MILWAUKEE — John Hammond is encouraged by what he sees as the countdown continues until the June 25 draft.

And the Milwaukee Bucks general manager disputes the notion it’s a weak draft with little difference in quality after the first two or three picks.
“Absolutely not,” Hammond said in a phone interview from Minneapolis, where he was among representatives of 20 National Basketball Association teams attending a workout on Monday. “The rumblings out of Chicago were that this draft may be better than people have anticipated. I feel like we’ll get a good player.”
Hammond and assistant general manager Jeff Weltman are scheduled to be in Minneapolis through Thursday, while Bucks director of player personnel Dave Babcock and director of scouting Billy McKinney are in Oakland for a group workout hosted by the Golden State Warriors.
The Bucks will resume their own workouts of prospects Friday at the Cousins Center.
Due to the Bucks’ difficult financial situation, landing a player who can lend some immediate help is critical. Milwaukee is facing the possible loss this summer of restricted free agent forward Charlie Villanueva and restricted free agent guard Ramon Sessions.
A number of talented point guards are vying for position in the draft, including UCLA’s Jrue Holiday, Syracuse’s Jonny Flynn, Davidson’s Stephen Curry and North Carolina’s Ty Lawson.
Spanish point guard Ricky Rubio could be selected in the top five, and he is expected to meet with representatives from several NBA teams at the Reebok Eurocamp in Treviso, Italy, from Saturday through next Monday.
Hammond said it is important to let the draft process play out and gather information at each step along the way. The process actually began last fall and continued as Bucks officials scouted regular-season college games and the NCAA tournament.
It moved on to Chicago for the NBA draft combine last week, where players participated in on-court drills and had official measurements taken.
At each point, a player’s stock can rise or fall.
“We found ourselves doing that a little bit, even in Chicago,” Hammond said. “We’d say, ’We like this guy a little more.’ But we know this is part of the ebbs and flows, and there’s no finality until draft day.”
Hammond said he thought the interviewing process in Chicago proved beneficial. Each team was allowed a maximum of 18 player interviews, each lasting a maximum of 30 minutes, and the league monitored the process.
Hammond, Weltman, McKinney, Babcock and coach Scott Skiles sat in on the interviews and in some cases asked very direct questions of the draft prospects.
“It’s kind of interesting to see some of the younger players, 18- and 19-year-olds, in front of an NBA general manager and head coach,” Hammond said. “For some players it was more general, but in some cases there were very pertinent questions about their (college) season or what makes them tick, what motivates them.”
Hammond said he expected to learn more in the next few days in Minnesota.
“It’s an opportunity to see players do individual work, get on the floor and compete in 1-on-1, 2-on-2 and 3-on-3 situations,” he said. “You come to an event like this and see players who may not come in to work at your site.”
Working out at the Minnesota Timberwolves’ practice facility Monday morning were Southern Cal guard Daniel Hackett, Ohio State center B.J. Mullens, Utah center Luke Nevill, North Carolina guard Danny Green, Syracuse guard Eric Devendorf and Israeli forward Omri Casspi.