Final Ranking of the Best Milwaukee Bucks Draft Picks

Hi Bucks’ fans! Welcome to the reaction post to the orchestrated serious of posts outlining best Bucks’ picks all-time, based on who is called on the podium and currently on basketball reference (and many more) as who the player is drafted by. This included two players who never played for the Bucks, and one who only played for two seasons. Four NBA champions combining for nine different championships, four players to win and MVP, numerous All-NBA teams, and seven Hall of Famers. Not a bad group.

Now, let’s take a look at my list compared to yours. Let’s see how we compare and we’ll start with mine.

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Julie’s Rankings

12) Glenn Robinson (Your Rank: 9)

I don’t think Glenn Robinson was really good for much aside from scoring. He averaged 20 points per game in his career, but his impact aside from that was just minimal. As for your vote, he made it from the vote-in portion all the way to being the highest-ranked non-Hall of Famer.

11) Stephon Marbury (Your Rank: Unranked)

I originally had Marbury at number 10 and safe from voting, but I chose to put him in the vote due to never playing for the Bucks. That shows I made a good decision for the fans, but Marbury was a very talented player. Marbury has similarity scores to Isiah Thomas and Sam Cassell, and made a few All-NBA teams. Big Dog never did that, and due to his longevity compared to Vin Baker and Andrew Bogut, he was clearly more successful in my opinion. This was based on playing career, not Bucks’ career.

10) Paul Pressey (Your Rank: 11)

Pressey was safe from voting, and I feared him not getting in if I didn’t put him in that group. But, looking back, I would say he is pretty much on par with the careers of Michael Redd and Big Dog (in different ways), so I don’t have a complaint about him falling a spot. Would he have not made it in had I not protected him though, over Vin Baker or Andrew Bogut?

I added the three at the bottom to try and make it similar to the other poll, in case you’re wondering why three of the most random NBA players are on it as well.

9) Michael Redd (Your Rank: 10)

This is also quibbling, but I think Redd’s impact to the game was more meaningful. Maybe it’s memory-related bias, but I just feel like he was the better player compared to Big Dog. He also was the bright light at times during the dark mid-to-late 2000‘s.

8) Bob Dandridge (Your Rank: 7)

This is where my next tier begins. Dandridge made the Hall of Fame, but only recently. He was the third wheel, the Chris Bosh of a couple of championship teams. Not to say Chris Bosh wasn’t good, but he wasn’t the guy. And when he was the guy, the team wasn’t very good. He’s a complementary star, and there is nothing wrong with that or an insult by any means.

7) Marques Johnson (Your Rank: 6)

Marques was very good when he was playing, but I think his longevity hurts him and drops him a spot from where you had him. I also think him being in the broadcast booth helped his cause just a little on your end.

6) Sidney Moncrief (Your Rank: 5)

Another one where he only really had a 5-7 year window of greatness, then kind of faded into the background. His was much slower than Johnson’s, but he still only had 11 years to work with. With that said, Moncrief is one of the best Bucks’ of all time.

5) Alex English (Your Rank: 8)

I think part of his drop from where I projected him to be is because of him not playing his whole career with the Bucks. He was a scoring champion and a great player, and had 16 seasons to work with. He led a team as a solo star to a Conference Finals. He’s also 30 spots higher than Moncrief on the win-shares total all-time, and over 70 spots higher than Dandridge and Johnson. I don’t have a major complaint with him falling to 8th, but I feel like he is the better player than Marques and Dandridge for sure.

4) Giannis Antetokounmpo (Your Rank: 1)

Okay, you were probably expecting him to be second, right? Fair enough. But, if you stop his career right now (which is the purpose of this exercise) and base it on entire career, not just Bucks’ career, Giannis is fourth. For example, the all-time scoring list, Giannis is 60th in the playoffs. Very impressive, but the three players I have ahead of him are all at 25th minimum. As for the regular season, he is 167th all-time, and fifth on this list overall (Alex English is a top-20 all-time scorer at this moment).

It’s not just points, but Giannis is third on this list in rebounding and passed someone this year. He is second on this list in Defensive Player of the Year, but since shot-blocking and steals weren’t counted the entirety of the 70’s, and the award didn’t exist then, it’s not exactly fair to say. Giannis has more MVP’s than two players ahead of him, but remember that Steve Nash has two and Kobe has one. Nikola Jokic also has two. As for championships, Giannis got one, and so does everybody ahead of him.

I LOVE GIANNIS. But, if you were to end his career right now and compare it overall to Dirk and Dr. J, I don’t think he is ahead of them quite yet. He definitely is on the verge, but he needs 2-3 more years like his last 5 to pass them. As for Kareem, I’d say he has to play this way the better part of decade and add at least one more ring. I’m sorry-not-sorry, in 2030 (maybe even 2025) when I re-make this list he’ll at least be number two.

