Former Milwaukee Bucks forward Armen Gilliam died playing pick-up basketball Tuesday night at age 47.

Gilliam joined the Bucks in August of 1996 as the team searched for a front court mate to pair with blossoming prospect Vin Baker. Coming off a season during which he emerged from the shadow of Derrick Coleman in New Jersey and averaged better than 18 points and nine rebounds, Gilliam appeared a perfect fit.

But Gilliam struggled to earn consistent playing time under Coach Chris Ford. “The Hammer”, as he was known, bounced in and out of the starting lineup and his minutes fluctuated from game to game. He averaged just 8.6 points and 6.2 rebounds in his first season as a Buck as the team struggled to a 33-49 record.

After two more seasons as a role player in Milwaukee, Gilliam played one more season for the Utah Jazz before retiring from the NBA.

Gilliam finished his career with averages of 13.7 points and 6.9 rebounds per game.

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

Starting at 12:30 PM, we’ll do one hour of pre-draft chatting today. We’ll tackle all the crazy rumors, the exciting prospects and terrifying twists and turns associated with the day of the NBA draft.

Before Saturday’s workout, the Bucks thought they had their most talented group on hand. It didn’t disappoint as Bucks Director of Scouting, Billy McKinney, felt that this was undoubtedly the best workout to date, according to Bucks.com.

E’Twaun Moore was the elder statesman of the bunch. He’s only the third Big Ten player to accumulate 2,000 points, 500 rebounds and 400 assists for his career. His senior year, he averaged 18 points on 44.7 percent shooting. His prolific college career may have been a thorn in the side of many Wisconsin Badger fans, but Moore is a proven producer. One problem Moore may have is finding his position in the NBA.  He’s been touted as a point guard for most of his career, but his play may be much closer to that of a two. It was Moore’s job at the workouts to cover Alec Burks. McKinney felt that Moore was underrated defensively and challenged Burks well.

Forward Markieff Morris is slightly different from his brother Marcus Morris. Markieff is less versatile than Marcus. On Wednesday, McKinney felt Marcus could play both forward spots, while Markieff is a traditional power forward. Markieff displays a little less offensive skill than his brother, but is a better defender with the ability to hit some mid-range jumpers and provide support on the boards.

Read more…

After a rough couple of weeks, I’ve come to a conclusion: I’m a busy dude.

With that in mind, I’m making a fairly big announcement concerning the future of Bucksketball.  We’re hiring.  Yup, after two years, I’ve decided it is time to expand and lighten my heavy load just a bit.  I’m still going to be doing the majority of writing here at this little blog, but I think for the good of the site (and in turn, myself), I need to bring on some help.

So here’s what I’d like, in e-mail form, from anyone, anywhere who is foolish enough to consider working with me and writing about Milwaukee’s fledgling basketball franchise:

Contact information (Name, number, e-mail)
Writing Experience
Writing Sample
Any relevant education
What qualifies you
Why you’re interested and what you’re interested in making out of this

And that’s it.  I don’t care how old you are, or where you’re from.  All I’m looking for is a talented writer or two that is willing to write a few times a week and interested in quality analysis of NBA basketball.  I want people to apply who have open minds.  People who are willing to do their best to be unbiased writing and people that care about writing and basketball.

I can’t make any promises about what will happen if you’re selected, but I think you’ll enjoy it, and I think some cool things will happen.

Applications due Saturday.  So drop me a line: Jeremy@Bucksketball.com.

Over at Fathead.com, many teams have tons of players eligible to be stuck up on your wall in some sort of athletic pose.  The Bucks have Brandon Jennings (obviously) and Michael Redd (he’ll be on sale soon!).  But if you’re looking to really show off and be a hotshot Bucks fan, you’ve blown your chance.  Because this item, is sold out.

This Keith Van Horn basketball would have been great for the Bucks fan in your life

Van Horn averaged 12.5 points over 58 games spread over two half seasons for the Bucks between 2004 and 2005.  Now, his autographed basketball is sold out memorabilia on the Bucks page at Fathead.com.  It’s been a great decade.

Jeremy Schmidt writes the Milwaukee Bucks blog Bucksketball.com.  Follow him on Twitter.  Then become a fan on Facebook (in the sidebar).