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Welcome to the first Bad Bucks Take Of The Week, where I try and nicely address a bad Milwaukee Bucks take. For those that haven’t seen the Intro piece explaining the rules, feel free to click here. Now for the first take, it will be in regards to a player that fans have been wanting for weeks.
Christian Wood was the star of Milwaukee’s summer league as he dominated the competition. That led to him being on the Bucks’ preseason roster, eventually winning the last spot and becoming the 15th guy. It was the right decision having a young prospect fill that spot, and the type of low risk/high reward move we we’re not used to Milwaukee making. As the season went on, Wood wasn’t getting playing time and would have stints in the G-League where he was crushing it. Fans got impatient and earlier in March, Milwaukee decided to release Wood.
It made sense at the time, as Wood was behind Ersan Ilyasova, Nikola Mirotic, and D.J. Wilson for the back up 4/5 spots, and Milwaukee needed guard depth amid an injury crisis. Wood found a new home quickly in New Orleans, and proceeded to score a 20 point game in his Pelicans debut. Some of The Woodlands (as they call it) have been annoyed with Milwaukee letting him go, since he now is contributing in the NBA...as the Brew Hoop twitter notifications will show. However, then we end up with tweets like this:
Imagine if Wood was in the team. But Budenlozer didn't played him, Willson and Gasol were more important for him. That's why we can't be champions this season.
— Ајс Ти (@IceBucks7) March 29, 2019
So let me first preface this by saying this: Christian Wood had shown he had skills to play in the NBA. He was too good for the G-League, and as a lot of people said, he just needed an opportunity. But this is an exaggeration, because it was clear Wood wasn’t going to play on this Bucks team, that is contending for a Finals appearance. Wood needed to play on a team that he can be more of a focal point. Milwaukee has done just fine without him playing since Wilson has played pretty well, while Gasol is there for...veteran experience? But to think this team won’t win a championship because of this move, that’s a bad take.
In the end, this odd logic is what earned the notion behind this tweet the notable distinction of being the inaugural BBTOTW.