his condition. Myself, it allows me to sift through every player drafted by every team between 1978 and today and come up with these little tidbits. I see Ray Allen as a future HOF, but a fringe HOF.
10- Traylor was acquired on draft night by trading the draft rights to Dirk Nowitski, ouch! Dirk is not only a surefire HOF, but when it is all said and done many will consider him one of the top 5 PFs of all time, some may have him ranked higher than anyone not named Tim Duncan. This is a big negative five. Sadly, Robert passed away in 2011 of a believed heart attack while on the phone with his wife. RIP Robert.
11- Ronald Murray has played for every team in the central division, which is kind of interesting.
12- Yi’s performance in the Olympics this past week leaves hope that maybe he can figure it out in the NBA and improve his score in the future, but only time will tell.
