Henson and Sanders give the Bucks some youth, but Milwaukee needs some on the perimeter too. (AP Photo/The Miami Herald, Al Diaz)

We also talk about the infamous Larry Sanders/Monta Ellis dispute, potential Bucks coaching candidates and off-season priorities.

Oh and Producer Jeramey obliterates me in the Basketball-Reference Game once again. I hate that game and the day I came up with it.

Sampson at a Rockets playoff shootaround with Kevin McHale. (Photo by Layne Murdoch Jr./NBAE via Getty Images)

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, the Milwaukee Bucks will be interviewing Kelvin Sampson and Nate McMillan about the team’s head coaching job this week:

McMillan and Sampson, a Houston Rocketsassistant, are two of Milwaukee general manager John Hammond’s top candidates for the job, league sources said.

The news on Sampson comes as no surprise. Immediately after, and for quite a while before, Jim Boylan was informed he would not return to Milwaukee, Sampson’s name started to pop up as a candidate for the head job in Milwaukee. He was well regarded as an assistant with the Bucks in his three seasons under Scott Skiles before leaving to take the lead assistant job with the Houston Rockets.

Sampson stepped into the head coaching job for the Rockets this past season when Kevin McHale left the team due to health issues and the eventual death of his daughter  Over that stretch, the Rockets went 7-6.

McMillan was out of the NBA last season after six and a half seasons with the Portland Trailblazers. He was an assistant on the 2006, 2008 and 2012 US Men’s National Team under Mike Krzyzewski. Before those jobs, McMillan was the head coach of the Seattle Sonics for five seasons. His teams have only twice finished higher than 27 in the league in pace. His slow it down style appears to translate into successful defenses, but his points per game allowed really more accurately reflects pace than actual defensive performance. McMillan has never coached a team that’s finished in the top 10 in defensive rating.

McMillan has already interviewed for the Detroit Pistons vacancy. While Sampson is thought to be a candidate for a number of jobs, there have been no reports of him interviewing elsewhere yet, though the Charlotte Bobcats have asked the Rockets for permission to speak with him.

For the Bucks, Larry Sanders is the face of tomorrow, which started yesterday and already looks a lot like last week. (Photo by Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images)

Spoiler alert: I could never be an NBA general manager.

There are tons of reasons. Not smart enough. Lousy at networking. Don’t work hard enough. Generally a grating person to be around for extended periods of time. Poor leader. Not enough basketball experience.

I’m getting a little bummed out, so I’ll just toss one more out. Too honest.

I’m incapable of playing the games necessary to get into public positions. I always knew that, but rarely has that been more clear to me than it was yesterday during and after John Hammond’s press conference discussing the past season and the parting of ways with Jim Boylan.

I know how the game goes. A leader of a team isn’t going to tell everyone that things are bleak and there isn’t a clear solution to getting past that. In a post season press conference, no general manager is going to hold on to bad feelings from the season before. It’s never doom and gloom, it’s only the possibility of a better tomorrow.

When he said, “If you look at our roster, this thing surely is not broke right now,” I understand that, despite a strong season of evidence to the contrary. But he could never say that the roster is riddled with flaws that may or may not be solved this summer. Yeah, the team has Larry Sanders and John Henson, but it’s pretty thin outside of the four and five positions. He can’t say that there’s little hope of Milwaukee acquiring a true impact player, because that would be insane. Facing reality is not what these press conferences are about.

But there are some opportunities to paint a realistic picture of the current situation the team is in and look like you’re serious about getting them out of it. I suppose I mean that there are chances to give hints about what’s really important to the franchise. Chances to say super easy things like, “We want to win a title” or “We’re not satisfied with simply making the playoffs.” These are boilerplate terms that aren’t inspiring, but at least give you the sense that a team has those goals in mind. I couldn’t hear questions during the conference, but at some point, someone must have asked Hammond if he was disappointed with the past season.

“You look at the season and I hate to use, don’t want to use, not going to use words like disappointment. I’m not going to describe our season like that. We made the playoffs. We were heading in the right direction, we just had major slippage in the very end. We didn’t accomplish every goal. We accomplished an important goal.

We got in. And once you get in, you have a chance, but we have to be more consistent in doing that.”

