The Milwaukee Bucks made a risky pick for Thon Maker in the 2016 NBA Draft that was perhaps made easier by how quickly Giannis Antetokounmpo developed.

"Now if you’re talking about the Giannis connection, I think Giannis’ rapid improvement had probably made that pick easier to sell because immediately everyone started trying to compare the two, even though that really wasn’t a part of our decision," said John Hammond.

Hammond talked about what led the Bucks to select Maker.

"We loved his length. We loved his ability to shoot the ball. With the game moving to where it is today, can he be a stretch big? We’re still hoping that Thon can be that player consistently as he moves forward. But more than anything with Thon was then when we had the chance to get to know him, we just fell in love with him as a person. I loved (director of scouting) Billy McKinney’s line on Thon. When Thon left us after the draft workout, Billy said, “You can be guaranteed that player is going to become the very best he can possibly become because he’s going to work that hard.” He’s never going to leave anything on the table. He’s always going to give you 100 percent and give himself 100 percent and give himself the best opportunity to become a player someday in this league."