Milwaukee Bucks: The Larry Sanders Experience
By Steve Krebs
From the swift coaching shift that brought in Jason Kidd as the new head coach, to the unfortunate season-ending injury to the No. 2 overall second pick in the draft, Jabari Parker, it’s hardly been just another season of mundane Bucks basketball.
As a fan, there are certain degrees to which at the very least, you have to be intrigued by the direction this team appears to be moving in, but I have no qualms if you should find yourself scratching your head over the situation surrounding the Larry Sanders experience over the duration of the past two seasons.
“What is true is I’m in the process of trying to do what’s best for my psyche and my physical health.”- Larry Sanders
Reports that surfaced earlier in the week of the possibility Sanders was going to walk away from basketball all together were quickly met with these following statements:
I haven’t said anything like that,” Sanders said Tuesday. “I figure with the absence, something was going to come out like that. It’s not true.
“What is true is I’m in the process of trying to do what’s best for my psyche and my physical health.”
Kidd had this to say before the game against Phoenix Tuesday night.
A lot of rumors have surfaced about the status of Larry Sanders moving forward, but if one thing is for certain, it’s not much is for certain!
The Facts:
Since the Milwaukee Bucks decided to offer him an extension worth $44 million for four years, he has only played 50 games
The season before getting his contract he averaged 9.8 points, 9.5 rebounds, and 2.8 blocks, including a stretch of 40 games with at least one block.
In 27 games played this season, he is averaging 7.3 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks.
Borderline Fact:
Larry Sanders could be the craziest person the league has ever opened its proverbial doors to.
These absences and the overwhelming obscurity of it all continue to put a damper on what is relatively a massive improvement across the board from last season, it goes far beyond the fact they currently have four more wins than they did in 82 games in 2013-14.
Nate Wolters became a casualty in all this mess based on the aforementioned comments–getting released for the likes of Kenyon Martin on a 10 day (that only covers two more games) contract must be a soul-crushing experience for a second-year player, who ultimately never had the chance to prove his worth.
I do think he will find a home, but I am not sure he will ever find the minutes.
Having your players want to perform at a high level in hopes that a group effort will culminate into success is the aspiration of any Coach or organization in sports–you would think the sum of money granted to these players would be more than enough to at least create a little incentive to give their all for those who showed this type of confidence in their skill-set.
It remains to be seen what is to come next in this saga, but you can rest assure it probably will not end in the Bucks coming to their senses, and releasing Sanders outright, which would be a hard pill to swallow, but the right one to take.
As for now, the Bucks look to build off Friday night’s win against Minnesota (their first win at home in four contests), when the Bulls come to town Saturday for the second half of a back-to-back.