That’s just the craziest thing to me. That’s the kind of talk that makes me wonder why I even bother. What’s the point? When the bar is set so low that this last season could be categorized as anything other than a major disappointment, how do you continue to believe in a franchise? In the sense that this team turned it a performance that largely reflected most realistic expectations before the season, yeah, I suppose this team wasn’t disappointing. But most people predicted they would be the ninth best team in the East and only the Sixers demise prevented that from happening. How is that not disappointing?

I feel like I’m in some bizarre dream where every time I open a door I’m hit in the face with a hammer. I was excited to see this season end and I had hopes that this off-season would bring much needed change in the roster and hopefully a new direction. But if last season isn’t a disappointment, that means it’s acceptable. And if that’s what’s acceptable, that’s what will continue to happen.

38-44. Two coaches, one who may have quit because he knew the team’s limitations. Never more than five games over .500. This is not a disappointment in Milwaukee. I’m not saying it’s categorized as success, but it isn’t categorized as failure.

I just don’t get it. Hammond seems so sharp. He’s such an accountable person and threw blame all over himself for Boylan’s situation. Hammond said it was on him and that when he goes home at night, he thinks about what he’s done wrong, not what everyone else has done wrong. And I totally believe that. There’s no reason to assume Hammond is anything but accountable, intelligent and a smart basketball mind.

But somehow, the organization continues to hop on the treadmill of mediocrity  Hammond said that it’s important for the Bucks that they can control their own destiny to a certain extent when he was talking about the team’s salary structure and number of free agents. It sounds like a great thing, but at this point, I’m pretty terrified of what they want that destiny to look like.

Boylan, after Milwaukee’s final loss of the 2012-13 season. (Photo by Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images)

Head Coach Jim Boylan will not be brought back by the Milwaukee Bucks according to Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:

Jim Boylan is out as Bucks coach, source indicates. He went 22-28 at end of season after replacing Scott Skiles. Bucks will begin search for new coach after five years with Skiles and Boylan leading the staff. Skiles coached four-plus seasons in Mke.

The news is about as unsurprising as news can get, as Milwaukee was unceremoniously swept in four games against the Miami Heat in the first round of the playoffs after a decidedly mediocre season under initially Scott Skiles and then Boylan.

Skiles took Milwaukee’s head coaching job in 2008 after a 26-56 season under Larry Krystowiak. The next coach will be the third brought on by John Hammond, who reportedly received a three-year extension shortly after Skiles and the team parted ways.

Hammond’s comments on the situation, per a press release by the team:

“At this time we feel it’s in the best interest of the organization to seek a new coach to lead our team,” said Hammond. “We appreciate Jim’s efforts not only in his time as head coach, but in his entire tenure as a coach in Milwaukee. On behalf of the Bucks organization, I thank Jim for his five years here and his many contributions on and off the court. We wish Jim and his wife, Jane, the best.”

An unhappy Brandon Jennings sits on the bench, probably thinking about the waves of defenders Miami sent at him. (AP Photo/Aaron Gash)

Another game against the Miami Heat, another rough night for Brandon Jennings and Monta Ellis.

Milwaukee’s diminutive guards are capable of impressive nights. Nights filled with highlight reel fast breaks, long threes, flashy passes and swaggy celebrations. At their very best, they’re fast, capable of creating turnovers and impressive scorers.

At their worst, Jennings and Ellis still make an impact, just not a positive one. They can be corralled, forced away from the hoop and turned into spot-up shooters that aren’t very good at shooting.

Welcome to game three.

From the outset, Miami made one thing clear: We’re going to throw intense pressure at Monta Ellis and Brandon Jennings. Set a screen for them? We’re commiting both defenders to whichever one of them is handling the ball. We’ll make them give it up to someone near them, because they aren’t going to be able to pass over our sizable  athletic defenders. Example one comes in the first quarter:

After a Larry Sanders screen, Ellis found himself facing two Heat defenders, with a difficult angle to find the only open Bucks player on the court, Luc Mbah a Moute in the right corner.

Bucks coach Jim Boylan addressed a question about Miami’s trapping and aggressive defense in the post game.

“One of the problems that we have is our size in the back court,” he said. “We’re not a big team. So when they’re out there trapping and staying with the ball handler like that, they put a lot of pressure on you first of all. Secondly they have good size. So it’s easy for me to stand up here or in the huddle and say, “We’ve got to make a quick pass we’ve got to move that ball we’ve got to take advantage of their double teaming.”

