Choosing the top 20 Bucks’ players of the past 20 years was a pretty tough task. Choosing the best? Not so much. Ray Allen was the clear choice and nobody else was even close. It was his addition that turned things around for Milwaukee. Allen came to town and all of a sudden the Bucks started winning. The team went from a .305 winning percentage the year before his arrival to a .634 winning percentage in only his fifth season.

Of course, Allen was about more than just wins and losses. He had that picture perfect jump shot. He unleashed his fair share of fierce dunks. Above all, Allen gave the Bucks a player to counter the superstars of the NBA. No game exemplified this better than Ray’s epic duel with Allen Iverson in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Although Iverson outscored Allen 46-41, Milwaukee came out on top in that game.

The media attention, however brief and small it was, Allen brought to the Bucks should also not be discounted. In addition to what he did on the court, he also co-starred in the ridiculously awesome He Got Game alongside Denzel Washington. Outside of Shaq and MJ, how many NBA players can you say played a major role in a widely released movie?

Along with all of the good, Allen is also connected to one of my lowest points as a Bucks fan.

I was watching ESPN News when they reported he had been traded to Seattle for Gary Payton. At first, I couldn’t believe it. I thought there was a mistake. Then I just got really sad. I remember calling my two friends who were also fans of the team and just venting. We were 15 years old at the time so our conversation assuredly featured a lot of “worst trade ever” type talk. I moped around for what today seemed like weeks, but was actually probably only a couple days. “How could the Bucks do this to me?” my teenage mind wondered.

Then a funny thing happened. Payton and Desmond Mason suited up for their first game as a Buck on Feb. 22. And what do you know? They won. Payton had 22 points and nine assists. Mason showed the athleticism that made him such an exciting player in Seattle. No matter how much I loved Allen, I realized I was a Bucks fan first. No matter who they throw out on the court or how many times they trade my favorite player, my loyalty will remain. I also realized just because Allen was miles away in Washington, it would be pretty easy to follow him via the Internet. Although I couldn’t watch him every game, I didn’t completely lose the player I had enjoyed watching.

Looking back on the trade now, I still don’t like it from a Bucks perspective, but it is far from the “worst trade ever” that my young self once proclaimed. Things clearly weren’t working with Allen and George Karl. Some sort of shake up was necessary. Did that mean Milwaukee had to trade away its best player? No, absolutely not, but it makes it a little easier to see why the trade was made. In addition, the trade ushered in the Michael Redd era. With Allen gone, Redd was able to step into the starting shooting guard role and brought us a few years of excellent production. There is a good chance Redd would have been relegated to a sixth man role for his formidable years if Allen was never moved. Or maybe Redd would have been the one traded. Either way, we would not have had the experience we did with Redd if Allen remained on the Bucks.

Allen will forever hold a special place for me. He was the guy who was the best player when I really started to love the Bucks. For most former Milwaukee players, my interest for them fades when they leave the team. Allen was an exception. As soon as I could find one, I purchased a poster of Allen as a Sonic. It still hangs on my bedroom wall in my parent’s house…right next to my poster of Ray as a Buck.

How did you feel about the Ray trade at the time? How do you feel about it now?

Josh Hilgendorf is a contributor to Bucksketball.com. Follow him on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

I still remember him rubbing George Karl’s head, the Notorious T.I.M. headline on the day he signed his big deal and all those three-pointers he hit that one January day in 2001. In this era, those were the best of times to be a Bucks fan and he played a big part in that. I also remember being thrilled when he was traded. A mixed bag that Tim Thomas is. – Jeremy)

When you say Tim Thomas, the first image that pops in my head is the classic two-headband look he sported for several games as a member of the Bucks. It isn’t the integral role Thomas played as sixth man during Milwaukee’s run to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2001 or his failure to live up to his full potential. Nope, I remember Thomas best as the guy that wore two headbands in a criss-cross pattern during actual NBA competition.

For a guy I remember best for the accessories he wore, Thomas had a solid career in Milwaukee. He arrived via trade from Philadelphia along with Scott Williams for Tyrone Hill and Jerald Honeycutt in March of 1999. After coming off the bench for the first few games following the trade, George Karl inserted Thomas into the starting lineup to finish out the season. Karl was rewarded for his decision, as Thomas connected on a career-best 49.5%^ of his shots and displayed the versatile game that made him the 7^th overall pick of the 1997 draft.

It seemed like Thomas could be that rare late 90′s NBA draft pick that actually could live up to his potential. Oh were we fooled.