3) Julius Erving (Your Rank: 3)

Erving was a great player, but Dirk has him beat on many categories, including tenure in the NBA. Dirk also did more with less, whereas Erving had Moses Malone and/or Charles Barkley.

2) Dirk Nowitzki (Your Rank: 4)

Dirk is 8th on the win share list behind Kareem, LeBron, Michael Jordan and four other greats. He belongs second, along with his impact on the court and with foreign players and globalizing the game. I had a really tough time choosing between him and Dr. J, but I went with Dirk due to his longevity and international impact.

1) Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Your Rank: 1)

Kareem is the best player in history in my opinion, he was unstoppable and a six-time champion, scoring leader, win-shares leader, and so much more. It will take a ton for Giannis to actually catch him as far as legacy goes. Even if Kareem wasn’t number one on your list all-time, he’s in the top five or you aren’t worth debating on it. Giannis therefore needs to be a top-five all-time player (not just right now) to catch him. I’ve gone in more detail on this in their respective posts.

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Your Rankings

Fan Vote

1) Giannis Antetokounmpo

2) Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

3) Julius Erving

4) Dirk Nowitzki

5) Sidney Moncrief

6) Marques Johnson

7) Bob Dandridge

8) Alex English

9) Glenn Robinson

10) Michael Redd

11) Paul Pressey

12) Vin Baker/Andrew Bogut

Eligible but not voted in: Mario Elie, Ersan Ilyasova, Stephon Marbury, Eric Snow

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When All is Said and Done, Do We Have the Best Team?

I’m just taking a look at win-shares and value-over-replacement player for these to determine who had the best players, but let’s start out with the Bucks. When it comes to win-shares, we have eight players (my top 8) in the top 165, with three in the top 14 (Abdul-Jabbar 1, Nowitzki 8, Erving 14) and Alex English in the top 100 as well. Moncrief is next, followed by Giannis who just passed Sam Cassell for reference all-time, and then Dandridge and Johnson are close to the 165 mark.

As for VORP (value over replacement player) we have three in the top 13 (7, 8 and 13 in same order). Giannis gives us four in the top 50 at 48 (between Terry Porter and Eddie Jones), and we have four more in the top 106 (English 69, Moncrief 91, Johnson 101 and Marbury 106). So, in win shares and VORP, we have 9 players in the top 165 in each, and seven are in both. Just doing math, if you even it out, all teams should only have five and a half players in these lists.

I briefly looked over the rest of the teams, and some were so disastrous to not even bother mentioning. Remember, this is since 1968 (when the Bucks started), so there are no Wilt Chamberlains or Elgin Baylors. But, some teams still had players like Bernard King as the top player drafted, and I’m not sure he even makes our list. So, I limited it to these eight:

Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Golden State, New Orleans/Charlotte, Oklahoma City, San Antonio

Chicago and Cleveland are only on here because of LeBron and Michael Jordan, but they aren’t great aside from them. San Antonio actually did really bad aside from their four Hall of Famers (George Hill is next on the list after Tony Parker). Boston might have more depth, but their star power isn’t near and they don’t have a top 20 player in either category. New Orleans/Charlotte is Kobe and Chris Paul, with some good players like Anthony Davis and Alonzo Mourning around, but that’s not close to this team.

So, Oklahoma City and Golden State are the only two left. As for Golden State, even taking away Wilt Chamberlain since he’s before 1968, they have their big three currently, Vince Carter, Robert Parish, Penny and Tim Hardaway, Chris Mullin, Mitch Richmond, Gilbert Arenas, Rick Barry and more. Size will be a problem for them, but they have the depth and the ability to possibly get around the Bucks. The Bucks bench does not have a great backup big, so if we were to lose Kareem it could turn into small ball which benefits the Warriors.

Oklahoma City not only has Kevin Durant, James Harden and Russell Westbrook (remember, we’re assuming prime versions) but they have a lot more. Scottie Pippen and Gary Payton are here, as well as Jack Sikma, Shawn Kemp and Dennis Johnson. This team has good length, a lot of All-Star talent, and good defense. I think overall they have a better chance than Golden State and are more top heavy.

Here’s the Bucks’ starting five:

Kareem
Dirk
Erving
Giannis
Moncrief
3-Deep Bench: English, Dandridge, Johnson

*To check out these all-time rosters, type in “Bucks’ draft picks”, click on basketball reference. Then sort by win shares or VORP.

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I think that pretty much says it all. The Bucks, in my opinion, field the best roster in the NBA with my group of 12. Or even yours, giving the Bucks Baker/Bogut over Marbury helps with backup point. Eight Hall of Famers is tough to beat, and when teams like the Lakers aren’t even worth mentioning (Magic Johnson and then Eddie Jones...) it just shows that our executives have been both really good, and really bad for trading these players, in our history.

But what do you think? Comment below and tell us your thoughts!