Bucks Split On Taking Maker

If you’re torn as to whether the Milwaukee Bucks made the correct call in selecting Thon Maker with the 10^th overall pick in last Thursday night’s NBA draft, you aren’t alone.

Sources said there were varying opinions within the Bucks’ organization as to whether Maker should be their guy as well. Most NBA teams projected the 19-year-old Maker as a mid-first to late-first round selection.

“There was a split on who to take,’’ the source said of the Bucks and who they wanted as their top pick.  “He (Maker) wasn’t the only one that was talked about.’’

While the source didn’t go into specifics as to who else the Bucks considered taking instead of Maker, there was league wide chatter in the hours leading up to the draft NBA that the Bucks were also seriously interested in guard Dejounte Murray of Washington and power forward Deyonta Davis of Michigan State.

Murray wound being taken by the San Antonio Spurs with the 29^th pick – or second last pick in the first round. Davis, who worked out for several teams in the lottery, inexplicably fell out of the first round and was taken by the Boston Celtics with the first pick in the second round, No. 31 overall.

This marks the second straight year in which there has apparently been “splits’’ in the Bucks’ camp concerning their first-round pick. There were reports shortly after last year’s draft that there was a difference of opinion on whom the Bucks were going to select with the 17^th pick with some favoring UNLV shooting guard Rashad Vaughn and others favoring Arkansas power forward Bobby Portis. The Bucks opted for Vaughn. Portis was taken by Chicago, which had the 22^nd pick.

Both Vaughn and Maker are represented by Excel Sports Management, which also happens to represent Bucks head coach Jason Kidd.