And we’re off.

Draft day begins with a bang for Milwaukee Bucks fans. All week we heard the Bucks were itching to make a move, but not necessarily just dump salary. So that’s how we got here. Milwaukee is bringing in the talented, but volatile, Stephen Jackson along with Shaun Livingston and Beno Udrih and the number 19 pick in today’s draft. Out the door head Corey Maggette and John Salmons (much to the delight of Bucks fans I’m sure).

The salary info:

Over the length of all of the deals involved, the Bucks will save $8,238,357 and the difference between the salaries of the 19 and 10 picks.

But this isn’t just a salary dump.

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He’s the latest chunk of Milwaukee Bucks information floating in the sea of trade rumors.

Chad Ford with the apparently final information on a crazy deal:

Bucks get Beno, Stephen Jackson, Shaun Livingston & 19. Bobcats get pick 7 & Maggette. Kings get 10 & John Salmons.

Whoa … again.

***

Minutes after Gery Woelfel’s tweet on the Bucks and the Kings, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! tweeted the Bobcats would be involved in a three way deal. He’s now updated involving players:

Partial of deal: The Bucks get Stephen Jackson, Shaun Livingston, sources say. Charlotte gets the 7th pick and Corey Maggette.

Whoa.

***

First the Observer, and then this. Gery Woelfel has Tweeted a rather big piece of news:

Bucks appear to have deal with Sacamento for No. 7

No word yet on who is involved or the specifics.

***

Here’s an old one (and by old, I mean I added this and started this page roughly two minutes ago and it’s already irrelevant). This one’s from the Charlotte Observer:

There are definitely serious talks going on between the Charlotte Bobcats and Milwaukee Bucks. Don’t know all the particulars yet, but it sounds like the Bobcats could end with the 10th pick and maybe send No. 19 to Milwaukee.

The article goes on to mention the similarities in the contracts of Corey Maggette and Stephen Jackson. Do with that what you will.

Jeremy Schmidt writes the Milwaukee Bucks blog Bucksketball.com. Follow him on Twitter.

Watching the ebbs and flows of the mock drafts, attempting to figure who will be available when the Milwaukee Bucks pick and trying to match their needs with the best talent available seems like an all encompassing kind of thing. And I’m sure for many, it is. No stone goes unturned during hours of research and preparation. People figure out what they like and don’t like about every prospect that can possibly be available.

Organizations spend thousands of hours scouting, interviewing and preparing for all possibilities. But as a blogger, I don’t have that sort of time. I’m doing my best to keep an eye on things, but I’m not planning for every scenario possible. I don’t research each and every prospect the way I’m sure many do. I haven’t seen grainy video footage of Bismack Biyombo working out in a YMCA in the Senegal. I can’t tell you off the top of my head Alec Burks’s vertical leap. Some things get through the cracks.

That’s why when a reporter friend of mine asked me yesterday to compare Jonas Valanciunas to a current player, I couldn’t offer him an answer. I had to be honest: I had no idea. I never thought a guy who seemed to be a sought after prospect could possibly fall into the Bucks hands in this particular draft.

That’s the thing about European players though. Buyouts can be tricky and things can change awfully quick.

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Before the deconstructing of players and picks began, the Milwaukee Bucks didn’t seem all that interested in many prospects in the 2011 NBA Draft.

Then through some connecting of the dots, needs meeting wants and necessity meeting opportunity, Alec Burks emerged as the favorite to land in Milwaukee with the tenth pick.

And now things are back upside down. Rumors have run rampant all week that the Bucks have been one of the most active teams in the league with regards to trying to move down in the draft. Chad Ford has connected them with Burks, Klay Thompson, Bismack Biyombo, Jonas Valanciunas and Tristan Thompson at various times, while Draft Express has had Milwaukee connected with Marcus Morris for about two weeks.

Things seem up in the air.

The most logical explanation? A lack of separation. Burks, K. Thompson, Jordan Hamilton, and Tyler Honeycutt have all worked out for the Bucks as wing prospects. Tuesday, Milwaukee brought in Marshon Brooks and Chris Singleton. They’ve now worked out six legitimate prospects for their first round selection and don’t seem to have their hearts and minds set on any one of them.

Yes, Alec Burks appears to have the lead, but by this time last year, Larry Sanders could have shut things down — he had the Bucks assurance by the time dessert came around when the team took him out to dinner the night of his workout. Burks got the dinner, but not the promise. As workouts have gone on, Milwaukee has seemed more and more inclined to part with its pick, a sure sign that the team feels it can move down and get a player that has as much of a chance to be a success as the player they would be drafting at number ten. Read more…

The NBA draft’s first round is so passé. All the cool kids hang out until the second round. That’s why Luc Richard Mbah a Moute is still on the Bucks (and still in the NBA mind you) and Joe Alexander isn’t. Ersan Ilyasova was a second round draft choice as well. Keith Bogans is having a successful career as a second round choice of the Bucks. And though his tenure is at an end, Michael Redd is the standard-bearer of Milwaukee Bucks second-round draft picks.

There are more than just rambunctious towel-wavers in the second round. Effective big men, sharp shooters, defensive specialists and slashers can all be found late on draft night. If not, then the team can always just draft a great name like Tiny Gallon,  Moochie Norris, Tito Horford or Winston Garland.

He didn't last long on the Bucks, but who could soon forget Tiny Gallon.

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