Report: Despite reports, Bucks GM not afraid to take project with No. 2 pick

A new owner often means a new front office is not far behind. The Milwaukee Bucks, after a disappointing season, have new owners.

Flowing from those two facts the buzz around the league has been that GM John Hammond’s seat was getting warm. He might not be gone immediately, but things would have to change to keep his job. Hand in hand with those rumors came the talk that the Bucks needed a sure thing with the No. 2 pick in the NBA draft and while Joel Embiid, Andrew Wiggins and Dante Exum all may have higher ceilings, Jabari Parker was the guy who could walk in the door right now and give you quality minutes. He can score at an NBA level tonight. His ceiling as a player is up for debate but he has the highest floor of any of the top four or five picks — people trust he will be good.

So the Bucks are going to play it safe and take Parker… not so fast with that, reports Sean Deveney at the Sporting News.

Bogus, one source said. “(Exum) is a real option for them, because of the size and the upside,” the source said. “Nobody there is approaching this like, ‘I need to save my job.’ You don’t do that in a draft. In free agency, that is a different story. But no one is going to save their job in the draft. If Exum is as good as they think he will be, they’d pull the trigger.”

There are a lot of draft smoke screens right now (look at the varied reports on Joel Embiid’s back) and you’re wise to not take every rumor to heart.

In this case, Exum has guys that love him and guys that are more in the Marcus Smart camp. The guys that are in the Exum camp tend to LOVE his potential…

But still two would be a shock. On virtually every scout’s board Embiid, Wiggins and Parker are the top three in whatever order, then you get into Exum, Smart and the rest. It would be a real surprise to see the Bucks reach up and take Exum at the two slot.

The real upshot here is you may not want to ink Parker in at the second slot.