The Milwaukee Bucks have showed steady signs of progress so far in the 2008-2009 season, there is no doubt. At 3-3, it's easy to get a little excited about where they're at.
But it isn't quite time to talk playoffs yet.
The Bucks have beaten the Oklahoma City Outlaws, I mean Thunder. (Don't you think Outlaws sounds a lot better?), who might have a chance to win 20 games. They've beaten the Knicks who are nowhere near what you'd call contenders and they've beaten the "Agent Zeroless" Washington Wizards who stand as one of the only two winless teams in the NBA. The other is the Clippers. Not exactly a who's who of NBA Championship contenders.
They played one of those NBA contenders tonight when they traveled to Boston to face the Celtics. The Bucks stayed with them for the first 16 minutes, thanks in large part to a 14 point first quarter by Richard Jefferson, but the Celtics pretty much coasted past them without much effort.
The Bucks have also played two teams with legitimate playoff chances, the Bulls and the Raptors and were turned away by both. They certainly had their moments in both of those games, especially a spirited comeback against the Raptors, led by Andrew Bogut, but eventually the Bucks were outlasted by tougher, more seasoned basketball teams.
They are definitely ahead of where they were last year at this time. You can tell it by the intensity and the defensive effort, but with a brutal schedule over the next couple weeks (vs. Phoenix, @ Cleveland, vs. San Antonio, @ Memphis, vs. Boston, @ Denver, and @ Utah), their record might not be much different when the dust settles.
Michael Redd Trade Ideas
I have a feelings that a good majority of my Bucks thoughts this winter are going to begin and end with trading Michael Redd. Here are a couple of ideas. I included contract numbers where it was important.
Milwaukee trades:
SG Michael Redd (15.78 mil/year for 3 years)
PG Damon Jones (expiring contract 4.46 mil)
Trade Exception on Mo Williams
New York Knicks trades:
PG Stephon Marbury (expiring contract 20.8 mil)
PF David Lee (expiring contract 1.78 mil)
The key to that trade is the Bucks ability to sign David Lee to an extension. He averaged around 10 points and 10 rebounds a year for the past 3 years while playing only 25-30 minutes a game.
The Bucks would create cap space and get a possible replacement for Charlie Villanueva when he leaves via free agency. Unless I decide to trade him later this year.
Why would the Knicks do it? Number one, you get Stephon Marbury out of your hair. Not only do you jettison a guy who doesn't want to be there, but you get to do it while acquiring an All-Star shooting guard. With he, Duhan and Jamal Crawford in the backcourt, Mike D'Antoni's offense is starting to look possible to run. The lose the athletic Lee, but you might lose him at season's end anyway. (Why wouldn't a young guy want to leave the Knicks?) The also have Wilson Chandler, Danillo Gallinari and Mardy Collins developing on the wings to go along with that backcourt. Zach Randolph becomes more dangerous with a shooter like Redd on the perimeter and if Eddy Curry ever gets out of the doghouse to play center again, the Knicks start to look credible again. They also have Jerome James and Malik Allen's contracts coming off the books this off-season (14 million total). The following year, they would have Curry and Richardson's contract gone and now the cap space to bring in LBJ. It would be much more convincing for him to come in to a situation with an established point guard (Duhan), a shooter he's destined to play with (Redd) and a big man who has had three years of development (Gallinari).
Call John Hammond. Get it moving
The other trade idea I have is a really intriguing one.
Milwaukee trades:
SG Michael Redd
PF Charlie Villanueva
Miami trades:
SF Shawn Marion
SG Daquan Cook
1st Round Draft Pick
The Bucks would do this trade with no intention of resigning Shawn Marion. His 17.8 million would come off the books after this year, and he can play the 3/4 while Alexander and Mbah a' Moute develop. Daquan Cook is a young player with a great shooting touch who would be given a chance to play the 2 with Charlie Bell. The first round pick might be wishful thinking on my part, but Michael Redd is an All-Star with game changing ability so I feel like the Bucks need something more out of the deal than cap space and a talented, but young shooting guard project. Some people might not like the inclusion of Charlie V, but I think that might seal the deal of getting the first round pick. The Bucks would have the money to go after a veteran 4 man next summer and two first round picks to acquire more talent or use as trade bait in the summer. Sounds promising.
Why would the Heat do it? Because putting Michael Redd on the floor with Dwayne Wade makes them tough to guard on the perimeter. Especially if Michael Beasley is what he is projected to be. And there's no reason to believe he won't be. Mario Chalmers looks to be a second round steal at the point guard and Mark Blount is a serviceable big man for now. (He's no worse than Kendrick Perkins was for the Celtics last year). Talk about a big three in Redd, Wade and Beasley. Teaming Villanueva on the Heat second unit with Marcus Banks, James Jones and Udanis Haslem provides a bench with some punch for the Heat.
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4 comments:
I am not a fan of Stephon Marbury. I hate to use a cliche here, but he's a cancer to the lockroom. Plus he's thug life. What about a Rasheed Wallace? His contract is set to expire too. That could be a straight up trade, perhaps a draft pick of 2nd or 3rd rounds with Wallace. Imagine having Bogut and Wallace out there at the same time. Hell, even Villenueva would look with those two.
I was talking about trading Redd in my previous comment.
I don't think the idea of the trade would be about acquiring Marbury as much as acquiring the cap room. At some point, he's got to play and earn a contract opportunity somewhere.
a contract year Marbury could be a dangerous Marbury. Or, more realistically, he would be released, or bought out because he wanted want to play in Milwaukee.
As far as Wallace. The Pistons are going for it this year with the trade for Iverson and they just resigned Hamilton for 3 more years so it doesn't make sense for them to take on Redd.
I love the idea of getting rid of Redd, he hasn't done anything in Milwaukee in terms of winning and that's what you need out of your go to guy. Let Jefferson and Bogut run the team, run Redd out of town.
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