Thomas was relegated to sixth man the next season. Rather than pout over the demotion, he upped his numbers across the board and seemed to relish his role off the bench. He made Karl look like a genius in the Bucks series with the Indiana Pacers, posting an astounding 22.6 PER in the team’s first round loss.

Thomas carried his strong play into the 2000-01 season, completing the year with a 16.4 PER, the best of his career. I am embarrassed to admit I was a little late to jump on the clunky, tattered Bucks bandwagon. I always had an interest in the NBA, but it took me a little too long to really get into the hometown team. I went to a few games at the Bradley Center here and there, but the run to the Eastern Conference Finals really solidified my place in this masochistic world we call Bucks fandom.

During the 2000-01 NBA season, I was an impressionable 13 years old. At that age, I was all about trying to fake cool and subvert authority. Naturally, when I saw Thomas’s effortless style of play, I was enamored. Then he wore two headbands, and I fell in love.

While Thomas was robbed of the Sixth Man of the Year Award that season, he finished second to Aaron McKie, any fan watching the Bucks at that time knew how important he was to the team. He complemented the Big Three perfectly, providing the right mix of points (12.6 ppg), rebounds (4.1 rbg) and 3-point shooting (41 percent).

He may have played a little bit too well, as the team gave him a six-year, $66 million deal in the offseason. After cashing in, Thomas regressed. He was handed the starting small forward position when Milwaukee traded Glenn Robinson to the Hawks. After showing his worth as sixth man, it was finally time for Thomas to capitalize on his potential and show he could be an all-star in the NBA. Alas, the man who never seemed to have much of a work ethic didn’t suddenly adopt one after already getting his big payday.

Assuredly already regretting the contract they gave him, the Bucks shipped Thomas to the Knicks at the trade deadline in 2004. Although he never became a star, his all-around talent and ability to gel with the Big Three proved vital during Milwaukee’s march to the Conference Finals.

And if nothing else, we will always have the memory of the two headbands.

Josh Hilgendorf is a contributor to Bucksketball.com. Follow him on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

If you haven’t noticed, there has been a lot of negativity in our countdown so far. And for good reason, the Bucks simply haven’t had very many talented players in the past 20 years. And with a lack of talent came a lack of wins. The Bucks won 672 games and lost a whopping 916 since the 1991-92 season, good for a 42.3 percent winning percentage. Taking those numbers into account, you can understand how rough it was to come up with these rankings.

Along with the negativity, all of the players on this list so far outside of Luc Richard Mbah a Moute are no longer with the team. Their tenures with the Bucks are over and their legacies are set. They all had some hand in at least a few of those 916 losses. While Brandon Jennings did too, he is still a Buck. There is still a hope that he will rise past this ranking. Hope is a word you don’t often hear around this team. One thing Jennings has done since entering the league is to give Milwaukee just that. Finally the fans had a brash competitor to get behind. There was something to cheer about again.

Befitting his unique personality, Jennings took an unconventional route to the NBA. With the Stern-imposed age limit in place, there was no way for him to jump right into the league. But instead of going to college for a year, he decided to study abroad. Jennings certainly struggled in Italy, but I am confident his time with Lottomatica Roma prepared him to play professional basketball stateside.

After all, he flew out of the gates in his rookie season. Earning the starting gig from day one, Jennings came up one rebound and one assist short of a triple double in his first regular season game. In his Bradley Center debut one night later, he dropped 24 points on 60 percent shooting. Exactly two weeks after that, the Golden State Warriors came to town. On that night, Jennings gave us quite possibly the most memorable Bucks moment of the last 20 years.

All of a sudden, the Bucks were on SportsCenter. T-shirts plastered with Jennings’ face were printed. One 55-point game brought a palpable excitement to the Bucks. This was a feeling not felt around the team since the run to the Eastern Conference Finals. One 55-point game and all of a sudden Bucks fans had hope.

We rode the Jennings rollercoaster for the rest of the season. One game he went for 18 points and five assists against the Pistons, only to follow that up with 7 and 3 against the Nets the very next game. But throughout the ride, we watched with rapt attention every time Jennings took the court.

Then came the monocle celebration, the red mohawk, the cries of Fear the Deer and, finally, the playoffs. Jennings certainly didn’t do it alone, but no player on that team had his swagger. No player on that team held the fan’s attention like he did. With Bogut out, all eyes were on Jennings for the opening round against the Atlanta Hawks. Although they would inevitably bow out early, those three home playoff games seemingly reawakened the city of Milwaukee’s love for the Bucks. Jennings was at the center of it all.

