The Bucks' biggest needs for next season will be at point guard and power forward. Even so, general manager John Hammond emphasized that - barring a trade - when it came time for the team to exercise its 10th pick in the first round on Thursday, the Bucks would choose the player rated highest on their draft board regardless of position.

"We'll take the best player, in our eyes," Hammond said at a draft-related news conference Thursday at the team's Cousins Center practice facility. "We're not married to a position to that extent. And it wouldn't have to necessarily be a point guard or a power forward. If it were a wing player or any other position, I think we still might have to say, this is the best player and we take the best player and deal with it accordingly."

Because there is a good chance the Bucks will lose power forward Charlie Villanueva and point guard Ramon Sessions through free agency this summer, it has been widely speculated that the Bucks might draft to fill a need at one of those positions.

This draft is loaded with high-quality point-guard prospects, with several being projected as top-10 picks. Among the power forwards, the Bucks seemed to like Pittsburgh's DeJuan Blair when he worked out for them recently and it's possible that Arizona's Jordan Hill could fall to them at 10 if many of the point guards move up into the top nine. So there's a good chance the Bucks would be able to draft to fill a need if they so desired.

But what if a player such as swing man Demar DeRozan of Southern California or shooting guard Tyreke Evans of Memphis, both now being projected as top-nine picks, should somehow fall to the Bucks at 10? Hammond indicated that if the Bucks had them rated higher than any of the point guards or power forwards who were still available, they would take a shooting guard or small forward even if they don't have a glaring need at those positions.

"When we look at the draft, I don't think we have to look at our issues regarding our free agency as much as to say going in that we're going to take the best player on the board and then secondarily the need," Hammond said. "With this draft, just by chance, (our pick could be) one of those positions, maybe the power forward or point-guard spot. But at the end of the day, I think we're probably going to end up taking with the 10th pick the best player on the board. And, it could fill a need for us, too."

According to Hammond, the Bucks will be keeping all of their options open going into the draft, and that includes a trade to move either up or down in the selection order. There is already chatter about Memphis, Minnesota and Washington - all teams with top-six picks - wanting to make deals, but Hammond said trading up was risky because of the uncertain nature of this draft other than with Oklahoma forward Blake Griffin, who is expected to go No. 1 to the Los Angeles Clippers.

"The only uncertainty about moving up, and I'm not saying we wouldn't have an interest in doing something like that, but it's the uncertainty of who is actually is going to be there," Hammond said. "It's hard to say in this draft. You can look at No. 1 and I think everybody has a consensus on that. But when you start going two, three, four and five, there's some uncertainty exactly what you're going to get in those spots. I think it's a good draft. Years down the line, I think people are going to look back and say, 'Hey, it was a good draft and there were good players in this draft.' But it's still much more uncertain than most."

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