With a promising roster of young Bucks to build around, Milwaukee has their hands full of guys who could be potential long-term rotation players to build around during the post-Giannis era.
Does any Bucks prospect stick out from the rest?
With different players offering different levels of talent, skills, and upside to the equation, the NBA On SI team debates which Milwaukee prospect has the most impressive potential of all.
Ryan Kaminski
Brayden Burries is the strongest longterm prospect bet on this Milwaukee roster. While Kel’el Ware is incredibly skilled for his size, Nate Ament offers tall ball-handling shot-making potential, and guard Kasparas Jakucionis and Ryan Rollins can run good offense, its Burries who is the safest bet for longterm two-way winning impact.
Even with the chance that one of the other prospects develops their skills into a better scorer or more dynamic player one day due to perhaps Ware’s mix of skills at that height, Burries is just so likely to be so good in so many areas, it might not matter.
Burries brings strong point-of-attack defense, switchable perimeter versatility, sound two-way feel for forcing turnovers and making team-first decisions with the ball, with the ability to shoot plus a sprinkle of scoring versatility on and off the ball, rounding out an impressive all-around game. A connective two-way floor-spacing closeout-attacking foundational piece with some scoring chops of his own, Burries is the most promising Bucks prospect and safest bet to be a great player one day.
Tre Allen
I think the Bucks most polarizing prospect is Nate Ament. Before the Giannis trade where Milwaukee was able to get an additional first round pick, I wasn’t exactly the highest on him being the Bucks lone pick in the first round. He had the talent and the intangibles to make him a promising prospect but the inefficiencies scared me to be essentially the centerpiece for their rebuild.
But when they got No. 13 from Miami and took Brayden Burries at 10, the pick of Ament felt better. Not only was it because they were able to get two first round talents but it allows Ament to continue to polish his game and not necessarily be the focal point as Brayden Burries currently is, which isn’t a bad thing. I think the two can complement each other and it looks like Ament has already been improving his efficiency and with the skill and talent, he can develop in his own way and not have to take more responsibility when he still needs some time
Ethan Skolnick
The most polarizing and promising prospect are actually the same player, and it’s not one that the Bucks drafted. It’s one that the Heat did. Kel’el Ware has shown in his first two NBA seasons, since being taken 15th overall, that he has rare versatility for a big man: finishing above the rim and splashing from behind the arc.
But what’s missing is a consistent motor, and that’s what frustrated Erik Spoelstra so much in Miami. Will it do the same to Taylor Jenkins? The Bucks aren’t necessarily competing immediately, so it may give Ware more time to grow than he had with the Heat. The question is whether, even as he produces huge statlines, he also develops bad habits. The Bucks can’t allow that, because Ware does have the potential to be extremely impactful. His offseason work with Hakeem Olajuwon and his strong early preseason stint suggest he may be starting to get what he needs to do.
Add us as a preferred source on GoogleÂ