Maybe Jennings will never become the perfect point guard. Maybe he will be traded within the next couple of years. Maybe he will flame out completely. But maybe he will become an all star. Maybe he will team with Andrew Bogut to take the Bucks past the first round. Maybe he will be in Milwaukee for the rest of his career. With Jennings comes hope. And that is really all you can ask for as a Bucks fan these days.

Josh Hilgendorf is a contributor to Bucksketball.com. Follow him on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

During the 2005-06 season, the Milwaukee Bucks won 40 games. The team would not best that total again until the 09-10 campaign when they won 46. The three seasons in between featured win totals of 28, 26 and 34 games. Those three down years constituted the Charlie Villanueva era.

Villanueva was acquired during the summer of 2006 to serve as a complement to fellow second year player Andrew Bogut. CV was supposed to stretch defenses with a potent outside shot and team with Bogut to form one of the better passing front courts in the NBA . That was the plan at least. Unfortunately, the best laid plans of Larry Harris and Herb Kohl often went awry.

As was the case with most moves made my Harris, I was initially overjoyed when I found out Villanueva was coming to the Bucks for TJ Ford. In fact, I can vividly recall enthusiastically giving my buddy a few too many high fives after getting a text message alerting me of the news. We had just graduated high school and were visiting some friendly girls from a neighboring town. I began the night with hopes of drinking a few pops and maybe swapping some spit. I ended the night with a black eye and the knowledge to always check on the availability of said friendly girls before saying or doing certain things frowned upon in Sunday School.

As it turned out, my forgettable night proved to be the perfect parallel to Villanueva’s career as a Buck.

He joined the team with the promise to light up the scoreboard and man the power forward position next to Bogut for the foreseeable future. He left Milwaukee as an offensively gifted, defensively inept casualty of the Scott Skiles era.

My initial excitement of the acquisition stemmed from a 48 point barrage from a rookie Villanueva as a member of the Toronto Raptors. Like so many Bucks fans, that was my most prominent memory of CV because it came against the team we loved most. It seemed he was both exalted and doomed from that one game.

Scoring a ton of points as a rookie can do a lot for your reputation. Just ask Brandon Jennings. From that point forward, no matter what kind of player he actually was, Villanueva had shown the promise of an unstoppable offensive force. He had range to the 3-point line and could put the ball on the floor to get by his defender with a quick first step. Basically, Villanueva possessed an offensive skill set NBA general managers drool over. That 48 point game would forever dangle in front of overanxious executives as an example of what CV was capable of when he put everything together.

Unfortunately, Villanueva seemed unable to put much of anything together on a consistent basis. As a Buck, he was a cloud. Drifting on the offensive end, occasionally striking, and completely dissipating when it came time to play defense. To his credit, when Villanueva wanted to score, it seemed like he could.

And here is where the curse of the 48 point game comes into play. When you show that much ability as a rookie, fans, coaches and front office folk are going to expect a lot. They want to see steady improvement. They want to see consistency. They want to see a player realize the potential displayed while still green to the NBA. There is a pressure to perform. And under this pressure, Villanueva crumbled.

He regressed during an injury shortened second season. Things did not get much better until Villanueva’s contract year in in 08-09. Whether it was constant prodding from Skiles or the hope of cashing in, he finally seemed to get his act together and averaged a career high 16.2 points and 6.7 rebounds per game. But it was far too late for the Bucks. The fans had already soured on his lackadaisical attitude, and he was never going to play the type of defense Skiles demanded. As a result, few were terribly disappointed when he signed with the Pistons as a free agent.

That isn’t to say Villanueva’s time as a Buck was all bad. He had some memorable dunks and was extremely fun to watch when he was on. CV was also always active in the community and started the Charlie Villanueva Foundation to support anti-bullying programs. He was also an early adopter of Twitter and was even reprimanded by Skiles for tweeting during halftime of a game.

Read that again. Villanueva tweeted during halftime of a regular season NBA game. That should about sum him up.

Josh Hilgendorf is a contributor to Bucksketball.com. Follow him on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

About midway through the 2003-04 NBA season, TJ Ford was exhibiting massive potential. For a 20-year-old rookie fresh from his sophomore season at Texas, dishing 6.5 assists per game was no small feat. Combine the assists with exceptional quickness and a bevy of accolades from his last season in Austin, and Ford had the potential to be the Bucks starting point guard for the next decade.

