Did your NBA team confuse you this offseason? Were moves made that left you asking questions? Scratching your head? Leaving you angry and befuddled? This column is for many of you. It discusses the three teams with the most puzzling offseasons.
After a lot of thought and consideration, there were three teams that really stood out and left this writer really question their thought processes. The first is easily the Milwaukee Bucks.
After trading an interesting long-term asset in Tobias Harris for two months of J.J. Redick just to make the eighth seed in the East, Bucks general manager John Hammond was expected to choose between unrestricted free agents Redick, Brandon Jennings and Monta Ellis. He ended up keeping none of these players.
Why? How?
If the Bucks wanted to ditch Redick and concentrate on keeping one of the other two players, it would be understandable. Milwaukee was 11-17 with Redick during the regular season and 27-27 without him.
|
Redick |
Games |
Minutes |
FG % |
3 FG% |
PER |
WS/48 |
|
ORL |
50 |
31.5 |
45 |
39 |
16.1 |
0.097 |
|
MIL |
28 |
28.7 |
40.3 |
31.8 |
11.9 |
0.078 |
Whatever the reason, Redick was a lot worse with the Bucks and he just never seemed like a good fit with the team. Knowing that Redick wouldn’t return, Milwaukee traded him to the Clippers for a pair of second-round picks, which was fine. What Hammond and the front office did afterward is where it really went sour.
I get that the Mavs signed too many PGs but 2 of those guys are expected to play the 2 but seriously they won 41 games with mike James at PG, Dirk missed half the season, and the center and SG positions were horrible… Just a healthy Dirk puts them in playoffs but they also have a solid PG that shot 46% from 3 to run the pick and roll with Dirk, a R protecting center, and solid back ups at every position??? Someone is gonna get rich bettering the over on the Mavs record because the way they are being underestimated is CRAZY.
Dont disagree with any of this, really. Good analysis. I think Milwaukee just screwed the pooch on the reddick deal. THAT was desperation. Losing Tobias Harris was just stupid. Since then…ok, they are building around Sanders and Henson..assuming henson improves. And Illysova, who i like a lot. But they had to move jennings…and got a gamble in Knight. Now i think BK could still develop. There were flashes. But its not a great move. Then they drafted Giannis the Greek Freak. I know lots of people were impressed, but I was not one of them. Maybe someday….but not anytime soon. Then Dallas,. which is just Cuban’s arrogance. He is now the jerry jones of the NBA., TERRIBLE (cue bill walton’s voice…) HORRRRRRRIBLE. there are no words. A mess. ANd finally NOLO. Im glad this writer so clearly articulated what went down. You gave up a #1 pick in the most loaded draft in ten years. For Holiday…oh and this years first. Jrue holiday is a nice player. Not an elite player. He struggled repeatedly against good defenders (Rondo and conely and CP3)….but he’s young, so….maybe. But it was way too much. And then….THEN they go all in for Tyreke. Now….you have three guys…eric gordon, jrue and reke who all need the ball. It is just bad roster management. Maybe i will be proved wrong….but I dont like it and then they gave up Robin Lopez, who I predict is going to be a huge plus for the blazers. And oh yeah, Vasquez. At worst he is a solid back up. Now…one complaint, Denver is not clearly better than ANYONE right now….count them a lotto team. NOLO could make the playoffs…lakers, nuggets and utah are going to awful.