“Sometimes it’s hard to do. And they’re flooding the strong side and cutting off passing angles. That makes it difficult to find the right man, the open man, with a quick pas. It’s usually a cross court type of pass and those are always dangerous because of their speed and activity  That bothered us tonight.”

Another Sanders screen, another terrible angle for a Bucks guard. Jennings was forced away from the hoop and you can actually see him backpedaling here. As Boylan noted, his size doesn’t give him much opportunity to see over Chalmers and Haslem.

But it’s not just Milwaukee’s size that proved an issue. The Bucks were often left unable to exploit mismatches because of talent deficiencies. Whether it was Ekpe Udoh matched up with a smaller player inside or an open Luc Mbah a Moute on the wing, the Bucks often couldn’t exploit opportunities because the players in position to do so just weren’t very good.

Here, after another screen, this one by Ekpe Udoh who immediately got to the post, Chris Andersen completely abandoned his assignment to provide help. Miami overloaded heavy on the strong side and figured the short clock and their size/speed would make things tough for Jennings. This play ended with a Jennings pass, 15-feet over the head of Dunleavy in the corner.

After an Ilyasova screen, James and Chalmers chase Jennings away from the hoop once again. When James sprints back, he doesn’t even bother with Ilyasova, as Wade has already picked him up. Miami’s size and speed again make matching up no issue for them, regardless of what switch needs to happen. And they weren’t at all concerned about who ended up on Mbah a Moute.

Jennings is once again met with a hard hedge, this time from Haslem again, before he passed out to Ellis. Technically, the Bucks with some quick passing could have exploited Miami’s aggressiveness, as Wade is deep into the paint, sagging far off Mbah a Moute. A quick pass and swing to Mbah a Moute could have given Milwaukee an open three. But Luc doesn’t provide much of a threat and Miami doesn’t treat him as if he does.

Can the Bucks counter in game four? Maybe. They’ll have to be clever and quick and execute as well as they have all season long. In the first quarter, when Milwaukee was moving the ball fast and hitting three point looks they were getting, it looked like it was possible. But the game goes for 48 minutes. So far, the Bucks have shown they can execute on par or even better than the Heat for roughly 24-30 minutes. After that, the Heat take over.

There’s little reason to believe game four will be any different.

It’s been a tough series and season for Marquis Daniels production. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

It’s hard to dislike Marquis Daniels. He’s the kind of veteran basketball player that you want to have in your locker room, the kind of guy who can help guide and develop young players. Plus he has this sweet van. That being said, it’s about time for him to stop playing significant minutes for the Bucks. Especially in this playoff series against the Heat.

At the beginning of the year, Jeremy wrote a generally positive analysis of the Bucks’ signing Marquis Daniels and he was right. Signing a veteran guy like Marquis on a cheap one-year deal was, on paper and at the time, a low-risk move for the Bucks to make. At 6’6, Daniels provided flexibility and a reputation for good defense for a young team that needed both of those and a veteran presence in the locker room.

The Daniels experience hasn’t been that bad if you focus on his statistics. He came off of the bench to spell Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, played some defense, and provided a nice surprise when he scored a couple of baskets. Over one crazy week in December, he even scored in double digits in 5 out of 6 games. For the regular season, he averaged 5.5 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 1.1 assist in 18.4 minutes per game. Not outstanding (or frankly, even average) numbers, but reasonable enough for a defensive specialist off the bench.

But when he becomes more than a defensive specialist off the bench, things get kind of ugly.

The Bucks have not fared well with Marquis on the floor this year. According to NBA.com, he plays in 4 of the Bucks’ 5 worst 5-man lineups (by +/-),  3/5 of the worst 4-man lineups, and 3/5 of the worst 3-man lineups,. Things get even better when looking at two-man pairs, where 9 out of the 10 most common pairs featuring Daniels are negative for the year. With Marquis on the floor, the Bucks had a miserable 96.1 offensive rating, well below the team average (100.9) and one that would be good for dead last in the league. Milwaukee’s defensive rating was better with him on the court versus off (99.9 compared to 102.3), but not good enough to cover the offensive void that opens up whenever he steps onto the court.