However, potential can be dangerous. It seems no word gets thrown around more in today’s NBA. Teams spend high draft picks on international players or college freshmen because they have the potential to be the next big thing. Teams trade established players for guys that haven’t proved much, but have the potential to be great.

Unfortunately, for every player that lives up to the hype, there are seemingly 100 that never rise past mediocrity. Some players lack the killer instinct. Others never had the skill in the first place. Then there are those unfortunate ones bitten by the injury bug.

A terrifying spinal cord contusion derailed Ford’s promising early career.  Few who saw the game on that fateful February 24 can forget watching Mark Madsen (who else?) foul Ford, causing him to plummet to the floor. The brunt of the impact was absorbed by his tailbone.

Watching Ford loaded onto a stretcher and carried out of the arena, it was hard not to fear for his overall well-being, let alone his future basketball career. Memories of an exciting rookie season surely flashed through many spectators’ minds as Ford exited the Bradley Center court.

Taken in one of the best drafts of all time, Ford showed early on he could play in the league. At the helm of Terry Porter’s offense, Ford displayed glimpses of the court vision needed to become a top point guard in the NBA. Motoring up and down the floor with Desmond Mason as a running mate, Ford looked always looked like he was having a blast.

No play better exemplified the electricity Ford could bring to an NBA court than an otherwise meaningless fast break right before halftime of a February 17, 2004, game against the Orlando Magic. With 25 seconds on the clock, Dan Gadzuric stripped the ball and threw an outlet pass to Ford, who had already made it well past half court. Before the Magic could even try to recover, Ford ricocheted the ball off the floor, right into the hands of the streaking Mason for a perfectly executed alley-oop. The Bradley Center erupted. To this day, it remains my favorite play I have witnessed at an NBA game.

Of course, not every possession could be a stunning alley-oop. Ford had his faults. He had a shaky jump shot and, most notably, he missed more layups than any player probably should. He certainly knew how to use his quickness to get to the rim; it was what happened when he got there that was the problem.

But thoughts of Ford’s faults were the furthest thing from the mind of fans watching him leave on a stretcher. It was hard not to shake your head and mark down another disappointment as a Bucks fan.

Thankfully, Ford was not going to give up. Although he missed an entire season, Ford worked his way back and was ready for the first game of the 05-06 season. Although cleared by doctors, he still had the condition that caused the injury in the first place. Born with a spinal defect, there was a risk Ford could exacerbate the problem with another fall.

While Ford was back, the Bucks underwent several changes in his absence. Terry Stotts was now pacing the sidelines instead of Porter. Fellow point guard Mo Williams was brought in and played admirably in Ford’s absence. With Williams in the fold, the Bucks found Ford expendable. He was sent to the Toronto Raptors in the offseason. Fittingly, Ford was traded for Charlie Villanueva, a player oozing potential.

Josh Hilgendorf is a contributor for Bucksketball.com. Follow him on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

Camping in Fish Creek, Wis. last week with limited access to Wi-Fi and inconsistent cell coverage, I was almost completely cut off from the rumors swirling around the draft. I knew the Bucks worked out Leuer, but that was the extent of my knowledge.

As a University of Wisconsin-Madison alumnus, I was on the fence about Leuer as a Buck going into the draft. I was a sophomore when he was just a skinny freshman with a disproportionately small head. I remember sitting in U.S. history during the first week of classes and predicting the stick figure that just sat down behind me would not have much of a career as a Badger.

While he remains thin and his head is still too small for his body, Leuer certainly proved me wrong.

After getting limited minutes as a freshman, Leuer made significant contributions as a sophomore before becoming a key player his last two years at Wisconsin.

It did not take Leuer long to show me I was significantly undervaluing him. The first sign my prediction would be incorrect arrived in the first game of the 2007-08 Big Ten season. I remember watching Leuer go 5-for-5 from behind the arc against Michigan and immediately thinking the Badgers could have another Mike Wilkinson on their hands.

For you Bucks fans who do not follow the Badgers, Wilkinson was a 6-foot-8-inch former Wisconsin Mr. Basketball who had a solid four-year career in Madison after redshirting as a freshman. He provided a nice complement to Devin Harris and could play both inside the paint and beyond the 3-pt line.

As I watched Leuer explode at Michigan, I looked at him as a player who, like Wilkinson, would be a nice complement to a star guard like Harris. After showing steady improvement as a sophomore, Leuer went on to exceed my expectations as a junior.

