What If: Bucks Pass On Parker, Take Embiid

[Roy H.]

I don’t know why I never thought of this before, but the Bucks could have had a trio of Giannis / Middleton / Embiid.  They took Jabari Parker in 2014, but Embiid was considered by many to be the best player in the draft, despite questions about his fragility.

Would a Giannis / Embiid duo have worked?  Would they have become a dynasty?  Or would Embiid’s presence have stifled Giannis’ growth?

[gouki88]

I'm not sure if it would have stifled Giannis' growth, but it would have been incredibly interesting. Does Embiid change his game to accommodate Giannis like BroLo has? Do they trade Embiid for someone like Kawhi in 2018?

Or, consider if Philly had taken McCollum instead of Noel, Giannis instead of MCW, Porzingis / Booker instead of Okafor, Brown instead of Simmons, Tatum instead of Fultz?

Booker-Brown-Tatum-Giannis-Embiid with McCollum off the bench!

[johnnygreen]

What's even crazier, they had two second round picks in that same draft, and passed on Jokic both times.

[Jvalin]

Retrospectively, the 2014 draft wasn't star-heavy at the top (as advertized at the time), but it was quite deep.

2 future HOFers: Jokic, Embiid
2 more all-stars: LaVine, Randle
plenty of solid players in the first round: Wiggins, Aaron Gordon, Smart, Capela, Nurkic, Bogdan Bogdanovic, TJ Warren, Kyle Anderson, Doug McDermott
plenty of gems in the 2nd round as well: Jerami Grant, Joe Harris, Dinwiddie, Jordan Clarkson, Dwight Powell (+ Jokic obviously)

[LilRip]

Retrospectively, the 2014 draft wasn't star-heavy at the top (as advertized at the time), but it was quite deep.

2 future HOFers: Jokic, Embiid
2 more all-stars: LaVine, Randle
plenty of solid players in the first round: Wiggins, Aaron Gordon, Smart, Capela, Nurkic, Bogdan Bogdanovic, TJ Warren, Kyle Anderson, Doug McDermott
plenty of gems in the 2nd round as well: Jerami Grant, Joe Harris, Dinwiddie, Jordan Clarkson, Dwight Powell (+ Jokic obviously)

Good call. I really thought that the 2014 class was stacked and that Wiggins was going to be an insane, franchise-changing talent.

[Moranis]

a 4 all star and 2 HOFer draft doesn't seem all that good to me.  It was just unique in just how many good players were in the 2nd round (and great in the case of Jokic). 

[Moranis]

As to the question, I think Giannis would look more like Simmons had he someone like Embiid in the middle.  I think Giannis personality would have him playing 2nd fiddle to Embiid and I just don't think he would have developed in the same way.