Lue sent to Orlando for Keith Bogans

When Orlando's all-star point guard Jameer Nelson went down with a dislocated shoulder the other day, I immediately thought "Hey, they could use Tyronn Lue."  The Lakers had similarly made an offer for Lue in December when Jordan Farmar went down, but at the time the Bucks were being offered Chris Mihm and they reasonably decided against acquiring another big (it's a different story now).

Then I remembered that Lue, despite having an expiring deal and the ability to provide decent minutes off the bench, is still...Tyronn Lue.  So I stopped thinking about it, because there's really no way moving Lue by himself could solve any of the Bucks' personnel or luxury tax concerns.

Which brings us to today: the Bucks have dealt Lue to Orlando for Keith Bogans, the Magic's one-time starting two guard who has found himself mostly riding pine this season.  Bogans can hit open threes and defend a bit, but he doesn't do either of those things well enough to make him a valuable NBA player.  Still, the Bucks needed a two guard more than a point guard, so positionally you can see the logic.  And most importantly, Bogans deal ($2.9 million this year) is also expiring in the summer, so acquiring him for Lue's expiring $2.25 million deal doesn't change the Bucks' 09/10 cap situation.

Bogans has struggled to get burn this season in Orlando, shooting just 36% from the field and playing just 17 minutes in the past six games.  Ironically, Bogans was actually a second round pick of the Bucks in 2003, but he was traded hours later to Orlando for cash.  Here's John Hollinger's scouting report:

Bogans is 6-5 and a decent ball handler, but lacks the jets to get to the rim and the skill to finish once he arrives. As a result, he does nearly all his damage as a spot-up shooter, and in recent years he's embraced this role and stopped trying to be a scorer.

Bogans is a tough-minded defender who plays physical and has decent quickness, but he's not quick or springy enough to be in the elite category; short arms also hurt him on close-outs. He's a stay-at-home guy with low rates of blocks and steals, but has value as a specialist because he'll make his man work for his points and is a quiet sniper at the offensive end.

I suppose Scott Skiles could slot Bogans into the starting SG slot and have Ramon Sessions come off the bench, but that certainly won't help the Bucks' offense any. At the very least Bogans can space the floor a bit with his shot, but I'm not sure I can advocate starting a guy who's struggled so much offensively (it's a similar story with Charlie Bell, who's gotten it going a bit more). Sessions' defense can obviously be a liability at times--see his matchup against Vince Carter--but he's still one of the Bucks' most productive players right now and needs to be playing 30+ minutes every night.