To me, Leuer became the best player on the Badgers in his third year. He would often set up beyond the arc and use his quickness to take bigger players off the dribble. Leuer did miss a good chunk of the Big Ten season that year with a wrist injury, but he returned and put up nice numbers in postseason play.

With the departures of Trevon Hughes and Jason Bohannon, it appeared Leuer was poised to be the unquestioned leader of the 2010-11 Wisconsin Badgers. While Jordan Taylor emerged and stole some of his thunder, Leuer still had a successful senior year. Like Wilkinson and Harris, Taylor and Leuer formed a lethal combination and carried the Badgers in most games.

Watching Leuer for four years, I had little doubt he could play in the NBA. After all, bigger guys with 3-pt range seem to find a role in the league despite other shortcomings…Brian Scalabrine anyone? Despite that, I had a hard time understanding how Leuer would be able to guard professional power forwards.

As my initial excitement over the Bucks landing a Badger dissipated, those same questions once again lingered. At only 220 pounds, I cannot see Leuer standing much of a chance against any power forward with a back to the basket game.

While I will cheer for him relentlessly, Leuer looks like a situational, end of the bench guy to me. Just remember, he proved me wrong once before. As a Bucks fan, I hope he can do it again.

Josh Hilgendorf is a contributor to the Milwaukee Bucks blog Bucksketball.com. Follow him on Twitter. Become a fan on Facebook (right sidebar).

We have spent several weeks and many words discussing Bucks draft workouts and the team’s needs heading into next Thursday’s NBA Draft. But what about the teams Milwaukee will compete with most often next season? While the other teams in the Central Division had varying degrees of success and failure last season, all of them have needs to address.

Here is a team-by-team breakdown of what to expect from the other Central Division teams in next week’s amateur draft.

Chicago Bulls

Draft Picks: 28 (from Heat), 30 and 43 (from Jazz)

The reigning Central Division champions finished with the best record in the league last season at 62-20 and made it all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals. The Bulls appeared on course for the NBA Finals until LeBron James used his height, athleticism and lateral quickness, all of which seemed to disappear against the Mavericks, to slow down Derrick Rose and take the series in five games.

After watching shooting guards Keith Bogans and Ronnie Brewer flounder on the offensive end (the only time either player scored in double figures was Brewer’s 10 points in game five), it is clear the two-guard position is most in need of an upgrade. The team certainly understands this, as evidenced by the rumors that circled around the trade deadline about OJ Mayo heading to the Windy City.

Unfortunately for Chicago, the success of last season means they will have to wait until the end of the first round to make their initial selection. By trading James Johnson to the Raptors, the Bulls acquired the Heat draft pick sent to Toronto for Chris Bosh. As a result, the Bulls have two of the last three selections in the first round.

With picks at the end of the round, it is hard to forecast what players will be available with the expected unpredictability of this year’s draft. Some possible options for the Bulls include high scoring Charles Jenkins of Hofstra, potential packed Josh Selby of Kansas or athletic Travis Leslie of Georgia.

Indiana Pacers

Draft Picks: 15 and 32

The Pacers surprised many and snuck in the playoffs as the 8th seed. With the odds heavily stacked against them, Indiana kept almost every game close before losing to the Bulls in five games.

The Pacers appear to have the two key positions on the basketball court filled for the foreseeable future. With Darren Collison and Roy Hibbert, Indiana has two young, productive pieces to build around. Add former all star Danny Granger, surprisingly adequate Tyler Hansbrough and last year’s rookie Paul George to the mix, and the Pacers looked poised to contend for a playoff spot for years to come.

However, when you look beyond the starters, there is not much to be excited about. With a first round pick just outside the lottery in a weak draft, Indiana has the perfect opportunity to improve their bench depth.

If George steps into the starting lineup after coming off the bench for 42 of the 61 games he played last season, the Pacers will need to replace the scoring punch he brought to the second unit. Luckily for Indiana, the second leading scorer in the NCAA last season is expected to be available at their pick. Marshon Brooks, a senior out of Providence, averaged 24.6 points per game in his final college season and has the size at 6’5’’ and confidence to succeed at the NBA level.

Jimmer Fredette’s name has been connected to Indiana at times as well.

Detroit Pistons

Draft Picks: 8, 33 (from Raptors) and 52 (from Nuggets)

The Piston’s roster is a mixed bag. They have young guys with potential (Greg Monroe and Austin Daye), veterans who look past their prime (Richard Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince) and average players with big contracts (Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva).

