And while it seems a safe bet to assume that this room is being run by a general manager (or owner if he’s very hands on), it’s difficult to peg just how much input everyone else in the room has.

With that being said, I’m not sure how much stock to put in John Hammond’s drafts as a member of the Detroit Pistons front office. Sure, we now have two years worth of data about Hammond’s first picks as the Bucks general manager, and a season of statistics about his second draft in Milwaukee, but we potentially have tons more information about the thoughts and ideas that shape John Hammond’s draft philosophy from his days in Detroit. Even if Hammond didn’t have lots of direct input on who would be the pick, it’s likely he’s shaped his philosophies based on his time in that front office.

And there was a pattern to their picks. Often drafting later in the first round during their successful run as one of the top teams annually in the Eastern Conference, Detroit rarely gambled on their picks. During Hammond’s run as VP of Basketball Operations, Detroit had six first round draft picks, and only twice did they draft players that would fall into the category of players who may not have been ready to contribute right away.

The first instance, quite famously, was Darko Milicic. His whole situation was so bizarre, that I’m not sure anyone will ever figure it out. Why he didn’t have success after such hype coming into the draft is a question that has tons of answers. Mental toughness, Larry Brown and the difficult transition from Europe to the NB all played some kind of role. Whatever the reason, it’s safe to say that he didn’t work out for the Pistons. Though their other “upside pick” has been quite a coup for them as the 15th pick of the 2007 draft.

Rodney Stuckey came out of a small college, Eastern Washington, and didn’t exactly have a sterling resume there. They didn’t even make the Big Sky conference tournament in his final season, finishing 15-14. Stuckey’s numbers were very good in college, as he scored over 24 points-per-game in each of his two years at school. His level of competition was significantly below average though, suggesting that his numbers may have been a product of their weakness rather than just his skill. But Stuckey’s strong body and good size made him an intriguing prospect that could blossom down the road. Stuckey had a solid rookie season and has progressed in every season since then, rewarding the Pistons for their slight gamble, and when looking at Detroit’s other picks, Stuckey does look like a gamble.

In the year before the Darko Disaster (2002), Detroit selected college all-american Tayshaun Prince 23rd in the first round. Prince’s length intrigued everyone, but there were questions as to whether or not he could play the small forward position and get off that herky-jerky shot of his. By the time the playoffs rolled around in Prince’s rookie season, he was earning significant minutes and making his name as a defensive stopper. Prince had the pedigree as a four-year player at Kentucky.

In 2005, the Pistons first post-Darko first round pick, Detroit selected Jason Maxiell. Maxiell was a four-year player at Cincinnati, where he rebounded with tenacity and seemed constantly on the edge of fighting someone. His long arms and better than expected athleticism helped him at the draft combines that summer and combined with his productive college career, earned him a selection in the late first round for Detroit. He had the ability to help out as a role player immediately for Detroit and by his second year was an average NBA player, helping out with defensive and rebounding for a very talented team. That may not excite most, but any time a team can find a rotation player in the first round, they typically can feel good about that.

And that seems to be a philosophy that John Hammond holds in high regard. Use the draft to get quality rotation players that can contribute right away. This is where you say, “but they took Joe Alexander and no one thought he was anywhere near ready.” This is where I say, but they appear to have thought he would be ready right away, with more upside to come. The Bucks seemed to zero in on Alexander and Anthony Randolph in 2008, with Alexander winning out in the end, possibly because he would help the Bucks more up front. Billy McKinney (the Bucks director of scouting) had this to say in 2009 regarding their philosophy before the draft. I think it seems to hold up with regard to Alexander the year before too.

“One of the things you hear quite a bit when drafting young players, you’ll hear guys say well he might not be ready to play now. When we draft a player we expect him to come in and play. That player has to have that mentality as well.”

Milwaukee seemed to have thought that Brandon Jennings’ one year in Europe made him a little more NBA ready than the other prospects they were considering at 10th in last year’s draft, specifically Jrue Holiday. In addition, Milwaukee had a significantly larger amount of work done on last year’s draft than they did on the previous one.

Milwaukee had time to scout Jennings and the other picks they were considering thoroughly throughout the season in preparation for the 2009 draft, whereas the whole staff was only completely assembled in the weeks before the 2008 draft. That placed more significance on workouts leading up to the 2008 draft, an area that Alexander and Anthony were both able to thrive in. But the workouts are now just pieces of the draft puzzle the Bucks have been working on all season, leading up to the big day this year. Production will likely once again take a more significant role when the Bucks decide who will be wearing the green and red next season.

So on draft night this year, it seems like it would be out of the ordinary for Milwaukee to make a big splash by trying to find the next big thing on a whim. As for Patrick Patterson, Gordon Hayward, Xavier Henry and James Anderson? Well, they might want to start getting to know what Milwaukee’s like, just in case.

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Remember those old electric football games where the pieces moved about aimlessly as you hoped (At least I assumed you were hoping. I’m too young to have ever had the pleasure) your team ended up somehow scoring some points?

