First of all, happy C.C. Day to all other Brewers fans out there. I know this is a Bucks blog but still, couldn't hold in the excitement of getting a Cy Young winner.

Anyway, this trade made me look back on the Bucks Gary Payton trade a few years back. Like Payton, C.C. has an expiring deal, and it seems likely he could leaave after half a season like GP did. I'm interested if anyone else sees the paralel between this trade and the Bucks former trade. Do you think the Brewers season will end like the Bucks season did? Since it is summer, I thought some Brew crew chat mixed with some Bucks wouldn't hurt.

So one of my annual fantasy football leagues closed down yesterday.  Because I am a FFL addict, I'm planning on starting another league, and I decided than to look to the blogosphere for other players.

Since the two SB Nation sites I visit the most are BrewHoop and Acme Packing Company, it seemed natural to invite people from those sites first.

It's going to be a very casual, ESPN.com-based, 10-team, FREE football league with an online draft sometime in the next few weeks.  The only requirement is that people have fun and can take a joke.

If you're interested, either respond in the comments section or e-mail me at mamaurer47@gmail.com.  The sooner the better.

Hope I can find 9 other people with a similar obsession with football!

In an effort to address our need at PF and possibly go in a different direction at PG, I think that a trade with Seattle, dealing Mo and Mason for Ridnour and Chris Wilcox would benefit the Bucks.

Wilcox is more of a rugged PF who can rebound and possibly block a few shots, and has some scoring ability if need be.

Ridnour is somewhat of a defensive liability, but is more of pass-first PG than Mo and is a good distributor from what I've seen of him. I think a combo of him and Sessions would be pretty solid at PG.

The trade works according to ESPN. Any thoughts on this trade?

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/features/traderesult?players=1985~1731~518~2178&teams=15~15~25~25&te=&cash=

The Bucks need a power forward that plays defense, gets the rebounds, and basically, one that plays Scott Skiles' ball. The other need the Bucks have is to get a more pure point guard. Looking at the Bucks from this angle, I looked at some other young and rebuilding teams around the league that might be willing to make a deal. I thought of some needs teams might have that also have a few good chips for the Bucks. Let's start with the players involved in my three team deal that works under the ESPN trade machine

Memphis Grizzlies get:

SF- Desmond Mason

PF- Charlie Villanueva

PF/C- Mark Blount

Miami Heat get:

PG/SG- Marko Jaric

PG- Mo Williams

Milwaukee Bucks get:

PF- Udonis Haslem

PG- Mike Conley

SG- Greg Buckner

My Analyzation and why I think it's a great trade for all teams:

Mainly, it provides all teams with position needs. Miami needs a point guard, Memphis needs big guys, and the Bucks need a pass-first defensive point guard like Conley and a bruising 4 like Haslem.

Memphis does gain a lot for giving up only Conley and Greg Buckner. Desmond Mason really is not a bad pick-up. Memphis really only gives up Mike Conley, whom they reportedly have been shopping since they already have a pleathera of nice young and cheaper point guards such as Kyle Lowry who really came on last season. Memphis and Miami basically swap bad contracts, although it is noted Blount's contract does expire one year before Jaric's, thus sweeting the deal for Memphis if only a little. Greg Buckner should never be considered not expendable but with the trade for O.J. Mayo, it seems the SG position is shored up.

Miami finally gets Mo Williams after reportedly coveting him for years. Losing Haslem does not hurt them as much as they just drafted Michael Beasley. Gaining Mo would allow them to package Jason Williams, Marcus Banks, or Marko Jaric's amazing contract for a quality defensive center giving them a nice balance with Beasley at the 4 (I still don't believe Beasley, at 6'7, will ever be a dominant power forward, but that's another discussion). Miami also cuts 2 million in cap space with the Blount for Jaric swap.

Milwaukee gains a great young point guard who passes first and plays defense, something they lacked with Mo Williams. This allows Michael Redd, Richard Jefferson, and Bogut to get more shots and have a point guard to run the offense. Pairing Conley up with another 7 foot great young center again would be a fun sight. Udonis Haslem shores up any concerns regarding the 4 spot and provides defense, rebounding, and a tough mentality. All three of these were sorely lacking with Charlie V. This allows Alexander to come off the bench for Haslem or Jefferson and allows the Bucks to sub in Alexander once a team brings in one of their smaller power forwards. The loss of Desmond Mason would hurt the Bucks a little but we do cut cap space in this trade; not only this but with this trade I think we finally would see the transformation of the Bucks from a soft finnesse team to a tougher, defensive minded with offensive balance team, one that fits Scott Skiles' playing style much better.

