Around the Association: 2010 NBA Draft Previews - Milwaukee Bucks: power forward or shooting guard?

by Poor Man's Commish on Jun 20, 2010 12:00 PM PDT in NBA Draft

Less than a week to go til the 2010 NBA Draft! Our next peek is into the Milwaukee Bucks. They have the 15th, 37th, and 47th picks. Here's who they have signed (and not) for 2010-11...

	COMMITTED	MAYBE	OUT?
pg	Brandon Jennings
			Luke Ridnour
			Royal Ivey
sg	Michael Redd
		John Salmons
	Charlie Bell
			Jerry Stackhouse
sf	Carlos Delfino
	Ersan Ilyasova
	Luc Mbah a Moute
pf			Kurt Thomas
			Primoz Brezec
c	Andrew Bogut
	Dan Gadzuric

Hit the jump for what the mock draft boards have predicted...

The 15th pick is, by definition, the first pick outside of the Lottery, but with as deep a Draft this year particularly with big men, expect a pretty good pickup. That being said, it appears that the Bucks need a power forward. The next most glaring need is probably at backup point guard or shooting guard.

No. 15 pick

NBAdraft.net: Xavier Henry (sg, 6'6", 210, Kansas, freshman). Consensus best 2-guard in the Draft. This pick pick obviously makes a lot of sense. However, on DraftExpress, Henry is not expected to last this late.
DraftExpress: Gordon Hayward (sf, 6'8", 200, Butler, sophomore). The highly skilled, most-hyped player in the Final Four is a good pick here. He can shift over to the 2 as well. I'm just hoping he develops some alpha-dogginess because sometimes he's a bit too unselfish. On NBAdraft.net's board, Hayward is gone by pick #14 to the Houston Rockets.
Chad Ford: Hayward.

I'm just not completely convinced they need a skill position player at #15. I really like Daniel Orton because I've seen him in workouts these past two summers and he's really improved from one to the next. There's also Larry Sanders out of VCU, who seems to have some draft stock uptick lately, and Damion James of Texas. I think the Bucks should use the pick to draft a semi-athletic, semi-skilled, semi-big player, in essence to replace Kurt Thomas.

No. 37 pick

NBAdraft.net: Willie Warren (sg/pg, 6'4", 208, Oklahoma, sophomore). I think the 6'4" listing is a little generous, but as I said in previous write-ups mentioning college teammate Tiny Gallon, Warren was the reason why you watched Oklahoma games last season. He protects the dribble well with his smallish frame and when he drives to the hole to get his and-ones. He's got a solid NBA body and game a la old school Joe Dumars. There may have been questions about his attitude and wanting the ball, but I think at this point, I've got more questions for Oklahoma coach Jeff Capel than I do for Warren and Gallon, who hasn't had attitude problems but has had off-the-court issues. Anyhow, if Warren were still available at #37 (I doubt he is), this would be a steal. For the record, Chad Ford has Warren gone at #29 to the Orlando Magic. DraftExpress has Warren at #36 to the [Twilight Zone background theme, please] Detroit Pistons.
DraftExpress: Trevor Booker (pf, 6'7", 215, Clemson). Booker had a solid season in the paint for Clemson. With Clemson in the ACC, there were plenty of looks at Booker and he always played a pivotal role in his games. DraftExpress had Warren gone at the previous pick, #36. On NBAdraft.net, Booker is #30 to the Washington Wizards.

No. 47 pick

NBAdraft.net: Matt Bouldin (pg, 6'5", 214, Gonzaga). I like this pick because he's a diametric opposite in terms of backup for Brandon Jennings. Opposing teams might have some adjustment problems from BJ to Bouldin, who's a stocky, rugged ballhandler and play setter upper. For the Bucks later on NBAdraft.net's board, I would consider Charles Garcia the Poor Man's Thaddeus Young out of Seattle, Manny Harris the non-outside-shooting shooting/combo guard from Michigan, or Dexter Pittman the overweight center from Texas to backup Bogut or perhaps move Bogut to the face-up 4 when they are both in.
DraftExpress: Samardo Samuels (pf, 6'8", 240, Louisville, sophomore). NBAdraft.net has Samuels gone at #41 to the Miami Heat. Other guys I like instead of Samuels who are still on the DX board after #47 include Jerome Jordan, a solid shot-blocking senior center from Tulsa, the aforementioned Charles Garcia, and Jerome Randle the Poor Man's Jameer Nelson from Cal.