(Photo by Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images) This was called a foul on Charlie Bell. For real. Nothing was going the Bucks way Tuesday night.

That was the Bucks offense in quarter one Tuesday.  The Bucks moved aimlessly about, throwing the ball in the general area of the hoop and prayed it went in.  A few times it worked, most of the time it did not.  Andrew Bogut, also known as the Bucks best offensive player, not only hit the side of the backboard with a shot, but airballed a one-handed attempt from the elbow.  He finished quarter one 0-7, which was just a touch worse than point guard Brandon Jennings’ 1-6 effort.

After his treacherous 0-8 start Bogut went on to hit six of his next seven.  Jennings followed his poor first quarter by hitting four of his next eight, which we’ll take with both hands open as Bucks fans at this point.  Suddenly, what started as an 11-point deficit after one quarter became a Bucks lead six minutes and 17 seconds into the third quarter.  From there it was anyone’s game.  Unfortunately, the Pistons apparently temporarily changed their name to “Anyone” and the Bucks went from eclectic electric football to Madden 2010 to a complete loss of electricity in the fourth quarter.

The Bucks turned it over five times and played nearly as poor in the fourth quarter as they did in the first in losing 93-81 to Detroit.  This game didn’t look much prettier than the Bucks win Saturday against the Pacers, which coincidentally finished with the same score, only in favor of the Bucks.  Very little was in the Bucks favor Tuesday though, and that’s evidenced heavily in Jennings final 5-16 shooting line.  Of course, that’s not too hard to believe given his shooting woes in the past few months.

When Detroit first came to the Bucks humble abode, Jennings introduced himself to Milwaukee, the Pistons and the league in a big way.  Jennings took over the third quarter scoring 16 points, winning the hearts and minds of Milwaukeeans in the process.  Tuesday, Jennings made numerous attempts at claiming ownership of the third, but was unsuccessful in each try.  Jennings pulled up for a three with the crowd beginning to buzz and his team down just three: no dice.  He pulled another after two makes sandwiched around free-throws: another miss.  Notice he was still able to hit a few shots, but the feel of the whole thing was different.

In November the building was on the edge of rocking and Jennings gave them the necessary push, but Tuesday he didn’t pack the oomph to get everyone over the edge.  Perhaps he’ll regain that, it’s certainly too early to write him off as incapable of pulling anything off, but right now he’s lost that mojo.

Offense

If I said I wasn’t nervous after watching Bogut struggle to start the fourth quarter and come out just minutes into the final period I’d be lying.  It looked like it may be up to Jennings or the Bucks plucky cast of role players to pitch in offensively.  Neither happened and the Bucks faltered.

• Bucks shooting percentages in the first-fourth quarters: 16, 52.4, 44.4 and 38.9.  Can you guess which quarters the Bucks ended up winning?  Sometimes it’s as simple as making shots and the Bucks couldn’t do that Tuesday.

• I know you aren’t questioning Bogut’s importance to the Bucks, but just in case you were the Bucks just shot 36.6 percent total in a game in which he shot 8-21.  Yes, Bogut finished with 17 points and 18 rebounds, but many of those boards came off his own misses, I assure you his evening wasn’t as pretty as the box score looks.  But as he goes, so go the Bucks.

• The Bucks 20-45 showing in the paint looks ugly as I write it and was even more difficult to look at as it was happening.  Milwaukee isn’t going to shoot that poorly in the paint too often, but I can’t say the Pistons had nothing to do with it.  Jason Maxiell and Ben Wallace were pushing around the Milwaukee bigs and forcing them away from the hoop.

Defense

Big guards hurt the Bucks.  Don’t believe me?  Rodney Stuckey finished with 18 points and seven assists on 9-19 shooting in a rare dominating effort for him.  Stuckey over powered Jennings so many times, I thought he had contacted the Bradley Center Board and rented out the Bucks paint for the evening.  Surprisingly Stuckey didn’t shoot a free-throw all night, which probably contributed to the Pistons slow pulling away.

• The Bucks 21 offensive rebounds can be somewhat be written off as a product of their bad shooting, but how do we explain the 17 Detroit grabbed?  Ah, Maxiell again, yes.  Maxiell’s relentless effort and musclely, massive body banged the Hakim Warrick’s of the world out of the way as he grabbed six offensive boards by his lonesome.

Final Thoughts

Where do the Bucks go from here?  I’ll let the team’s wise man Jerry Stackhouse take it away:

Man, that one’s over.  When that clock hits zeroes, it’s over.  You going to have bad games like that sometimes.  We been playin’ well, you just got to remember that.  Good thing for us is 24 hours and we back at it.  The really good teams always respond after a loss and this team is starting to really learn about itself. If we can take something from how we been playing over the last few weeks and tell ourselves we’re a good team and we’re supposed to come out tomorrow and, taking nothing away from New Jersey, go in and take care of our business.

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