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Each team in the 2014 NBA draft lottery needs something. OK, some of them need a lot of somethings. The Ball Don't Lie staff takes a look at the biggest positions of need for each team holding a lottery pick, along with the wild-card Charlotte Bobcats Hornets. 1. Milwaukee Bucks (15-67, 25 percent odds of winning No. 1 pick) Everything that could have gone wrong for the Bucks did go wrong this year, from expected centerpiece Larry Sanders' myriad problems through roster-decimating injuries and a total whiff in free agency. Milwaukee is already paying big bucks for Sanders (four years, $44 million), Ersan Ilyasova (two years, $15.8 million) and Zaza Pachulia (two years, $10.4 million) in a crowded frontcourt that also features 2012 lottery pick John Henson, which might make general manager John Hammond reluctant to add yet another piece at the four or five. Then again, there are no set spots on a 15-win team. If Hammond feels comfortable enough with the medical reports on Kansas center Joel Embiid's back, it wouldn't be shocking to see Milwaukee pull the trigger on a long-armed athlete/potential defensive game-changer who's in need of some development work. (The Bucks have a type.) If Embiid's back issues are a deal-breaker, though, Milwaukee could sure use help on the wing. They struggled mightily to find production at the two and three beyond second-year surprise Khris Middleton due to O.J. Mayo's no-show and the inconsistency of still-super-green Greek prospect Giannis Antetokounmpo. Embiid's Jayhawks teammate Andrew Wiggins — perhaps the most physically gifted player in the draft, a jump-out-of-the-gym athlete and explosive finisher with the tools to become a knockdown shooter and a plus defender — would seem to make sense, and could team with Antetokounmpo to give Milwaukee two of the most exciting young players in the league. Imagine that: the Bucks being exciting. – Dan Devine 2. Philadelphia 76ers (19-63, 19.9 percent) Sam Hinkie proved last year that he's willing to take a player with medical concerns, trading All-Star point guard Jrue Holiday to the New Orleans Pelicans for the rights to Kentucky center Nerlens Noel (who missed the entire 2013-14 season rehabilitating a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee) and a top-five-protected 2014 first-round pick. If the GM thinks Philly's medical team can handle the Cameroonian big man's back issues, and that he can team Joel with Noel (it writes itself!) in a Twin Towers-style pairing that could substantially improve a defense that finished 27th in points allowed per possession last year, he won't be dissuaded just because other teams might.
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