Best Milwaukee Bucks Draft Picks: Number 9, Glenn Robinson

Hi Bucks’ fans! Welcome to the all-time top Bucks’ draft picks, power ranked by the fan’s yourselves. We are counting down all the way from #12 to #1, and today we are on former number one pick in the NBA Draft, Glenn Robinson. Don’t forget to vote below for who is number 8.

THE SELECTION

Glenn “Big Dog” Robinson was the 1st overall pick in the 1994 NBA Draft by the Milwaukee Bucks out of Purdue University. According to basketball reference, Glenn Robinson was the 10th best player in the draft based on win-shares. He trailed Jason Kidd, Eddie Jones, Grant Hill, Juwan Howard, Donyell Marshall, Brian Grant, Jalen Rose, Wesley Person and Aaron McKie.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

Glenn Robinson was an NBA Champion in 2005 with the San Antonio Spurs, and a two-time All-Star in 2000 and 2001. He was on the All-Rookie team in 1995, and was the NCAA Player of the Year in 1994. Over his career, his scoring average was over 20 points per game, which isn’t something many can say. His similarity score is akin to Jeff Green and Harrison Barnes

CAREER SUCCESS AND “WHAT-IF’S”

The “Big Dog” was probably most known for being on the Bucks, and as a number one overall selection, I would argue he is clearly the second best number one pick in our history. There have been far worse players to be selected first overall, think Kwame Brown, Anthony Bennett and even Joe Smith and Andrea Bargnani, so the Bucks got a good one here. 10th best in his class or not, that includes some bad years after leaving Milwaukee. In fact, aside from what appears to be an injury-plagued 1999 season, Big Dog scored over 20 points per game in every season he was with the Bucks, and the following season in Atlanta.

After the 2002 season, Robinson was traded to the Hawks for Toni Kukoc, Leon Smith and a draft pick (TJ Ford), so it wasn’t a great move for the Bucks and wasn’t a terrible move. The Bucks had missed the playoffs the year after making the Eastern Conference Finals, so they thought it was time to shake things up and trade Robinson. Little did we know, that would lead to Ray Allen being traded as well for Gary Payton, which is a really huge trade if you think about it when it comes to names, but that Bucks’ team the year after Big Dog and Ray Allen was a group of misfits.

This creates just not a lot of “what-if’s” when it comes to Robinson. He was with the Bucks for the majority of his career, and I don’t think keeping the gang together in that era of the Eastern Conference would have resulted in many more deep runs into the postseason anyway. An interesting thought here would be, had Robinson stayed, would the Bucks’ have blown up the roster still, thus resulting in a Ray Allen trip to Seattle before winning his first ring in Boston? That’s about all I really have, because otherwise his impact from 2002-2005 just isn’t that high.

The Hawks team he went to in 2002 did worse than the Bucks at least, as they were just Robinson, Jason Terry, Shareef Abdur-Rahim and nothing else, and unsurprisingly he did lead them in scoring. His journey with the 76ers didn’t go well either, and probably irked a lot of Bucks’ fans that he wound up there, but he and Allen Iverson missed a lot of time and thus missed the postseason. Robinson finally tacked on to a winner in 2005 when he joined the Spurs, hardly playing in just nine games, but still went out with a championship.

BUCKS’ LEGACY

Robinson retired as the franchise's second all-time leading scorer, until Giannis (and maybe Khris Middleton someday?) passed him during his current tenure. Aside from a couple of years from Ray Allen, Robinson led the Bucks in scoring, and that was “the only thing he was good for” according to my dad. I still don’t know exactly what Robinson did to irritate him, but I remember him calling him a “hot dog,” which he considers a massive insult, so it seemed like a like/dislike relationship there.

I think his legacy is being the catalyst who, along with Ray Allen and later Sam Cassell, brought the Bucks back to life in between the 80‘s and the Giannis-era. Scoring as much as he did is not an easy feat, and it’s why I think he should definitely be discussed about getting his number in the rafters. They both deserve it, because, starting with Robinson, they brought the Bucks back for that almost-magical 2001 season.

There you have it, Glenn “Big Dog” Robinson. Who’s next? Not who’s best, but who should be next on this list counting down to number one? Vote and comment below!

This poll will close on Wednesday, June 8 at noon central