With the 15th overall selection in the 2010 NBA draft, the Milwaukee Bucks select …
Based on a survey of nine NBA officials -- general managers, player personnel directors and scouts -- the Bucks would choose from either Butler small forward Gordon Hayward, Oklahoma State shooting guard James Anderson or Marshall power forward/center Hassan Whiteside.
Those aforementioned players each received three votes in a poll I recently conducted and tied for the 15th-best player in the draft, which will be held June 24.
Hayward, Anderson and Whiteside fell one vote shy of getting into the “lottery’’ -- just behind Texas small forward Damion James and Lithuanian power forward Donatas Motiejunas, who each received four votes.
NBA officials who took part in the survey were asked to rate their top 14 draft prospects -- or lottery selections -- based strictly on talent and not what teams in the lottery might need.
Nine players were unanimous selections. They were Kentucky point guard John Wall, Ohio State guard Evan Turner, Kentucky power forward DeMarcus Cousins, Georgia Tech power forward Derrick Favors, Syracuse small forward Wesley Johnson, Georgetown power forward Greg Monroe, Wake Forest small forward Al-Farouq Aminu, Kansas shooting guard Xavier Henry and North Carolina power forward Ed Davis.
Two players -- Kansas center Cole Aldrich and Kentucky forward Patrick Patterson -- received eight votes apiece.
One player personnel director whose team is in the lottery and is seriously considering drafting a center was incredulous when told one of his peers didn’t consider Aldrich lottery material.
The 12th-best player, according to those polled, was Epke Udoh, a power forward-center from Baylor whose stock by all accounts is rising.
Some other tidbits from the survey:
-- The electrifying Wall was overwhelming regarded as the best player. Eight officials ranked him as the unequivocal best player in the draft.
The other “best player in the draft’’ vote went to Cousins, whom a veteran Western Conference scout felt was the most talented power forward to enter the draft in at least 10 years.
-- Besides Cousins and Wall, the consensus among those polled was that Turner, Favors and Johnson were clearly the “top five’’ players in this draft.
-- While several officials are convinced Wall and Turner have “superstar’’ potential, they were equally convinced this will be one of the finest drafts from a depth standpoint.
That was borne out in the number of players -- 21 -- who received at least one vote as a lottery selection.
Besides the top 14 vote-getters and Anderson, Hayward and Whiteside, Iowa State power forward Craig Brackins received two votes while Texas guard Avery Bradley, Fresno State swingman Paul George and Florida State center Solomon Alabi each received one vote.
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