As a result, Detroit could go in almost any direction next Thursday. They could draft a big who likes to bang down low to pair with the more finesse Monroe, they could seek a pass-first point guard to go with the scoring ability of Rodney Stuckey or they could simply take the best player available.

With low expectations in Detroit, do not be surprised if they take a gamble on a European prospect with a high ceiling like Jan Vesely or Donatas Motijunas. Bismack Biyombo has also been mentioned as a possibility.

Cleveland Cavaliers

Draft Picks: 1 (from Clippers), 4, 32 and 54 (from Thunder)

Cleveland’s rebuilding effort got a huge jolt when they won the NBA Draft Lottery with the pick acquired from the Clippers in the swap of our old buddy Mo Williams for Baron Davis.

Depending on how you look at it, the Cavaliers are either a general manager’s dream or nightmare. The roster is essentially a clean slate, free to be molded anyway a GM sees fit. In addition, expectations will remain low for the next couple years, allowing you to stockpile draft picks and young talent. On the flip side, there is likely a lot of losing in Cleveland’s future and a lot of pressure to make the right draft decisions. If one of the players GM Chris Grant selects in the top five this year busts, he could be out of a job.

It is almost a foregone conclusion the Cavaliers will take Kyrie Irving out of Duke with the first overall pick. Irving has the name recognition and skill set to serve as the centerpiece of Cleveland’s rebuilding effort.

It is the fourth pick where things could get interesting. The Cavs might try another Lithuanian big man following the success Zydrunas Ilgauskas had with the team and select 7-foot Jonas Valanciunas, as DraftExpress predicts. Other options include Enes Kanter or Vesely. Whatever Grant does, he makes his decision knowing his job likely hinges on the development of the player he chooses.

Obviously the draft is unpredictable. Nothing is guaranteed until David Stern announces the selections on draft night. No matter how the draft shakes out, one thing is certain. There will be several new, young faces on the court when the Bucks take on their Central Division opponents next season.

Josh Hilgendorf is a contributor to the Milwaukee Bucks blog Bucksketball.com. Follow him on Twitter. Become a fan on Facebook (right sidebar).

• Keith Benson - Center – Oakland
• Gary McGhee - Center – Pittsburgh
• Vlad Moldoveanu - Forward – American
• Paul Carter – Forward – Illinois-Chicago
• Pooh Williams – Guard/Forward – Utah State
• Bryquis Perine – Guard – UW-Green Bay

Out of this group, Benson is the player to watch. While none of the others are projected to be drafted, the 6-foot-11 senior is expected to come off the board sometime in the second round. Like Tyler Honeycutt yesterday, Benson, who weighed in at 217 pounds at the combine, could stand to add some muscle to his lanky frame. A little bulk could help improve a skill set that is considered purely finesse at this point. DraftExpress, who currently projects Benson as the 14 pick in the second round, notes the former Golden Grizzly is a fluid athlete with great size, mobility and wingspan, but will have a hard time banging with NBA big men in the post.

The scouting report on Benson reads awfully similar to what draft analysts were saying about Larry Sanders prior to last year’s draft. Like Sanders, Benson is not quite NBA ready right out of college. With so many immediate needs, one being a backup center, the Bucks may not be in a position to wait on another prospect to develop. However, in a draft that is short on major impact players, Benson could be worth a second round pick if the Bucks have faith he will be able to add strength and become more aggressive around the hoop.

***

For the second day in a row, the Bucks are bringing in a graduate of Milwaukee Vincent. Bryquis Perine shared a backcourt in high school with yesterday’s prospect, Diante Garrett. Like Garrett, Perine, listed at 6-foot-3, has size for a point guard. Unlike Garett, who is projected as a second round pick, there is little chance Perine gets drafted. He had a mediocre career at UW-Green Bay, averaging 11.2 ppg on 39 percent shooting as a senior, and is not garnering much attention outside of the Bucks.

Josh Hilgendorf is a contributor to the Milwaukee Bucks blog Bucksketball.com. Follow him on Twitter. Become a fan on Facebook (right sidebar).

However, I do not think Larry Sanders has much to worry about, as none of the forwards at the workout, outside of Tyler Honeycutt, are even considered second round picks by draft analysts.

According to Bucks.com, Bucks Director of Scouting Billy McKinney agreed with that assertion, admitting Honeycutt was the most prominent player visiting the team Thursday, as well as the one that will go highest in the draft.