This point was illustrated pretty clearly at the beginning of the fourth quarter in Tuesday’s Game 2 loss to the Heat when the Bucks rolled with a lineup featuring ‘Quis at the power forward position, Mike Dunleavy at small forward, and Ekpe Udoh at center (plus, inexplicably, Ish Smith at point guard. That’s a discussion for a different post though). That’s the lineup that the Heat went on a 12-0 run against to put the game out of reach. Daniels has had issues successfully playing the three this season, while seeing only a few minutes here and there at the four. Tossing him into the fire at the four on Tuesday was a complete disaster.

As Chris Andersen caught a pass inside and prepped for a dunk, Daniels gave a cursory effort to stop him.

Andersen and the rest of the Heat were too much for Milwaukee inside. They were too strong and easily moved Daniels out of the way on the offensive glass.

Daniels absorbed a blow from LeBron James on an offensive board and couldn’t get back in time to impact the play before a pass led to an Andersen dunk.

Aside from struggling as a rebounder, which was to be expected, Daniels couldn’t provide much as a back line defender.

As Andersen cut through the lane later in the possession referenced first above  Daniels couldn’t provide much of a challenge in support of Larry Sanders.

On the other end, the extent of Daniels’ contribution on offense was to stand in the corner waving his arm and perhaps make a few weak cuts under the basket. At a time when the Bucks’ offense was stagnant for several reasons, he provided virtually nothing.

Not that he should be expected to, which brings us to the final point.

It’s difficult to come to a conclusion about who should play when Mbah a Moute needs a breather. The Bucks simply don’t have another player who can successfully defend the small forward position (much less LeBron James) without LARRY SANDERS! protecting the paint.

But the Bucks’ strength is in their stable of power forwards and it seems as though the Udoh-Henson-SANDERS!-Dalembert-Ayon-Ilyasova amalgamation should produce some combination of power forward and center that allows the Bucks to play Dunleavy at small forward without being too concerned at their defensive inability. Additionally, both Ersan and Mike have the ability to spread the floor with their shooting ability, which SHOULD (key word) help a wildly inconsistent offense find a foothold against a tough defense like Miami’s.

I don’t mean to say that Marquis Daniels is a bad basketball player. In fact, I’m probably higher on him as a defender off the bench than most are. But if the Bucks want to steal a game or two against the Heat in this playoff series, Jim Boylan should probably keep Daniels on the bench and out of rotations during crucial minutes.

Milwaukee got much more out of Larry Sanders Tuesday, but that wasn’t enough. (Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images)

