BROOKLYN – The slogan for the Milwaukee Bucks is “Own the Future,” which is fitting because they certainly haven’t owned the present. Milwaukee is now 4-12 overall since trading for Michael Carter-Williams, including five straight losses. Keep in mind, the Bucks were at the peak of their season at 31-23 overall and coming off a four-game winning streak one day after the trade deadline. On Friday night, the Bucks fell below the .500 mark for the first time since Dec. 27 (15-16)
Young players having the best seasons in their careers right before they’re due a new contract is hardly a new phenomenon, but it takes on new significance due to the NBA’s current economic situation. A likely escalation in the salary cap this summer will allow free agents to obtain more expensive contracts from a larger pool of teams with newfound cap space. A quartet of these young, emerging stars— Milwaukee’s Brandon Knight, Chicago’s Jimmy Butler, Orlando’s Tobias Harris and Golden State’s
Things did not start out particularly well for young Jabari Parker. Just 2:49 into the first quarter on Monday night, the 19-year-old Milwaukee Bucks rookie and second overall draft pick was called for a questionable charge on new Knicks point guard Jose Calderon. It was his second personal foul of the game and would normally earn a player a quick trip to the bench. But on this night, a preseason battle meant for learning experiences and deciding teams’ final roster slots, new
Jason Kidd didn’t just burn a bridge with the Nets. He basically set it ablaze with an entire gas station’s fuel supply. Once groomed to be the face of the franchise, Kidd will now have all his images removed from Barclays Center – perhaps even his retired jersey hanging from the rafters. [Read more…]
It was kind of hard to figure out what the Milwaukee Bucks were doing this offseason. Allowing their entire backcourt rotation of Monta Ellis, Brandon Jennings and J.J. Redick to leave via free agency seemed to indicate a rebuilding project was about to begin. Jennings and Redick brought youngsters and draft picks in sign-and-trades, reinforcing that premise. Then GM John Hammond used his newfound cap space on middle-tier free agents O.J. Mayo, Zaza Pachulia and Carlos Delfino before dropping a big contract
Capping off a mediocrity-defining three-year stretch that saw them finish ninth, ninth and eighth in the East, the Milwaukee Bucks should have entered the summer of 2013 with change as the most obvious mandate. As in change everything. Despite a return to the playoffs and encouraging progress from big men Larry Sanders, Ersan Ilyasova and John Henson, the Bucks had little to show for their efforts last season, as coaching upheaval and a dysfunctional locker room motivated GM John Hammond to take a
Caron Butler was in Phoenix hardly long enough to work on his tan. Traded by the Los Angeles Clippers to the Suns earlier this summer, Butler was shipped to his hometown Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday in a deal that landed Ishmael Smith and Slava Kravtsov. The trade also created more cap room for the Suns, who exchanged Butler’s expiring $8 million deal for the combined $2.5 million of Kravtsov ($1.5 million) and Smith ($950,000). “This deal gives us significant cap space as well
The Chicago Bulls are the NBA’s stealth team, flying under the radar to the point where nobody is paying much attention to them — which is somewhat understandable as we all keep our eyes focused on the train wreck known as the Lakers. But sooner or later, we are going to be focusing on the good teams. And the Bulls are one of them, despite playing the first half of the season without Derrick Rose. [Read more…]