As for the reality of this deal happening, i honestly do not believe the trade is lopsided for any teams involved. I believe it works for all teams involved. Not only this, but it works with all of the players' salaries factored in. I am interested to hear from Heat, Grizzlies, and Bucks fans and see if they would agree to a trade like this if they were the team's manager. Please get on your phone now J Ham.

So the Milwaukee Bucks' roster, as of 8:30 EST on Tuesday, 6/24, looks like this:

First string: C - Andrew Bogut, F - Richard Jefferson, F - Charlie Villanueva, G - Michael Redd, G - Mo Williams

Bench: G - Ramon Sessions, F - Desmond Mason, F - Joe Alexander, C - Dan Gadzuric, G - Charlie Bell, G - Royal Ivey

And this is even before their 2nd round pick that will be taken sometime this evening.

Not too shabby, all things considered.

And I am praying to every deity I've ever heard of that they don't take Brook Lopez.  Please please pleasepleaseplease don't take Brook Lopez.

Unless Hammond plans on trading the pick, Lopez is NOT a good fit for the team, IMO.

Oh jeez, there's a minute left on the clock.  I am nervous. 

I really hope I never see Lopez in a Bucks jersey.

...

Whew.

The only thing that concerns me is that now we have Alexander AND Jefferson at the 3 spot.  I trust Hammond and Skiles to figure it out.

When the Finals first started, I made a big deal about how overly complicated everyone was making the game and used a very simple method to determine my own prediction.  I took the Lakers in six.  And I was oh, so wrong.  So very wrong.

I think its safe to say that if you're reading this, you watched Game 6 of the Finals last night.  Here's some thoughts:

• Holy macaroni, what a smackdown.  The Celts took Kobe and Co. and beat the Lakers like they stole their cookies.  A 39-point victory isn't totally unheard of...in the regular season.  In a do-or-die game in the championship round, it kinda is.
• Former Buck Jesus Shuttlesworth was on fire.  Ray-Ray hit seven 3-pointers in the game, which tied a Finals record, and his 22 bombs from distance were a new record.  Yikes. 
• Is it just me, or is Mike Breen's commentary for three pointers strangely satisfying?  "Ray Allen for three...BANG!"  I don't know, but it seems to work.  If only he could get Mark Jackson and Van Gundy to get that divorce they so sorely need.
• Holy Rajon Rondo.  He needs a nickname along the lines of 'Cat Burglar', but more witty and preferably non-cat related.  So much thievery, I thought I was watching Ocean's 11.
• Kendrick Perkins coming back wasn't big on the stat sheet, but it was HUGE in the game.  I'm pretty sure he only scored a few points and went to sit after getting his 5th foul, but his presence on the defensive end of the court was enormous.  Games 5 and 6 were night and day because of him.
• The Celtic's bench stepped up big time.  Eddie House, James Posey, P.J. Brown, Tony Allen (!), and even Big Baby Davis got in the action.  All of them played great defense (especially Posey on Bryant) and put on a show in the final minutes of the 4th quarter.
• Speaking of the final minutes of the 4th quarter, it looked like an intramural game that had gotten completely out of hand.  The Lakers weren't even close to trying.  Tony Allen's reverse dunk off an alley-oop was proof enough of that. 
• The crowd was great.  I refer you to Bill Simmons if you want to learn how important a home crowd is in a playoff ball game.
• Even though they were thoroughly handled in the Finals, I don't expect the Lakers to fall apart.  They've got Kobe, obviously.  Pau Gasol is still young and extremely talented.  Andrew Bynum is coming back, and their bench is young and talented (Farmar, Vujacic, Ariza, etc.). 
• However, one thing I expect to happen is Lamar Odom's trade and/or release.  Look at the frontcourt for next season: with Bynum's return from injury, Gasol can move back to his natural PF position.  And unless the Lakers plan to unload Radmonovic (who played pretty much the worst defense ever this series), Lamar Odom is suddenly looking at reduced PT and possibly coming off the bench.  Throw in the fact that he sucked for the entire Finals (except Game 5), we can expect Lamar to be elsewhere next season.
• I sure hope Paul Pierce's knee isn't too badly hurt.  The guy put on a great performance and earned his championship without ever letting on just how hurt he actually was. 
• Kevin Garnett.  Wow.  First of all, dude flat-out played some ball tonight.  That circus shot in the first half was un-be-liev-a-ble.  He came back in a big way in Game 6.  But more than anything, I was moved by his emotion in the aftermath of the win.  He wasn't overjoyed, he was happy to the point of losing control.  He was literally twitching with delight.  I implore you to find his post-game interview with Michelle Tafoya on YouTube; it's as raw of human emotion as you'll find not only in sports, but pretty much anywhere.  I am incredibly happy for him.

