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Milwaukee Bucks

The Bucks GM's mail bounced so Knicks GM, Bill Tarr, was kind enough to take over at the last minute (A special thanks to Bill).  The Bucks select:

Jared Jeffries, SF, 6'10", Indiana

I - Personnel Changes

FA Signings

Anthony Mason

Greg Anthony (midseason)


II - Season Recap

There are twelve teams in the NBA who finished at or below .500 in the standings last year. Quite a few of those teams were justifiably happy with their improvements, or resigned to rebuilding while they mine the lottery. The Bucks with a 41-41 record, falling one win short of the playoffs are not one of those teams who could be content with their finish.

Milwaukee has three legitimate star players, in Ray Allen, Glenn Robinson, and Sam Cassell, all in the prime of their careers. Add to the mix strong role players like Anthony Mason, Tim Thomas, and Michael Redd, and you have what is arguably the deepest roster in the Eastern Conference. They also have a "star" coach in George Karl, with plenty of experience in getting teams into the playoffs, and at least some success in the playoffs themselves. None of these factors would lead you to believe this is a .500 team. In fact, many publications had selected the Bucks are the pre-season favorites to win a weak Eastern Conference.

So what went wrong? I guess you start with Defense, where the Bucks were the 8th worst team allowing 97.7 ppg to oppenents ( they were the 8th best offensively scoring 97.5ppg), 9th worst in steals with 7.3 per game. Throw poor rebounding into the mix ( 7th worst with 41.4rpg)... oh, and bad team chemistry. Bad Chemistry?? Didn't we already anoint George Karl a "star" coach, wouldn't he have the answers to any chemistry problems? In short, no.

Even George Karl can only provide one ball to play with, and so many shots per game for each player. By the midpoint of the season, newly acquired Anthony Mason was already unhappy with his role. The entire team had tired of listening to Karl rant about heart and the need to play defense. Karl was ripping his team in public, threatening trades and the guaranteed export of one of his star players.

The team lost their heart, and ended the season losing 9 of their last 12 games, allowing both Toronto and Indiana to slip by them into the playoffs. The Bucks headed home to spend the summer thinking about their disappointing season, and who next year could possibly get better.


III - Roster

Modified version from ESPN.com
PLAYER 		POS.	HT.  	WT. 	BORN 
Ray Allen 		SG 	6-5 	205 	Jul. 20, 1975 
Rafer Alston 		PG 	6-2 	173 	Jul. 24, 1976 
Greg Anthony 		PG 	6-1 	180 	Nov. 15, 1967 
Jason Caffey 		PF 	6-8 	260 	Jun. 12, 1973 
Sam Cassell 		PG 	6-3 	185 	Nov. 18, 1969 
Greg Foster 		C 	6-11 	250 	Oct. 3, 1968 
Darvin Ham 		SF 	6-7 	240 	Jul. 23, 1973 
Byron Houston 		SF 	6-5 	250 	Nov. 22, 1969 
Ervin Johnson 		C 	6-11 	255 	Feb. 21, 1967 
Anthony Mason 		PF 	6-8 	255 	Dec. 14, 1966 
Mark Pope 		FC 	6-10 	235 	Sep. 11, 1972  
Joel Przybilla 		C 	7-1 	255 	Oct. 10, 1979 
Michael Redd 		SG 	6-6 	215 	Aug. 24, 1979 
Glenn Robinson 		SF 	6-7 	235 	Jan. 10, 1973 
Tim Thomas 		PF 	6-10 	230 	Feb. 26, 1977 
Stats
Modified version from ESPN.com

NAME

GP

MIN

PTS

OFF

DEF

TOT

AST

STL

BLK

TO

PF

R. Allen

69 

36.6

21.8

1.2

3.3

4.5

3.9 

1.28

0.26

2.3

2.3

G. Robinson

66 

35.5

20.7

1.1

5.1

6.2

2.5 

1.47

0.62

2.6

2.6

S. Cassell

74 

35.2

19.7

0.7

3.5

4.2

6.7 

1.22

0.16

2.4

2.8

T. Thomas

74 

26.9

11.7

0.9

3.2

4.1

1.4 

0.88

0.43

1.7

2.7

M. Redd

67 

21.1

11.4

1.1

2.2

3.3

1.4 

0.63

0.1

0.9

1.4

A. Mason

82 

38.3

9.6

1.5

6.4

7.9

4.2 

0.7

0.27

1.6

2.3

G. Anthony

24 

23

7.2

0.2

1.6

1.8

3.3 

1.17

0.04

1.5

1.8

D. Ham

70 

17.3

4.3

1.3

1.6

2.9

1.0 

0.36

0.53

1.2

2.5

J. Caffey

23 

12.3

4.3

1

1.1

2.2

0.5 

0.17

0.22

0.8

1.7

R. Alston

50 

12

3.5

0.2

1.2

1.4

2.9 

0.64

0.04

0.8

0.8

J. Przybilla

71 

15.9

2.7

1.1

2.9

4

0.3 

0.28

1.66

0.6

2.8

E. Johnson

81 

20.5

2.6

1.8

4

5.8

0.3 

0.46

1.01

0.6

2.7

M. Pope

45 

9.5

1.9

0.4

1.2

1.6

0.4 

0.24

0.24

0.3

1

G. Foster

4

1.2

0

1.3

1.3

0.2 

0

0

0

0.7

 

Salaries and Contracts 
Modified version from ESPN.com

NAME

SALARY

LENGTH

TOTAL VALUE

GUARANTEED

OPTION

Ray Allen

11,250,000

6 yrs.

