The Bucks are seemingly going all in on the Andrew Wiggins sweepstakes, and most likely everyone will lose. Since the end of the 2012-13 season, they’ve done the following:
- Dropped their interim coach
- Let Monta Ellis walk (note – this is good, but the points and random moments of entertainment [1 entertaining moment for every 5 head-smacking moments])
- Drafted a guy who won’t be ready to play in the NBA until 2021
- Let Mike Dunleavy Jr walk
- Said they want to make Brandon Jennings the face of the franchise
- Traded JJ Reddick for 3 stadium dogs and a weeknight parking pass
One can only imagine how many half-hearted 3’s Jennings is going to be tossing up with 18 seconds left on the shot clock this season. It’s only a matter of time before Ersan gets traded for Otis Thorpe’s expiring contract… because, if they kept him on the team, they might risk scoring 70 points now and again.
It’s pretty obvious they are just throwing this season in hopes of striking gold in the next draft, but it’s a bad move. Here’s why…
History: According to Basketball-Reference.com, the Kohl-era Bucks have terrible luck with the draft. Sure they’ve had atrocious GMs, but even a moron can get a #1 overall pick right. The Bucks though, despite all their mediocrity, have won the lottery in years when there’s no top-tier players available. Nobody was saying Chris Paul should go #1 back in ’05, and Bogut is solid but hardly a franchise cornerstone. The time before that, when they got Glenn Robinson, could’ve gone better if they picked Kidd… but they likely never would’ve had anyone around him.
The Owner: Herb Kohl is a bad owner. He interferes, he hires people he can boss around, and he is working to stick the people of Milwaukee with the tax bill for a new stadium that won’t even go to vote (he’s said in interviews that he’d likely go that route, no public vote). Bad owners generally don’t land once in a generation talent.
For the fans: One season with a playoff series win since the 89-90 season. That’s the entire lifetime of most of their fans. This team has bottomed out plenty of times before in the Kohl era with nothing to show for it. Now they want to do it again, at the same time they’re asking for the taxpayers to pay for a second stadium in town in less than 15 years for another perpetual loser. They’ve already done buy-one-get-one season tickets numerous times in the past… are they going to leave out the “buy-one” part this year?
No, the Bucks shouldn’t go another year of fighting for a 7 or 8 seed only to get swept by Miami and company. But it’s far too late in the game to try and sell everyone on another tank-job. Probably the only thing that could begin to rebuild trust among the fans would be to get Kohl 100% out of the ownership role and turn over basketball control to someone who has proven they know how to build a team. That’s not likely to happen while they’re still in Milwaukee.