Like every NBA team, the Bucks still have to perform their due diligence and bring in as many players as possible in search of a diamond in the rough.

A possible hidden gem from Thursday was Croatian Tomislav Zubcic. With his country of origin, slick outside shooting and 6’10’’ frame, it is hard not to think of former Buck Toni Kukoc when you see Zubcic in action. McKinney said he watched the 21-year-old at the Nike Hoop Summit and observed he is a “very good outside shooter.”

While the Bucks worked out their first true international prospect yesterday, the team also continued one of its traditions. As is becoming common, Thursday’s workout featured a couple of players with ties to the state. Rahmon Fletcher, UW-Green Bay graduate, and Diante Garrett, a Milwaukee native, followed in the footsteps of players like Dominic James, Trevon Hughes and Joah Tucker, who played at Marquette, Wisconsin and UW-Milwaukee respectively.

Both Fletcher and Garrett were excited to work out in familiar territory.

“Whenever you can work out for a team that’s close to where you went to school at is a plus,” Fletcher said. “They’re a good organization and I’m kind of used to the city as well so it was just a pleasure to be here.”

Garrett even said he was a Bucks fan…when the team was good.

“I was a Bucks fan when the big three was here, Sam Cassell, Big Dog and Ray Allen. I always watched those guys,” he said. “I always liked the Lakers because of Kobe Bryant, but I always watched the Bucks too.”

Whether Fletcher or Garrett buck the trend and actually get drafted by the team remains to be seen.

*** Tyler Honeycutt ***

As McKinney said, Honeycutt was the player everyone was there to see at Thursday’s workout. Projected to go 23^rd by DraftExpress and 24^th by NBAdraft.net, he was by far the highest ranked player at the Cousins Center.

While players ultimately get judged by their play on the court, what they say off of it also plays a huge role. Potential draftees have to say the right things to sell themselves to NBA teams. When asked why he would be a good fit for Milwaukee, Honeycutt sold himself as a Swiss Army knife.

“Being a long, versatile wing, being able to guard multiple positions, protect the rim, rebound. I try to do everything,” he said.

It appeared Honeycutt studied up on the Bucks’ before his workout, as what he said clearly gels with Scott Skiles’ philosophy. Honeycutt can back up his talk thanks to a 6’9’’ wingspan that allowed him to lead the Pac-10 in blocks last season.

Honeycutt’s touted defensive prowess is great and a team can never have enough versatile defenders, but we all know the Bucks are already an above average defensive team. What the team could really use is another outside threat to help stretch opposing defenses. It remains unclear whether Honeycutt has the sweet stroke Milwaukee craves, as he shot 40.6 percent from the field and 36.2 percent from behind the 3-point line as a sophomore at UCLA. While those numbers are not outstanding, McKinney has faith in Honeycutt’s jump shot.

“He’s a tremendous athlete as some of the highlight reels will show, but he’s also a very good outside shooter,” he said.

If you take McKinney’s advice and watch some Honeycutt highlight reels, you will probably notice right away he is a skinny guy. At 6’8’’ and only 190 lbs, it goes without saying Honeycutt could use a little bulk. McKinney echoed that sentiment.

“One of the things that he’ll have to do at his position of a small forward, as most players have to do coming out of college, is put on a little weight and get a little stronger,” he said.

If Honeycutt is able to add even a little muscle and if the Bucks trade down in the draft, it is easy to see him getting minutes due to his defensive ability. I can see Skiles salivating at the opportunity to roll out a frontcourt of Honeycutt, Luc Mbah a Moute and Andrew Bogut. While that lineup may be Skiles’ dream come true, it could turn into a fan’s nightmare if Honeycutt’s offensive game does not develop. Tough defense with rough offense, doesn’t that sound familiar?

Quote of the Day:

McKinney on Honeycutt’s strength: “It’s a physical game and you’re going to play against guys who are 6-8 and outweigh you by 20, 30 pounds. You don’t have to be muscle-bound but you do have to get stronger.”

Josh Hilgendorf is a contributor to the Milwaukee Bucks blog Bucksketball.com. Follow him on Twitter. Become a fan on Facebook (right sidebar).

NBA teams trade draft picks for one of three reasons. Either they use the pick to acquire a veteran, to accumulate more draft picks or to dump salary. For the purposes of this article, I am going to investigate the success of trading a lottery pick to acquire a NBA veteran in the last 10 NBA drafts.

