Chicago, Illinois— The NBA Draft Combines are supposed to bring a lot of hope to Bucks fans that hope things are going to turn around soon. The team was sold recently and has promised to stay in Milwaukee, which is good news. But now it’s time for the rebuilding process to begin so the franchise will be worth having in the city. When word got out that Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker, and Joel Embiid weren’t participating at the Draft Combines in Chicago, that took away the little enthusiasm Bucks fans had over this off season. They now will have to wait a little longer to see what potential talent may help turn this team around.
According to Draft Express’ mock draft last week, Andrew Wiggins from Kansas is the number one pick going to Milwaukee. Wiggins is the type of player that would give life to the team, especially because how well he plays offense and defense. The Bucks need a little, well a lot, of both. What makes Wiggins so special is the fact that he can handle the ball really well and despite being so young, he has a great basketball IQ. With that, he would really turn things around for the Bucks if he’s mentally prepared for that. The Bucks are a young team, and the pressure would be on Wiggins to come in and make a huge difference. He would have to take a leadership role and will immediately become the go-to guy to make all of the decisions. The major concern is: can he actually do that?
A more recent mock draft by Draft Express has the 7 ft Center Joel Embiid of Kansas coming to Milwaukee. Most people will tell you the best way to build a team is starting with a big man in the paint. This allows a team to get rebounds and easy baskets down low, which are all things Embiid is capable of doing. Having that big man in the paint, allows the guards to feed the ball inside and get in better position for a quick 3 pointer because the defense will immediately double team the center. He can then dish the ball to the open shooters. All of this sounds good on paper; however, some wonder if Embiid can be the guy that can change things around for this team. He could make the difference, especially if he is learning from other dominant bigs in game that are such as Tim Duncan, and Kevin Garnett.
As mentioned before, both Wiggins and Embiid not being in Chicago for the combines puts everyone at a disadvantage to not know what to expect from them or even their mindsets going into the draft. This is a cause for concern if you are a Bucks fan, because if you’ve been to a Bucks game this year, you don’t have to be told how miserable it was sitting in the Bradley Center watching the Bucks go 10-31 at home. Most people will agree that the Bucks season was worst than the winter Milwaukee had. . The good thing about Bucks is that you can only go up from here and the team really want to win. Despite the record they had, the Bucks are at a point where they can incorporate either Wiggins or Embiid and develop chemistry going to become successful. With new ownership, and possibly a new stadium in the future, the Bucks are moving in the right direction.
