MAYDAY: Redrafting the 1992 NBA Draft
This one feels a little personal to me. I’ll never forget going with my Dad to the old Bradley center, a preseason look-at for the new look Bucks. I was at that age where sports were really starting to matter. We sat in the front row (I think the seats were like $10) and it felt magical. I wanted us to get a 10-pack of games, convinced through a Bucks marketing piece that would be the only way to survive a winter in middle school.
Instead, I settled for a preseason “family night” style game. And some pretty cool basketball cards which, I was convinced were more valuable than baseball cards. (Still seems strange now in retrospect.)
It was amazing. The excitement was palpable. The MAYDAY connection had arrived.
In 1992 the Bucks were a floundering team, considered by many elite NBA athletes to be a “death’s door nail” stop at the end of their career. They were in true “rebuild” mode. This was the start of a new beginning, a new era. To the rescue came Todd Day (selected 8th) and Lee Mayberry (selected 23rd). Upon some further review, both Day and Mayberry retired with good career numbers in the NBA. What was more impressive in learning more about where they are now is what interesting lives they had led beyond their playing days as good people.
The “Mayday” rebuild is just that- something good that simply never turned the Bucks franchise “great”.
Mayday Rebuild: The 1980’s
To understand the 1992 Bucks you have to understand the Bucks of the 1980’s. Simply put, the Bucks had a really good decade. (Notice the word “good”). They were 517-303 in the 80’s, winning close to 59% of their games. They made, and lost, in the Eastern Conference finals in 1982, 1983, and 1985.
That is really good, but of course as the saying goes, good is the enemy of great and in the 1980’s ,the Bucks never won a ring, nor even made an NBA championship series. The Bulls, Pistons and Celtics all seemed to be a step faster, a inch taller, a little tougher. You won’t see a “30 for 30” on a good team like the 1980’s Milwaukee Bucks teams. They all seemed to lack that identifiable quality that makes something go from good to great. Jay Humphries was a good leader, Alvin Robertson a great defensive guard. The legend of Jack Sikma is still is alive and well on old world 3rd street.
The Bucks had many successful teams in the 1980’s. In keeping with the theme of this series it is hard to “throw shade” at a person who makes it to the NBA, plays professionally, and earns a living from it. It is even harder to disrespect a team that has good players, good coaching (Don Nelson, Del Harris) and win 59% percent of their games. (Sound familiar Packer fans of the last ten years?) In 1992, however, it simply was time to rebuild; a time to try to build something great.
The 1991-1992 Arkansas Razorbacks team was great. Winners of the SEC and loaded with future NBA talent, the only shock in their epic season was a second round NCAA tourney loss to Penny Hardaway and Memphis. (Today Hardaway and Day remain friends.) Those teams featured Todd Day who would break former Buck Sidney Moncrief’s school scoring record. Arkansas also featured a workman-like point guard in Lee Mayberry. Mayberry would go on to play EVERY SINGLE GAME for the Bucks in his four-year stint. All 82 games- four years straight.
Todd Day
Todd Day was selected 8th overall in 1992. Again, as a player who had broken Sidney Moncrief’s college career scoring record, the rangy small forward felt like a perfect pick for the Bucks. In his rookie year Day flashed potential, averaging close to 14 points a game in just 27 minutes per, it seemed clear he could score.
By all accounts Day had a good NBA career, playing from 1992-2000. Day continued playing professionally from 2000-2007. He was traded to the Celtics for Sherman Douglas.
According to a brief look at Twitter and the web, Day appears to have a wonderful family. He was named head coach at Philander Smith College in Little Rock where he has been a head coach for five seasons. The former NBA star is actively involved in his son’s life and playing career. Of course Day remains revered as a Razorback, continuing to be beloved there.
Lee Mayberry
Mayberry played professionally for 7 seasons, arguably having a better career than quite a few people picked in front of him. (Adam Keefe at 9, Harold Miner at 12, and Randy Woods at 16 come to mind.) Mayberry had a “Cal-Ripken-like” run in his four seasons with the Bucks, playing in all 82 games each of the four years.
According to a brief look at social media and the web, it appears Mayberry has also had success as a scout and coach. He went back and coached at Arkansas, finishing his degree in 2014. His five daughters have also appeared to have taken up a love of the game of basketball, some playing professionally themselves
The other picks
For this piece I really did get wrapped up in what happened to Todd Day and Lee Mayberry along with the history of the Bucks in the 1980’s. Unlike other pieces I’ve written re-examining the Bucks’s drafts of 2016
and the Bucks’s drafts of 2014. This one seems clear that it was good. Like, almost as good as it could have gone. I’m not sure you would want to change much.
The Bucks did not have the number one pick (Shaquille O’Neal), nor could you truly argue Robert Horry at pick 11 would have been a substantial upgrade over Todd Day. (Day had a higher career scoring average and spot on similar assists per game, steals per game, and field goal/free throw percentage.) Horry played longer, but for Day, playing 483 games professionally is still quite an accomplishment.
For the Mayberry pick Latrell Sprewell did get picked at pick 24 (one after Mayberry) but I’m just not sure that was the way to go. Again, Mayberry played- a lot- for the Bucks in 4 consecutive 82 game seasons where he played in every contest. Mayberry seemed to have a better overall career than plenty of professionals picked in front of him.
However, the overall goal of the franchise, to move from “good” to “great”, simply did not happen.
In trying to move from a good past in the 1980’s, to a great future in the 1990’s, the Bucks seemed to find themselves stuck again with two good players in Day and Mayberry. For the Milwaukee Bucks it would take until 1994 and the Bucks selection at number 1 of Glenn “Big Dog” Robinson to see a return to greatness like those early 1980’s teams in making an Eastern Conference finals.
It is with that sentiment that I can say “good” sometimes is not the enemy of “great”. Sometimes good is just good. For a “small market” team dealing with cold Wisconsin winters and even colder Wisconsin beers, maybe- just maybe- we shouldn’t discount how good our Milwaukee Bucks have been for as long as they have been. It has been good to be good.
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