Using a lottery pick to acquire a veteran player is probably the most fan-friendly move you can make if the decision is made to trade out of the lottery. Fans do not have to wait for a rookie to develop. Instead, they get a player that has already had some success in the NBA. General Managers trade a lottery pick for a veteran because they hope it mitigates a lot of the risk involved with the draft. As all Bucks’ fans know, landing a star, or even a serviceable player, in the lottery is not guaranteed. Rather than gambling that a prospect will pan out, GMs trade the pick for a player they know can play at the NBA level. Whether that player is able to fit in on his new team is a different matter.

Since the 2001 draft, teams have used a lottery pick to acquire a veteran seven times. To make this exercise more pertinent to the Bucks, I threw out all instances where a team used a top five pick to land the established player. That leaves us with only three trades since 2001 where the main impetus for making the deal was to acquire a veteran.

In 2007, the Charlotte Bobcats traded Brandan Wright, the eighth overall selection, to the Golden State Warriors for Jason Richardson. At the time, the Bobcats said they made the deal because they were looking for the go-to scorer and clutch performer they lacked for their first three years in the league. Richardson was coming off a season where he averaged 16 PPG, 5.1 RPG and 3.4 APG.  J-Rich started all 82 games in the 2007-08 season and 14 games in the 08-09 season for Charlotte before he was shipped to Phoenix. During his short stint with the Bobcats, Richardson had a 17.1 PER, above his career PER of 16.7.

While the Bobcats were forced to take on salary, they still won the trade because of how spectacularly Wright flopped. When on the court, Wright has been an above average player, besting Richardson with a career 17.6 PER. However, the problem with Wright is he has not seen much court time in his three-year career. Seemingly going down with an injury every time he saw action, Wright did not play in more than 39 games in one season while with the Warriors. He is still young, but all indications are Wright is not going to have a career comparable to Richardson.

The Houston Rockets took a different approach to acquiring a veteran in 2006. While Charlotte traded their lottery pick to acquire scoring, Houston made the move for defensive purposes. The Rockets traded Rudy Gay, taken eighth overall, and Stromile Swift to the Memphis Grizzlies for Shane Battier. At the time, the Rockets had Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming and thought they were one stopper away from contending for the NBA title. They had no patience for Gay, considered an extremely talented, but raw player who required a few years to deliver on his potential. While the furthest Houston got with Battier was the Western Conference Semifinals, he delivered on his defensive promise, helping the Rockets finish in the top five in defensive efficiency during his first two seasons with the team.

Although Houston got Mr. Intangible in Battier, they ended up losing the trade in the long run. After moving in and out of the starting lineup during his rookie season, Gay established himself as a starter his second year and put up a 16.68 average PER from that point on.  Though there is no way the Rockets could have known McGrady and Yao would both deteriorate so significantly, Gay’s athleticism sure would look good on their current roster.

The final instance of a team trading out of the lottery for a veteran, and I use the term veteran very loosely here, came when the Boston Celtics traded Randy Foye, who was the seventh overall selection, Dan Dickau and Raef LaFrentz to the Portland Trail Blazers for Sebastian Telfair, Theo Ratliff and a 2008 second rounder. While technically a veteran, Telfair, the main motivator for the Celtics in the move, only had two NBA seasons under his belt at the time of the trade. Boston made the move because they were desperately in need of a point guard and saw Telfair as more ready than any point available in the draft.

As it turned out, the Celtics did get their point guard of the future as a result of the 2006 draft, it just wasn’t Telfair. Boston made a move later in the night, acquiring the rights to Rajon Rondo from the Suns. We all know how that worked out.

The Blazers also stayed busy, flipping Foye for Brandon Roy. With that move in mind, Portland was the clear winner of the trade. Telfair played one forgettable season in Boston, regressing almost across the board from his second year with Portland. Of course, Roy went on to win Rookie of the Year and appeared set for superstardom until his career was derailed by injury.

So what does all of this mean for the Bucks? Basically, acquiring a veteran player for a late lottery pick carries with it just as much risk as standing pat and using the selection. While this sample size is small, it illustrates that there is always uncertainty surrounding a draft pick. Other than once in a generation players like LeBron James and Dwight Howard, it is impossible to predict NBA success for any prospect. As a result, you never know if the draft pick you give up will eventually become better than the player you acquired.

Josh Hilgendorf is a contributor at the Milwaukee Bucks blog Bucksketball.com. Follow him on Twitter. Become a fan on Facebook (right sidebar).