The Milwaukee Bucks

So they trade for J.J Reddick. He helps solve their 3 point shooting woes. Basically Mike Dunleavy 2.0. Alright. But they had to give up Tobias Harris, Beno Udrih and Doron Lamb in the process. That is what frustrates me about the Milwaukee Bucks. They are ALWAYS stuck in that in-between level, fighting for that perennial 6th seed.

You see, they are never bad enough to get the #1 draft pick. They are never that good to be a Finals threat. They draft talented young guys, then sign guys like Joel Pryzbilla to play in front of them not letting them mature. Then, they trade their young players who weren't even playing for another mediocre player-- J.J Reddick. This is what almost ended up happening to Larry Sanders. Oh hey, and lets give our masterful GM an extension after all of this. On the bright side, Hammond isn't as bad as Larry Harris was.

Maybe we get lucky. Maybe Ellis denies his option for next year. Maybe we don't resign Reddick this off-season. Maybe we don't resign Jennings this off-season. Maybe we trade Illyasova this off-season to the Nets. Maybe we can finally rebuild. Maybe. But it won't happen.

It has gotten to the point where I don't even care if the team is sent somewhere else. They don't have a rich history here. Par from those first years with Kareem and the Big "O". They don't have a rich present. And if they keep running things the way they do, they won't have a rich future either.

//Rant ended.

Shouldn't this post be merged with "The Living Dead" thread? heh heh heh...

I lost my taste for the NBA product many years ago ... probably about the time the entire flippin' league abandoned defensive play and chose to ignore traveling to accommodate flashy, one-handed slam dunks. Ohhhh... Earl the Pearl, Walt Frazier, Oscar Robertson, John Havlicek, Bill Russell, Wilt, Lew Alcindor, Nate Thurmond, Nate Archibald, Willis Reed, Billy Cunningham ... where have ye gone?

So...how is it fixed? I'm curious as a one-time fan. Do the Bucks need a new deep pockets owner? If the Senator sells the Bucks, it's a given that they'll be moved - I recall when he bought the Bucks...it was to "keep 'em here". I've heard grumbling on TMJ 620 (nothing new there, huh? If it's not one thing...they're grumbling about a different inane thing) about the Bradley Center and it's aging infrastructure. That the Bucks can't afford big time names due to the "amenities" ... you know, the usual schtick when they're trying to get money from the private sector to subsidize... which really, when you come right down to it - is pure crap.

It wasn't lost on me that even the Pack had difficulty getting help renovating Lambeau. THEY however, didn't make their move until AFTER they won Super Bowl 31 and appeared in SB 32. If the Bucks put the product on the court, the fans will show up. They've been happy with mediocrity.

They need a hard cap in the NBA, a few less games, and a few less teams. You have a dozen teams that will never be competitive in the league bc they cant afford to be. Focus on team building with a hard cap and the best front office will win, not the one with the single best player as it seems to be. Its insane that Lebron took a lottery team to the finals.

People who wrote off the NBA are missing some of the best athletes on the planet. Lebron is absolutely amazing. An unbelievable talent.

I vomit when I hear people praise college basketball for being "pure". The NCAA is a scam org that claims its putting the kids first when all they are doing is exploiting them.

I think it could be done with the owner we have. It'd certainly be easier with more money, but Los Angeles is paying luxury tax up the *** this year and still can't get over .500%

No free agent will ever want to go to Milwaukee, Cleveland or Minnesota. It's just the way it is. San Antonio and OKC faced this problem also. You know how they got better? They bottomed out one year, got a high pick and drafted for a number of years extremely well. Milwaukee should take a page out of OKC's playbook.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not asking for a different owner or for a new team. My problem is solely management based.

When Senator Herb Kohl ends his run with the Bucks I wouldn't be surprised if they move to Seattle.

I'm certainly not advocating that "I could not care any less if they weren't around"... we in Wisconsin are something of an anomaly where professional sports teams are concerned. A state of 5.8 million having 3 major league sports franchises ... and there is something about having a major league sports franchise that separates the area from similarly populated areas that don't. There is an old blurb that goes, "Were it not for the Green Bay Packers, Green Bay, Wisconsin would be Fargo." True enough.

I have to say though...prior to beginning the aura that started in 1992 ... no professional athletes wanted to come to Green Bay, WI neither. Now, it's kind of an afterthought. In my opinion, the Bucks need to pay BIG dollars to draw an NBA equivalent of Ron Wolf and let him run the show. I don't pretend to know who that guy is but, that is where they need to start.

Combine the main point of the last two posts above and what do you get? Oklahoma people don't have anything else to root - pro, anyway, so they followed the Thunder as they bottomed out - which might not happen for a half century old franchise. To be more precise, OKC started at the bottom as an expansion team and got that pick to take Durant. Uh ........ does that sound a little bit about the pattern followed by a different team? The Coin Flip heard around the world? That was parlayed into more than two decades of great basketball. I'm afraid, though, that the Bucks couldn't stand a bottoming out now - and remain in Milwaukee - given the sports alternatives we entitled Packer/Badger fans have.

Durrant was drafted by Seattle. They weren't an expansion team per say, but a relocation team.

Yeah, how'd that J.J Reddick trade work out? It's not like I called that or anything.

Usually, I am in the side saying how hard it is to coach or manage a team, that it's easy to be a sofa GM, but to give the REAL GM's a break. Not in this case. I think I could honestly do a better job.

Over/ under on how many playoff games they win this year? I'll put it at 0.5.

About 30 games ago, I bet my son that the Bucks would end with a losing record but probably have a playoff berth. At the time they were like 2-3 games over .500

Went to 2 Bucks games over winter break. Monta Ellis and Brandon Jennings on the same team is just amazing to watch.

New coach coming and again rebuilding.

If by "amazing" you are referring to the combo with the most missed shots in the NBA this year, then yes, amazing.

They are exciting to watch, but not effective.

Any favorite candidate of yours?

No head coaches with any experience want to coach here. No players want to stay here unless we overpay them. Kind of wishing we had Bogut back, at least he worked to try and help Milwaukee's team by buying sections of seats for rowdy teenage fans to spice our crowd up.

We will probably end up with Sampson as coach since he seems like one of the few interested. I don't get it; you'd think finding someone to coach an NBA team would be easier. Guess not. Is Milwaukee really that bad?

LeBron wouldnt consider us. Jerry Sloan wouldn't consider us..