But, this is a Milwaukee Bucks blog, and I am a Milwaukee Bucks fan.  So what did we learn from these here Finals?

First of all, it proves that you can negate opposing offense with defense.  Between the Spurs' titles, the Pistons' run in 2004, and the 2008 Boston Celtics, there is undeniable proof that building a team with a defensive mindset can win you a ring.  John Hammond and Scott Skiles know this, I'm sure.  I am very excited to see what they're going to do to bring Milwaukee out of sub-mediocrity and into contention.

Secondly, we learned that one great offensive player can't prevail against solid team defense.  Kobe was "Old Kobe" for the Finals, the version of Kobe where his offensive mindset is "mememememememememememeeeeeeeeee" and not much else.  I hope that other offensively-gifted players learn from this example and continue making concentrated efforts on involving teammates in the offense.

More than anything, we learned that the 2008 Celtics were an aberration.  Boston built itself through two major trades and veteran pickups instead of through the draft and player development.  Teams are not usually built like this, and I doubt we'll see a team built like this again in the future.  Allow me to explain myself.

Last season, the Celtics had the worst record in the East.  They had one good player (Pierce), one emerging good player (Al Jefferson), and a collection of young and skilled but inexperienced players or older players who had hit their ceiling (Rondo personifying the former, Delonte West representing the latter).  This team was not going anywhere.

Then the Ray Allen trade came along.  This was a fair trade, in my opinion: essentially it gave Seattle a chance at a young prospect in return for a quality veteran who was just starting to slip.  Teams make trades like these all the time.

But the KG trade was ridiculous.  Am I happy it happened?  Absolutely.  Do I believe it was fair?  Absolutely not.  I don't care how you spin it, trading Kevin freaking Garnett for Al Jefferson, etc. and a side of fries is not even.  That would be like Milwaukee trading Andrew Bogut, Charlie Bell, Bobby Simmons, Dan Gadzuric, and Jake Voshkul for Dwight Howard.  One good player (Bogut) and a bunch of anti-good players for a g-r-e-a-t player.  Except for salaries, how is that an even trade?  (Note to self: if the Bucks ever get a chance to pull the trigger on this trade, I'm all for it.)

In any case, I'm happy Boston won.  I just hope Milwaukee doesn't follow their example.

Hi Buck fans.  I am a long time Blazers fan and also a huge fan of Rudy Fernandez.  He is a dynamic shooting guard from Spain.  I have spent the last two years watching coach Nate McMillan play inferior point guards in front of Sergio Rodriguez. 

Sergio's development has been hindered by Nate's poor coaching and inability to change.  I would hate to see the same thing happen to Rudy.  I would much rather him go to a team where he can thrive and get playing time.  Let's face it, he's not going to get any PT behind Brandon Roy.  I came up with a trade with you guys and wondered if you folks think it is fair.

Portland trades: Rudy Fernandez, Joel Przybilla, and Channing Frye

Milwaukee trades: Dan Gadzuric and Yi Jianlian

It works on the ESPN Trade Machine.  I should throw Sergio Rodriguez in the trade as well but I could not get the salaries to match because so many of your players have trade restrictions.  What do you folks think?

So I was flipping through the various ESPN channels today (we are getting very close to the real-life launch of ESPN8: The Ocho), and it seems that literally everyone and their mother is gaga over this Lakers-Celtics Finals.  I haven’t seen hype like this since late 1999, when everything was all about Y2K.  But my issue is with the rampant predictions. 

They’re everywhere.  Like cockroaches in a frathouse basement, each and every sports writer has their take on who’s gonna win, why they’re gonna win, how they’re gonna win (or at least how they should play if they want to win).  After all, it wouldn’t be an NBA Finals without John Hollinger’s three-volume book of calculus and Stephen A. Smith yelling at the camera.  Bill Simmons’ anti-jinx is just icing on the penis-shaped shamrock-green cake.

Here’s the thing; everything is too complicated.  People are putting way too much effort into trying to figure out the result of a series.  If I’ve learned one thing from sports, it’s that simplicity trumps all.  For example, this morning I decided to head down to the courts at my local park, shoo away the pigeons, clear out the broken glass and beer cans, and play some roundball.  Fortunately for my point (but unfortunately for my self-esteem), I was alone.

