Bucks On Paper

Brandon Jennings
Andrew Bogut
Corey Maggette
John Salmons
Chris Douglas-Roberts
Drew Gooden
Ersan Ilyasova
Luc Mbah a Moute
Carlos Delfino
Darnell Jackson
Larry Sanders
Darington Hobson
Tiny Gallon
Michael Redd
FA's: Luke Ridnour
Jerry Stackhouse
Kurt Thomas
Royal Ivey
Primoz Brezec

The General Manager of the year has been staying busy this off-season as the Bucks have been the most active team so far. Giving up nothing(Danny G and Charlie Bell) to obtain Corey Maggette was fantastic. Giving away even less(A second round draft pick next year) for CDR was terrific. Hammond re-signed Delfino and Salmons which was key. Locking up the fish was unexpected by most Bucks fans, but don't you worry, John will always save the day! Signing Drew Gooden was the latest addition and this move will help out the Bucks front court tremendously. Bogut can't do it all and Drew will be a force to reckon with down low.

Take a gander at the names above..........Is that a solid team or what! Michael Redd just informed the public that he might not return until February. How frustrating is this guy? Unbelievable! All the money the Bucks are paying him and for what?! John Hammond has moved past Redd as you can tell by the moves he has made including a plethora of talented wing players. The Bucks frontcourt seems to be solid right now assuming Bogut can make a strong recovery. An issue with the current roster is the backcourt. Brandon Jennings is the floor general. Can he handle playing almost 48 minutes a night? He is young and did average 32.6 minutes last year but a back-up PG deems to be necessary at this point. Luke Ridnour is a great back-up but his future is unclear and not looking optimistic for the Bucks. The Bucks summer league roster has a couple prospects in Antoine Agudio, Paul Delaney, DeMarcus Nelson and Jerry Smith. When I interviewed Mr. Hammond and company last week at the Bradley Center, he made it clear to the media that they are currently in the hunt for a PG. I have faith that he will find a solid player as he has yet to let down the fans and the city of Milwaukee.

Brill's Ponder:

2010/11 Season

Bucks go 50 and 32 and make the playoffs earning the 4th seed.
They will surprise more people and hopefully gain more recognition.
Bango will do a backflip dunk twice the height of last year's stunt.
Bogut will win the MVP.
Jennings will have 3 50+ games and will solidify his premier status.
People will start to call Ersan Mini-Dirk.
Larry Sanders will have one of the best facial dunks of the year.
Skiles will win coach of the year.
Bucks will have one of the best defenses in the league.
Fear the Deer will be a household expression.

On that note:

Let's get this party started !!!

New Faces Will Contribute Towards the Deer Movement

We got a ourselves a Tiger ! I have always wanted a Memphis player on the Bucks. Chris Douglas-Roberts, A.K.A. CDR was one of my favorite Tigers and will be showcasing his skills and passion in a Bucks uniform. John Salmons just opted out of his contract to consider signing on another team and its looking like he will exercise that right. Luke Ridnour is on the ropes and we are trying to keep him, but CDR will only help the Bucks regardless of how things shake out. He is a proven go-getter and is not comfortable playing for a team who won 12 regular season games compared to the Bucks 46 wins. CDR is excited to embark on the Fear the Deer campaign and Milwaukee is happy to have him. He will bring his winning ways from Memphis to the Bucks to strengthen our nucleus of players. Brandon Jennings will have more options to dish the rock off to and can depend on CDR's solid defensed and never taking a play off. I think Skiles is the perfect coach for CDR as he will tell it like it is and expect nothing less than fighting 100% every game. CDR was so excited about transforming into a Buck that he was tweeting like a die-hard Milwaukee Bucks fan cheering on the Deer and everything. The 1 concern CDR brings with him is his Twitter savvyness which could get him in some trouble.

The other fantastic acquisition John Hammond landed this off-season was signing Forward Corey Maggette. Maggette is a solid wing threat with an array of shots in his tool box. He is a seasoned vet but not too old at the age of 30. Last year he averaged 19.8 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists on the Golden State Warriors. Maggette loves the game and knows how to get the job done. Bucks fans will be expecting him to produce similar numbers as John Salmons put up as he tests the open market. He played at Duke in college and this is actually the first time I realized that both pick-ups played for excellent college programs and that will benefit the Bucks tremendously. Are the Bucks going to miss Charlie Bell and Dan Gadzuric? Absolutely not. We essentially gave away nothing to gain something high in value. John Hammond will not hesitate to make his product better, especially if there is nothing to lose !