Milwaukee Bucks

86

Final Recap | Box Score

98

Miami Heat

	Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, PF 33 MIN | 3-7 FG | 0-2 FT | 1 REB | 2 AST | 2 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 6 PTS | -6Milwaukee did a better job dealing with LeBron James on Tuesday night and as always, that starts with Luc Mbah a Moute. Before the series started I suspected Milwaukee’s defensive specialist would have to play 30 minutes a night, but there was a good part of me that hoped I wasn’t right. So far, I’ve been right. Terrifyingly right, when it comes to Luc. He’s important, but considering how much of a team effort it is to defend James, that’s a lot of four on five on offense the Bucks are playing out there. He’s not killing them on offense, but he’s more or less just hanging out in the corner, not a real threat most of the time. The Heat aren’t playing off of him to the extent that it’s changing every play, but the Bucks desperately need more offense.
	Ersan Ilyasova, SF 29 MIN | 9-14 FG | 1-1 FT | 6 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 21 PTS | +5He established himself early and looked far more comfortable in game two than in game one. The Heat are always going to make Ersan put the ball on the ground and make a move off the dribble if they can. They realize that Ers is a deadly shooter and a mediocre creator. To Milwaukee’s credit and Ersan’s credit, he was moving around a ton all night. The Bucks weren’t just relying on him popping out after screens or filling back to the perimeter while action was else where, he was cutting towards the hoop more than ever adn generally very active off the ball. The Bucks countered Miami’s defensive moves on Ers in game one well. But only getting your most productive offensive player out there for 29 minutes seems like a problem.
	Larry Sanders, C 28 MIN | 6-7 FG | 2-4 FT | 6 REB | 2 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 5 TO | 14 PTS | 0Way more typical Larry. 4-of-4 within five feet. A dunk, a couple short hooks that he was able to drop in. He was much more natural and, for whatever reason, had far more space to operate. Miami seemed pretty aggressive in trapping on pick and rolls, which gave Sanders room to get to the basket or take open jumpers. He obliged and finished well.
	Monta Ellis, PG 34 MIN | 2-7 FG | 3-4 FT | 4 REB | 5 AST | 2 STL | 1 BLK | 4 TO | 7 PTS | -5Given how ineffective Jennings was, I’m moderately surprised that Boylan didn’t end up running with the Ellis-Redick back court really. But you never know when either Jennings or Ellis is going to start to get going. It was surprising to see Ellis so restrained, but it was pretty clear that Miami put an emphasis on cutting off any lanes he had with extra defenders looming.
	Brandon Jennings, PG 41 MIN | 3-15 FG | 2-4 FT | 3 REB | 5 AST | 2 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 8 PTS | -15Very disappointing. Milwaukee needs four or five threes out of Jennings at minimum. He got looks that were good enough and wasn’t really forcing the issue, but the results weren’t there. This is a results business and he didn’t deliver. The first two games of this series are pretty much perfect for Jennings. Game one: get hopes up with strong performance. Game two: lay a complete egg. Game three: no one knows what to expect.
	Mike Dunleavy, SF 25 MIN | 6-9 FG | 2-2 FT | 6 REB | 5 AST | 2 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 16 PTS | -12Didn’t play at all in the first quarter? Seemed very strange, especially with Daniels, Redick and Henson getting some burn. Dunleavy helped spark an 8-0 Bucks run in the second quarter that saw them briefly take a 35-33 lead. Every moment he’s on the bench and Daniels is on the court drives me insane. Also, lineups with both of them, crazy.
	Marquis Daniels, SF 15 MIN | 4-6 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 2 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 8 PTS | -15Made some shots at the hoop, generally looked more effective, was apart of Milwaukee’s worst lineups on the night, but that’s probably more Boylan than Daniels. I still don’t think he should take any minutes away from Dunleavy … or Ilyasova for that matter. He played the first five minutes of the fourth quarter as Milwaukee’s power forward. Over that stretch, the Bucks allowed six offensive rebounds and saw a 68-65 Heat lead turn into a 83-69 Heat lead.
	J.J. Redick, SG 8 MIN | 1-1 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 2 PTS | -3With Ellis and Jennings both logging big minutes and the Heat generally being a larger team on the wing, the stock of the Harris-Redick trade was at an all-time low Tuesday night. Just eight minutes for Milwaukee’s prized mid-season acquisition. We’ve still yet to see a Jennings-Ellis-Redick lineup in this series, which has to have something to do with either the total ineffectiveness of those lineups over the regular season or the impracticality of playing three small guards against the Heat at once. But if Redick can’t play the three, there really aren’t many minutes available if the Bucks are completely tied into the idea of Jennings suddenly getting hot, which they probably are.
	Samuel Dalembert, C DNP COACH’S DECISION MIN | FG | FT | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PTS | No word on whether or not he left Miami with a lease signed.
	Jim BoylanAgain: Marquis Daniels started the fourth quarter as Milwaukee’s power forward. In a lineup that included Ish Smith. I like Ish, but there’s a time and a place for everyone and Tuesday was neither for him. Milwaukee has been so bad on offense, they needed some kind of punch so badly, but going to Ish instead of sitting Jennings for Redick was questionable. I think the idea behind it was driven by Ish’s speed and athleticism, two things Redick lacks, but Milwaukee needs some threes, Jim.

Three Things We Saw

1. It’s very difficult to see what Milwaukee is capable of doing better, outside of making more threes and shooting better on free throws (10-17 at the line). Doing those two things and playing exactly as well as they did on Tuesday would make for an interesting game three, especially with a loud Bradley Center crowd.
2. It seemed like LeBron James was more or less coasting through the game. I can’t tell if that’s because Milwaukee worked hard to remove him or if he just decided to take it easy on Tuesaday night and let Chris Andersen do the heavy lifting. Wait … what? Andersen was a difference maker again. His offensive rebounding early in the fourth and attacks to the rim swung the game for Miami and made a nail-biter into a junior blowout.
3. As much as I think Milwaukee’s shooting could come around … I’m equally as certain Miami’s will too. The Heat made just six of 19 three-point attempts and Ray Allen missed one open three after the next. I think he might stop doing that eventually. That’d be trouble.

(Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images)

Despite a fun campaign worthy of his very strong season, Larry Sanders was not voted the NBA’s Most Improved player for the 2012-13 season. He lost out on one of the two awards many were pushing for him to get serious consideration for to another member of his draft class, Indiana Pacers forward Paul George. Sanders finished third in the voting behind George and New Orleans point guard Greivis Vasquez. Sanders received 10 first place votes.

