They’re back! After a lockout-sized hiatus, Buck Hits have returned to bring you the very best of the Bucks from around the web. Much to discuss, so without further adieu…
Recap
12/27/11 Bucks v. Wolves
Analysis: JSOnline, Brewhoop, We’re Bucked
Power Rankings
Marc Stein: 17
NBA.com: 17
Charles Gardner: 16
Legal jargon has turned into business jargon as the NBA closes in on finalizing the CBA agreed upon in principle by the league and the players. A lot of it is confusing and a lot of it means little to most fans. But some of it could have a direct impact on the Milwaukee Bucks.
If you’re hardcore into labor negotiations and need the full breakdown, check out Larry Coon’s breakdown of the last CBA vs. the new CBA.
If you’re looking to learn some of the highlights and how they apply to the Bucks, we got you covered.
Upon first reports of the new CBA allowing teams to purge themselves of one bad contract, keyboards everywhere took a pounding as people excitedly slammed out the letters D-R-E-W G-O-O-D-E-N alongside the word good riddance. But intel appears to have quelled that movement amongst Bucks fans. Today, Chad Ford and John Hollinger report yet again, that the team is unlikely to use the amnesty clause on Gooden this season.
The clause would clear Drew Gooden’s contract from the Bucks salary cap (something the last amnesty provision didn’t do), which would give the team just over $6 million to do with what they may this off-season. But the team would still have to pay Gooden, so whatever player replacing him would essentially be earning his salary and Gooden’s salary. The doubling of salary is probably one reason Milwaukee hasn’t been so anxious to clear Gooden from the books.
The other reason is likely the lack of time Gooden spent on the court with Andrew Bogut last season.
(We’re not quite done with Ray Allen just yet. We announced him as our top Milwaukee Bucks player of the past 20 years on Tuesday. Today, Josh Hilgendorf has his own take on Ray Allen. And we have more Ray Allen lined up for later this week. – JS)
Choosing the top 20 Bucks’ players of the past 20 years was a pretty tough task. Choosing the best? Not so much. Ray Allen was the clear choice and nobody else was even close. It was his addition that turned things around for Milwaukee. Allen came to town and all of a sudden the Bucks started winning. The team went from a .305 winning percentage the year before his arrival to a .634 winning percentage in only his fifth season.
Of course, Allen was about more than just wins and losses. He had that picture perfect jump shot. He unleashed his fair share of fierce dunks. Above all, Allen gave the Bucks a player to counter the superstars of the NBA. No game exemplified this better than Ray’s epic duel with Allen Iverson in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Although Iverson outscored Allen 46-41, Milwaukee came out on top in that game.
The media attention, however brief and small it was, Allen brought to the Bucks should also not be discounted. In addition to what he did on the court, he also co-starred in the ridiculously awesome He Got Game alongside Denzel Washington. Outside of Shaq and MJ, how many NBA players can you say played a major role in a widely released movie?
Along with all of the good, Allen is also connected to one of my lowest points as a Bucks fan.
There was never a doubt we’d end up here.
Ask any NBA fan if there is a Milwaukee Bucks player they can remember over the past 20 years and, after thinking for a while, they’ll probably say Michael Redd. But that’s only because he or she forgot the Bucks used to actually have a real live superstar in Ray Allen.
It seems like a lifetime ago that he was the most identifiable Bucks player. At that time, Allen was as associated with the Bucks as they were with him. But Allen moved on quickly. He had success leading the Seattle Sonics and ultimate success with the Boston Celtics. Now, the Bucks are almost just a footnote in Allen’s career. Milwaukee seems little more than the spot where he began his pre-game routine, fine tuned it, perfected it.
In Allen’s NBA life, the Bucks are the girlfriend he met when he was young. He was serious about her, as she was about him. They had some amazing times together and when things were at their best, it seemed like they would be together forever. There wasn’t enough to keep them together though. He couldn’t take the team where it wanted to be by himself and the team couldn’t surround Allen with the help he needed. Things got messy when George Karl alienated his star, as he’s so good at doing. Karl wanted back an old flame in Gary Payton and Allen and the Bucks split.
Michael Redd’s two arms would flick the ball from behind his head towards the hoop from behind the three-point line as only he could. Seconds later, that ball would fall through the net and the crowd would cheer on their star. Between his accuracy and the peculiarity of his stroke, Michael Redd was a very endearing scorer.
Redd would hold the ball and size up the defense from the wing. For two, three, even four second, Redd would stand. Sometimes he’d jab-step, sometimes his back would be to the hoop and sometimes he would face up and just look around. Maybe his defender felt nervous about all the ways a scorer in his prime like Redd could attack him. As losses started to pile up and Redd’s scoring remained high while his assist totals remained low, it was moments like these that became easy to criticize. Michael Redd wasn’t a very enjoyable isolation scorer.
Injuries always nagged at Redd, but they stopped nagging and started taking more action in late 2008. It started with a sprained ankle. He landed awkwardly trying to chase down a loose ball. After that, it seemed every time he jumped, something went wrong. Redd came down on a teammate in January of 2009, tearing both his ACL and MCL. He re-injured the knee on a dunk in just the second game of the next season. He tore the same ACL and MCL on what seemed to be a routine jump shot and landing almost a year to the day in January of 2010.
Michael Redd is no longer the shooter or scorer the league had come to know him as. When basketball resumes, he’ll be a free agent. He’s likely played his last game as a member of the Milwaukee Bucks. He’ll find a job again. The memory of what he was and the little bit that he showed in an abbreviated 10 game 2010-11 season have earned him another job. But for now, it wil be the big contract, the ball holding, the losses and the injuries that come to the minds of Bucks fans when Redd’s name is brought up.
Give it some time. As both parties move on and a new star begins to assert his will on the Bucks, we’ll look back on a more complete picture of Michael Redd. Instead of just a contract and games missed, we’ll remember all the points he scored and the fun we had watching him. We’ll remember that big game against Utah and that stroke he made smooth despite it’s obvious flaws. We’ll remember one of the best Milwaukee Bucks players of all time. – JS