Now, I’m not a big time baller by any means.  I’m a decent player, if decent can be defined as “doesn’t totally embarrass family legacy in a pickup game”.  However, my 5’11” 160 pound self would be a far cry from decent without a fair amount of practice.  So this is what I do when I’m by myself: I practice.

Anybody who understands the purpose of practice gets that you have to go through a routine.  Do the same thing a certain number of times, and that’s eventually the way you’ll do it consistently.  In short, practice makes permanent.  That’s why I do the same shooting routine the same way all the time: 10 from the baseline, 10 from the elbow, 10 from the center of the FT line, 10 from the other elbow, and 10 from the other baseline.

Now, I was on my first elbow, and I had made the first two.  Then I missed one short.  I thought to myself “Okay, that was short, I have to put some leg into it.” I missed the next one off the back of the rim.  I thought to myself, “Okay, that was a little flat, I have to put some more arc on it.”   I missed the next one to the left.  I thought to myself, “That one went off my index finger, I have to center the ball.”  Blah, blah, blah, skinny white boy keeps on shooting by his lonesome.

I won’t continue to bore you with my subconscious obsession with practice, but here’s the thing.  It wasn’t until I started thinking too much that I started missing shots.  That’s the point of my little story, and the point of my gripe with all the predictions.  I will channel my inner Bill Clinton when I say (with a bite of the lip, a point of the thumb, and the violation of an intern) “Keep it simple, stupid!”

Basketball is a simple game: put the ball in the hole more than the other team.  And while this competitive (and slightly homo-erotic when described as I just did) sport has all sorts of rules and plays and strategies and whatnot, 10 times out of 10 the team that can achieve the aforementioned ball-in-hole objective will win.

So who’s going to win this year’s Finals?  I wouldn’t be a complete ass if I didn’t share my own prediction.  (See what I did there?  I went on a rant against predictions and now I’m making a prediction of my own!  LOLOMG I AM SO CLEVER!!1!!one!)

However, I do have a very simple method for deciding who is going to win a bball series.  Each team gets to select three players.  Those three play one game to 21, ones and twos.  That’s it, that’s the method.  Sure it oversimplifies the entire game, what with quarters and different scoring and more players and coaches and home court advantage, etc, etc.  But who cares, most games are decided by a team’s top three players anyway, this hypothetical is easy to figure out (in most cases; teams like Detroit have too many good players to knock one out and teams like Miami have too many crappy players to pick three decent ones).

So here’s the three for this Finals: Kobe, Gasol, and Lamar Odom against KG, Ray-Ray, and Paul Pierce.  Who wins?  Well, Garnett and Gasol will be guarding each other, as will Pierce and Kobe.  These two pairs will, for all intents and purposes, negate each other (Pierce is a good defender and has the best chance, albeit a tiny one, to contain the Mamba).  That leaves Ray Allen against Lamar Odom.  Despite Allen’s offensive prowess, Odom simply is too tall and too skilled to not win that matchup.  Allen doesn’t play good defense, much less against a 6’10” small forward like Lamar.

Don’t get me wrong, it would be a close game.  But there’s no way the Lakers are losing this matchup.  L.A. in 6 games.

Per Tom Enlund, the aforementioned Jim Boylan, Lionel Hollins, Kelvin Sampson and Joe Wolf are now officially in the fold:

“I’m excited to be able to assemble this strong coaching staff in Milwaukee,” said Skiles. “Jim, Lionel, Kelvin and Joe all bring experience to the Bucks bench as well as diverse coaching skills. I’m eager to gain their insights as we prepare for the upcoming season.”

On paper the coaching staff is a solid group, beginning with the proven combination of Skiles and his longtime lead assistant (and Marquette alum) Boylan. Sampson is probably the most interesting selection because of his ignominious departure from Indiana, but it's worth noting that Larry Brown wanted him in Charlotte and Gregg Popovich brought him in as an advisor this spring. Those are some impressive references to have on your resume.

Hollins was a longtime assistant with the Grizzlies, but the former point guard's more interesting credentials include two all-defensive teams and a championship ring with the '77 Blazers. We can only hope some of that success rubs off on the Bucks' guards.

Lastly, Wolf returns to his home state after a few successful seasons coaching in the D-League. I'm not sure if the former journeyman center is being viewed as a possible mentor for the Bucks' young bigs, but Wolf's background means he's got experience developing/coaching young players.