Milwaukee Bucks: 5 Reasons Why Bucks Are Worse In 2013-14
The Milwaukee Bucks decided Zaza Pachulia was worth $15 million this summer. (NBA.com photo)
The Milwaukee Bucks weren’t bad in 2012-13, sneaking into the postseason before Brandon Jennings failed to deliver on an impossible guarantee against LeBron James and the eventual world champions. Not bad, though, meant not good enough for the Milwaukee front office, which elected to give their roster a facelift this offseason with an internal goal of staying competitive. A rebuild without going full rebuild, if you will. Some of the new pieces are interesting, but they didn’t really move the gauge in terms of wins for a franchise that’s been in no-man’s land for about a decade. Here are five reasons why the Bucks are going to be worse next season:
5. The drafting of Giannis Antetokounmpo: With a pick just outside the lottery in the 2013 NBA Draft, the Bucks had an opportunity to add an impact player who could step into the rotation and contribute immediately. Instead, general manager John Hammond decided on a raw kid who is years away from contributing and had an unpronounceable name. Not exactly a move that screams “stay competitive.”
4. The J.J. Redick trade: At the trade deadline last season, Milwaukee sent a promising young player in Tobias Harris to Orlando in order to land sharp-shooter J.J. Redick, a player they felt would help them during their playoff run. That’s all well and good, but if you are going to give up an asset for the guy, why not try to retain him? And if you are planning on moving him after the season, why not move him for something of value? All the Bucks have to show for Harris/Redick are two measly future second rounders, while Harris will likely continue to shine in Orlando and J.J. Redick gets to play with Chris Paul in L.A.
3. Three years, $15 million for Zaza Pachulia: The most perplexing move any team made this offseason. Pachulia is a replacement-level player at best, sporting career averages of 6.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per contest. So why sign him to three-year deal worth that kind of money, particularly when other NBA teams weren’t exactly banging down the door to bid on this guy? Even worse, the Bucks have two extremely talented young frontcourt players in John Henson and Larry Sanders. Add Ersan Ilyasova to the mix and its hard to see where Pachulia will get his minutes. That’s a lot of money to pay a guy to rot on an NBA bench.
2. Letting Mike Dunleavy Jr. walk; In today’s version of the NBA, few things are as valuable as knock down 3-point shooters. Dunleavy Jr. is a talented vet with good size that shot 42.8 percent from 3 last season, a career high. A coaches son, Dunleavy Jr. is the consummate role player, an ideal fit for the team he will play for next season, the Chicago Bulls. His annual salary of $3.75 million per season is extremely fair and it kind of makes you wonder why the Bucks didn’t give Zaza’s money to Dunleavy if the intent was to continue to try and win games.
1. The Brandon for Brandon trade: The Bucks flipped a turnover-prone, shoot-first point guard for an even more turnover-prone, shoot-first point guard. The contract Brandon Jennings wanted was absurd, so Milwaukee did right in deciding to part ways with him. But he was still their best player and is still just 23 years old. We saw what Jennings was capable of in spurts throughout the past few seasons and if you caught him on the right night he looked unguardable. Brandon Knight has displayed no such ability.
[slider_pro id=”17″]