Sanders improved dramatically from his second season in the lockout shortened 2011-12 season to this past one. He saw his points per game average improved from 3.6 to 9.8, rebounds per game from 3.1 to 9.5 and blocks per game from 1.5 to 2.8.

The increases owe largely to Sanders’ sheer improved ability to stay on the court. How did he manage so much more court time? Two things stood out.

1. Sanders stopped fouling everyone ever

Per 36 minutes in 2011-12, Sanders averaged 7.4 fouls. He could have fouled out and then some on a nightly basis if the Bucks would have let him. He was often out of position and far too aggressive in making up for it. Sanders fouls knew no bounds – he slapped at guards on the perimeter, ran into big men inside and hacked everyone else in between.

Things seemed to bottom out when Sanders found himself fouling out of summer league games that allowed for 10 fouls against players with significantly less if any NBA experience.

Yet by the time training camp and pre-season rolled around, Sanders was a changed man. A man in much more control of himself on the court. Not necessarily his emotions, but certainly of his body and the speed at which it moved. Once Sanders corralled his immense physical gifts, he was able to improve dramatically at avoiding fouls, silly and otherwise.

2. Sanders played significantly better

Simple enough: Milwaukee couldn’t afford to take Larry Sanders off the court very often this season. He became one of the league’s finest defenders, was a monster rebounder and one of Milwaukee’s most consistent finishers at the rim, once he figured out that sprinting to the rim was a much better offensive strategy than hanging back and waiting to launch jumpers.

The simplest way to explain his impact is using his on court / off court splits. With Sanders on the court, a decidedly mediocre Bucks team averaged 104 points per 100 possessions and allowed 103 points per 100 possessions. With him off it? 105 and 109.2. He was a net positive of 5.1 points per 100 possessions for the Bucks. He turned a bad team into a mediocre one for 27.3 minutes per night, pretty much every night.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough for him to win Most Improved player. George went from reliable starter for the Pacers to full fledged All-Star and the team’s cornerstone. He followed up a terrific regular season with a triple double in Indiana’s game one throttling of the Hawks.

Sanders will just have to settle for being very improved, very important and very much a bright spot in the otherwise cloudy future of the Bucks.

Rough year for Sam D. (Photo by Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images)

The Miami Heat are a super cool team to watch (unless they are destroying the team you root for. So much talent, so much opportunity for big men. Joel Anthony has thrived there. Chris Andersen pretty much came back from an NBA grave to flourish in the second half this season. Playing with LeBron James and Dwyane Wade is the kind of thing big men live for.

So why wouldn’t Samuel Dalembert be interested in joining the Heat when he’s a free agent next off-season?

That’s all well and good, but there’s a time and a place for everything, Sam. And I don’t  think the playoffs, specifically playoff games IN MIAMI WHILE PLAYING FOR THE OPPOSITION are the time to address questions as to whether or not you’d be interested in playing for the Heat next season:

“The Heat will be definitely an option,’’ Dalembert told FOX Sports Florida before his Bucks lost to the Heat 110-87 in Game 1 of an Eastern Conference first-round series Sunday night at American Airlines Arena. “It’s up to them and seeing what’s going to be out there. But at this point you want to be with a contending team. You don’t want to go backwards, so you want to chase that promised land.’’

Pretty hilarious timing. If people were upset about Brandon Jennings predicting the Bucks would win a couple games, imagine how they’ll feel about a guy saying he’d be interested in playing for the other team next season.

It’s been a wildly unsatisfactory season for Dalembert. He never had a DNP-CD before this season and he’s practically drown in a sea of them. It appeared for a while that Jim Boylan would toss him a life preserver, he even played enough to toss in 35 points and grab 12 rebounds in Denver one night, but eventually he returned to a now vaguely familiar role on the end of the bench.

Worth noting, with some sadness at this point, Milwaukee likely could have moved Dalembert for some sort of spare part, maybe a second round pick or a guard or something, though I’m just speculating, at the trade deadline. They opted to hold onto him.

There’s a variety of reasons he’s had trouble getting minutes this season, but whatever they may be, however frustrated he may be with the Bucks organization, there’s rarely a better answer to a question about playing for the other team in your playoff series than: “No comment.”