Ken Berger reported today that there has been some speculation among agents regarding a three way trade that would send Dwight Howard to the Los Angeles Lakers, Andrew Bogut to the Orlando Magic and Andrew Bynum to the Milwaukee Bucks.
Go find the pieces of your head and put it back together like one of those fancy 3D jigsaw puzzles of the world.
This sounds like one of those crazy agent scenarios far too broad and wild to ever come true, but it also might be the very first time a semi-plausible deal has involved Bogut leaving Milwaukee. By semi-plausible, of course that means there is a player returning to the Bucks who has at least enough appeal to make one want to think about what it would be like if he stepped into Bogut’s role.
The last time we saw Andrew Bynum, he was a shirtless, lonely man walking off the court and into the locker room at the American Airlines Center. Fans were ravenously jeering him and Mavericks players had to be restrained from attempting to even the score with him after he inserted his burly forearm into the elfish chest of a mid-air J.J. Barea.
So I’m not so certain a trade that brought him to Milwaukee for long time center and almost All-Star Bogut would go over so well with the fans of a franchise always swimming in the shallow end of the public appeal pool. But that’s not a reason to avoid a trade for a guy.
No more nostalgia, no more complaining from me, no more legalese. We can finally talk hoops again. As Chuck Mangione might say, “it feels so good.”
We’re kicking off with Bucksketball’s first installment of the TrueHoop Network’s Three-On-Three series. It’s like those Five-On-Fives you see back at the mothership, but shorter and longer all in one. Today we’re addressing some lingering roster questions that will finally clear up in the next few weeks. Read more…
The rumblings of Ersan Ilyasova heading to Europe have apparently grown from scooter a block away to motorcycle in your driveway. According to IAmGm.com, Ilyasova is looking to move on to Turkish club Fenerbahce Ulker. There’s one catch though: Ilysaova would still need to get out of his current contract with the Bucks which runs for one more season.
There is precedent for the Bucks letting an unhappy player out of a contract, as the team amicably parted ways with Roko Ukic in January of 2010 so he could play with … wait for it … FENERBAHCE ULKER!
Of course, Ukic was a little used third string point guard and Ilyasova has been a starter on and off for the past two seasons, so the team may object a bit more this time around.
The Milwaukee Bucks may be Wisconsin’s pro basketball team, but it is far from being the premiere basketball program within the state. That honor would go to the Wisconsin Badgers men’s team (*ducks away from Marquette fans*). And the Bucks just drafted its favorite son, Jon Leuer.
With the 40th pick of the draft, the Bucks selected the Wisconsin forward. This should come as no surprise. During Leuer’s Tuesday workout with Bucks first round draft pick Tobias Harris and other prospects, Bucks Director of Scouting Billy McKinney said of Leuer, “If he’s at 40, I think it’s kind of a no-brainer for us.”
Coach Scott Skiles also liked Leuer’s workout, “”One of the things Jon said, and it’s so true, is he’s more athletic than you think, and it comes across when you watch him play in a college game, but also the athletic testing in Chicago and then when you get him in a workout, he moves around really well.”
It’s happened often enough that it no longer comes as a surprise. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t come off as any less indignant this time though.
Once again, the NBA Draft is approaching. And once again, Milwaukee appears a less than desirable landing spot for at least one draft prospect.
The latest NBA hopeful to avoid Milwaukee is Turkish man of mystery Enes Kanter. After some question about just what teams Kanter did and did not interview with at the Chicago combine, his agent, Max Ergul, offered some clarity on the situation to Sports Illustrated. He wasn’t avoiding a number of teams. He was just avoiding the Bucks.
“The only one I really didn’t care for him [to go to] is Milwaukee,” Ergul said
This isn’t the first time a Turkish player with whom Ergul is associated with has passed on the Bucks.
In 2007, Ersan Ilyasova surprised many by bolting from the NBA to play overseas after his rookie season with Milwaukee. At the time, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported that Ergul was Ilyasova’s agent, though then General Manager Larry Harris later insisted Ergul was merely an advisor. At any rate, he had some relationship with Ilyasova and may have played a role in steering the Bucks forward away from Milwaukee. Of course, Ergul was singing quite a different tune about Milwaukee at the time.
“The Bucks gave first-class treatment to Ersan, and we would never hesitate to put another player here,” Ergul said.