70,875,000

2005

 

Tim Thomas

9,675,000

6 yrs.

67,632,000

2006

 

Glenn Robinson

8,990,000

11 yrs.

80,150,000

2005

 

Jason Caffey

4,812,000

7 yrs.

33,861,000

2005

 

Anthony Mason

4,538,000

5 yrs.

26,428,000

2006

 

Sam Cassell

4,000,000

6 yrs.

21,000,000

2003

 

Greg Anthony

3,940,000

2 yrs.

7,440,000

2002

2003-x

Ervin Johnson

3,670,000

7 yrs.

20,409,000

2003

 

Greg Foster

1,924,000

3 yrs.

4,545,000

2002

 

Darvin Ham

1,760,000

2 yrs.

3,460,000

2002

 

Joel Przybilla

1,741,000

3 yrs.

5,222,000

2003

2004-x

Rafer Alston

625,000

3 yrs.

1,349,000

2002

 

Mark Pope

591,000

2 yrs.

1,089,000

2002

 

Michael Redd

465,000

2 yrs.

781,000

2002

 

 

IV - Positional Analysis

No lack of talent at any position but Center, but that is ok, the last thing the Bucks need is a player who want to take more shots. Talking about the need for Defense and team players would be beating a dead horse.


V - Coaching/Management

It all begins and ends with George Karl, who got the complete control of the team he wanted when he came to Milwaukee.


VI - Previous drafts

  • 2001 - #52 PF Andre Hudson: Cut out of camp
  • 2000
    • #15 C Jason Collier, Rights traded, with a first-round draft pick, to Houston for draft rights to Joel Przybilla. Not a trade that worked out well for the Bucks, but at least Collier was a bust too. Downside of passing on Turkoglu, Mason, and Richardson.
    • #43 G Michael Redd: Great pick. Redd has become the player a lot of scouts thought he'd be before a bad slide in the draft.
    • #49 PG Jason Hart: Got cut, but actually a decent pick at this point. Hart has shuttled back and forth between the minors and the NBA, and will probably be a decent backup some day
  • 1999 #47 G Galen Young: Never made it.
  • 1998
    • #9 PF Dirk Nowitzki: F Robert Traylor to Milwaukee for the rights to C Dirk Nowitzki and F Pat Garrity. Wow, this is almost too awful to talk about. Traylor was turned into Jason Caffey, Nowitki turned into an All-Star.
    • #19 PF Pat Garrity: F Robert Traylor to Milwaukee for the rights to C Dirk Nowitzki and F Pat Garrity
    • #39 PG Rafer Alson: not bad for the 39th pick to still be around

VII - Your selection

Jared Jeffries - SF Indiana

Player Analysis

Jeffries has shown the commitment to getting stronger, and that is frame is able to handle the extra weight. Could be ready to contribute as a 6th man this year, although you'd prefer to see a more passionate player in that role. You just don't see his kind of talent in 6'10" players very often, so he'll be hard to pass up. Jared is probably somewhat similar to Tim Thomas, which actually may be a good things for the Bucks, giving them a strong position to trade from if they have a need. I was tempted by Chris Jefferies, who possesses many of the qualities the Bucks lack, like passion and defense, but it's just too high a pick for Chris, and you could trade down to around 20 and still have him on the board.

Usenet Analysis

Jeffries is simply the best player available on the board. I've never seen him projected below 11 in any other drafts. At the 13th pick, you take the best value available. I think this could be a Usenet climber pick, I've heard Jared is working out well.


VIII - Other Players considered

Bucks Draft Board
1.Yao Ming - can't teach 7'5", couldn't find 7'5" with 3 point range till Yao.
2.Jay Williams -would love him running point ( ok, who wouldn't? )
3.Drew Gooden - polished front-line with some inside moves, 3pt range
4.Mike Dunleavy - well-rounded star to build around, Bird-like? wow
5.Caron Butler - ready to start, maybe star soon, sure thing is hard to pass up
6.Nene Hilario - word is he's a true center
7.Chris Wilcox - No workouts yet, may hurt status, Shaq-esque at the FT line
9.Dajuan Wagner - Good combo-guard if he falls
10.Qyntel Woods - Amazing scorer, can let him develop if he falls.
11.Nickoloz Tsitishiviv - huge SF, NBA is moving towards guys like this
12.Jared Jeffries - could move up based on new muscle, is he a PF?
13.Curtis Borchardt - would likely contribute immediately
14.Marcus Haislip - shot blockers are good bets to stick around
15.Frank Williams - Could pave way to an eventual Cassell trade?
16.Chris Jeffries - Defensive stopper, Bucks need D
17.Jiri Welsch - would take over for Redd if he leaves as a FA
18.Carlos Boozer - Can start at PF for Bucks now?
19.Kareem Rush -Potential Redd replacement, but too Allen-like.
20.Amare Stoudemire - Projects low on this board, Bucks need help now


IX - Other Moves

We sit anxiously awaiting to see if Karl will break up the big three for the Bucks. I wouldn't rule out a draft day deal, but that would probably be to trade the pick for a veteran player who can help immediately.