(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.

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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.

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(Glenn Robinson has a cooler nickname than any Milwaukee Bucks player since Sidney Moncrief, even if he stole Big Dog from Antoine Carr. Of course, I’d never lead an article about Sidney Moncrief referring to his nickname (though I would lead a Carr article in that way). That says something about Robinson. A perpetual disappointment, but that’s probably more our fault than his. Dog did his thing, he chipped in what he could and, even though he missed that shot, he was a big part of the best Milwaukee Bucks team in a lot of people’s lives.)

Glenn Robinson  couldn’t do it alone. He didn’t lead the Bucks to a record north of .500 until Ray Allen arrived. He didn’t make it out of the first round until Sam Cassell came to town. In that way, he wasn’t what you expect from a first overall selection. Robinson was more of a complementary piece than a lead dog. Regardless, what he gave Milwaukee during his eight years with the team was invaluable.

Nobody is going to pretend Robinson was anything more than a scorer on offense, and he certainly wasn’t known for his defensive acumen. But that one thing Robinson did amazingly well, mid-range shooting, made up for it all. Pass Big Dog the ball when he was open and there was a good chance he was going to give you some points. That isn’t something you can say about everyone.

Ironically, the first play I think of when I think of Robinson is a missed shot. Sure, if he made that 10-foot jumper, the Bucks almost assuredly would have gone up 3-2 against the Sixers in the Eastern Conference Finals. And who knows what would have happened from there. But rather than wonder what would have happened if Robinson didn’t miss, I will do my best to remember all of the makes. And as the second all-time leading scorer in Bucks’ history, there are a heck of a lot of them. – JH

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(I don’t really need to sell you on Sam Cassell. He was something of a vagabond in the NBA, though not necessarily by his choice. He played for eight teams over 15 seasons, but if ever Cassell had an NBA home, it was in Milwaukee. He was the point guard on the best Bucks team of the past 20 years. He was the final piece, the one that helped push them from fringe playoff team to legitimate contender. It was his attitude, his jumper and his presence that made Cassell such a fit for Milwaukee over five seasons. As we countdown our final five in our rankings of the Bucks best 20 players over the past 20 years, we’ll each contribute some thoughts and memories on just what separated these five from the pack. – Jeremy)

Soft was synonymous with the Milwaukee Bucks throughout the nineties. While it seemed the organization made sure offense wasn’t exactly required, defense wasn’t even suggested to the players. George Karl did his best to turn things around when he took over in 1998, but inserting the idea of defense into the collective mind of that team would have required some sort of Inception. And that movie wouldn’t come out for another decade.

So Milwaukee went the other route. The Bucks pumped more life into the offense and plugged holes with role players willing to do dirty work. The stars were required to score and score some more. But such a team had to be too soft to contend, right? Where’s the killer instinct if you’re not getting stops?

Sam Cassell scoffed at the idea that a lack of defense made you soft. Why waste time shutting down the opposing point  guard? Cassell was more interested in pulling up for a three in his face on a fast break. Shut them down by shutting them up. Cassell was the Bucks killer instinct. That’s how Cassell did it, and the rest of the Bucks followed his lead all the way to the conference finals. – JS

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(We’re counting down the best 20 Bucks since 1991 over the next few weeks. It’s something to do with the lockout sucking the life out of NBA fans. We continue with number 7. Ervin Johnson. Quite simply, EJ was the Bucks defense from 1997-2002. Everyone else just existed on that end of the court. Johnson controlled it.)

In 1998 George Karl took over the Milwaukee Bucks. It looked like a match made in hell.

Karl’s Seattle Sonics were a ball hawking group that went hard to the rim and hard on defense. In Milwaukee Sam Cassell would soon be running the point, which was fine when the Bucks had the ball and not very fine when the opponents did. Ray Allen and Glenn Robinson were on the wings and a variety of hustle guys took turns trying to provide something at the power forward slot. Defense had been an issue in Milwaukee ever since Don Nelson left in the late 80s (what an insane sentence to write in 2011) and this hardly appeared to be the group that was going to turn things around on that end of the court.

But there was one familiar face from Karl’s time in Seattle that could help him feel at ease. And nearly single handedly, Ervin Johnson balanced the Bucks amazing offense with a defense that could take them somewhere.

Allen, Robinson and Cassell were comically inept and uninterested as defenders throughout their time in Milwaukee. Athletically Allen had the most chance, but he also took on the biggest role offensively. Robinson and Cassell both had very slow feet for their position. None of them were good help defenders. In short, Milwaukee’s best three players were all probably among the ten worst defenders at their positions.

But EJ had it covered. Karl summed it up quite nicely in the 2001 Eastern Conference Finals.

“We’re not very good when we have to double-team,” he said. “He’s (Johnson) such a big part of our defensive fundamentals. It’s very out of proportion. He doesn’t have one-fifth of our defense. It’s more like three-fifths of our defense.”

This was the reality for virtually Johnson’s entire tenure in Milwaukee. Most players would, at the very least, struggle to accept such a role. Especially when given no opportunity to make an impact on offense. How did Johnson respond?

“Hey, that’s my job,” he said.

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