Report: Milwaukee Bucks to Sign Brandon Rush

After jettisoning Spencer Hawes to make way for, well, JET, it seems the Bucks have made another move that may or may not shore up their final roster spot depending on the impending contract details. According a tweet from Priority Sports though, the agency that represents Brandon Rush, he will be signing with the Milwaukee Bucks for this upcoming season.

It’s unclear at this point whether this is just a training camp deal or if Rush will supplant Glove Jr. for the final roster spot in Milwaukee this season. Rush is repped by Mark Bartelstein, the notorious agent who’s swindled the Bucks in the past with deals for Mason Plumlee and is repping Jabari Parker for his contract negotiations in Milwaukee.

What might Rush bring to the Bucks though should he be here for the long haul? Well, he spent last year as a $3.5 million dollar player in Minnesota following a brief stint of relevancy with the Golden State Warriors. Theoretically, Rush should provide some additional wing depth for Milwaukee with his 6’6” height and 6’11” wingspan. He shot 38.6% and 41.4% respectively the last two years from three on a little over 2 attempts per game. His efficiency numbers dipped a bit last year though, probably because he wasn’t on a walking behemoth of a basketball team, but he’ll be another wing body should Milwaukee suffer an injury.

That being said, Rush himself might be the one missing games. He’s appeared in 65+ games only four times in his 9-year career, and four of those came in his first four years in the league. He suffered a torn ACL partway through his career and the last four years he’s played 47, 72, 33 and 38 games respectively, although a lot of last year’s misses came from him losing favor with Tom Thibodeau. Whether he’ll be able to latch on with this year’s squad will be an open question, but I’d expect plenty of groans should Sterling Brown look competent and Rush still gets minutes over him.

What’s more intriguing about this move and the Terry transaction though is that what was looking like a relatively youthful squad has suddenly received two more veteran leaders, both of whom have won a championship. We all know about Terry’s entrenchment with the team, and while I have no clue as to Rush’s leadership skills, his presence on a championship team and league experience is enough for me to ascribe a smidge of credibility to his mentorship within the context of this Milwaukee team. Milwaukee’s been more than happy to boot veterans out the door after a successful season in the past, but it appears that philosophy may be shifting a bit as the season draws closer.

We’ll be sure to update this story once we learn more about the details of Rush’s contract and whether it means GP II will be on his way out.

BELATED UPDATE:

Just to quickly provide an update, looks like Brandon Rush will just be signed to a training camp contract.