Picking up Larry Sanders, Darrington Hobson and Tiny Gallon along with acquiring CDR and Maggette is a great step forward. We interviewed Brandon Jennings at Summerfest on Monday and his goal as a Buck next season is to win 50 games and make it past the first round of the playoffs. I don't see those goals too far to reach and I think everyone in the Bucks organization will agree with me.

FTD.

Bucks are a professional team in Milwaukee. Support them.

"The Bucks? I like college basketball but not the NBA." --> Most so-called Wisconsin sports fans would reply to me after initiating a conversation.

Really people?!!!!
The state of Wisconsin has 3 main professional sports teams, and 2 of them reside in Milwaukee. Do you really not like Professional basketball, or is there an underlying issue you have with the league? I have never heard anyone say that they like college football and dislike the NFL..... Come on people! I have come up with 1 possible reason for the lack of Bucks spirit in this state: Wisconsin is not an NBA state.
People love their beer, cheese and brats along with their dosage of Brewers and Packers, with a small side of Marquette and Wisconsin college sports. Desert is an Admirals or Iron game. Bucks have a hard time making it in this rotation surprisingly.
According to a CBS article, the NBA is watched more than college basketball in this country as a whole. Another interesting statistic from this article implies that Green Bay is the biggest NFL city and Wisconsin is the largest NFL state. Does this surprise anyone?
I have the perfect solution: Ship all the NBA haters/NFL lovers up to Green Bay so I don't have to listen to their illogical NBA arguments anymore. The logical non fair-weather fan is more than welcome to remain a citizen in Milwaukee, but the rest of you 1-minded Packer oriented nuts can enjoy your beloved city all year long!
In America we are blessed with a plethora of exciting, engaging and competitive sports to choose from. Not respecting other people's passion is downright cruel and I am asking Wisconsinites to chillax.

What to do with Redd....

Agghhh Redd.
Is he not the Suppan of the Bucks? The Brewers just released Jeff and I think most Bucks fans would like Mr. Hammond to react to the Redd catastrophe with parallel actions.

Michael Redd has done absolutely nothing for the Bucks the last 2 years other than gobble up potential cap room and limit the Bucks from acquiring new players. He has proven, TWICE, that he can not dunk the ball. It saddens me that our #1 guy is having season ending injuries in the last 2 seasons by merely jumping in the air. He is a fantastic shooter when he's hot, but the 1-dimensional aspect to his game is discouraging and stressful.

The Bucks need JOHN SALMONS not Michael Redd. The trio of Jennings, Bogut and Salmons is music to my ears and Redd messes up the whole thing. If Salmons sticks around, there will be zero reasons to keep the washed up Redd around.

I would love to trade Mike to a team who could use his shooting skills, but he is getting older and his MCL/ACL injuries are at the surface of every GM's frontal lobe. Mike Redd's value has plummeted and taken a knee dive in the wrong direction. My sister broke her MCL and ACL and cant play soccer any more; imagine doing it to the same knee twice in 2 years?!

I love you Mike, but your time in the NBA is done. You are cooked well-done, and no one wants what is left on your plate.

Free Agents Galore

The infamous free agent summer comprised of franchise NBA players is amongst us. The unforeseeable and surprisingly good season the Milwaukee Bucks had last season makes fans wonder "What if," when considering personnel adjustments. The pool of fabulous players including the King himself, Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, Amare Stoudamire, Joe Johnson and Ray Allen to list a few would benefit the Bucks without any questions asked. The extremely high caliber of players, along with the massive amounts of money demanded will fall out of reach for the Bucks this summer.

As you can see, The Milwaukee Bucks Depth Chart is quite revealing of what type of players they can keep and sign. The Buck's salary cap is $58-$60 million which doesn't give that much wiggle room when considering signing multi-million dollar players.

Let's focus on what's at hand: The Bucks are planning on continuing to grow and strengthen their team to be a legitimate contender in the Eastern conference and playoffs. They have the 15th pick in this years draft and the dissection of players got under way last week at the Cousins Center. Paul George has been talked about around the city as a potential pick-up and could contribute to the team. He is a 6'9" SG/SF who has massive potential. I think the Bucks should focus on getting a big man to support Bogut because Danny and Primoz don't cut it. At all! Another interesting and fun pick would be Jordan Crawford. At 6'4" and 195 pounds, Mr. Crawford has ridiculous range and a knack for winning and pressure shots. I interviewed him last week at the Cousins Center and he had this to say:


I also wanted you and your friends to have some solid dinner conversation for the next couple of weeks prior to the draft, so sink your eyes into the Bucks Draft History.

Make sure to tune in June 24, 2010 to ESPN to see who your Milwaukee Bucks select!