Bucks Play it Safe at Deadline

Another trade deadline, another day of inactivity for Bucks owner Herb Kohl and GM Larry Harris. I've been screaming for weeks for the Bucks to do something, anything, to shake it up a bit. In fact, Bucks fan's have been on "Welcome, Zach Randolph" standby since rumors of him being traded to Milwaukee surfaced a little over a month ago. Whispers of deals in the works with the Bulls and Cavs added a little bit of an excitement level to a season which continued to fade away by the day. But the motto was simple for Herb Kohl and the 2008 Bucks. If you can't be with the one you love, honey, love the ones you're with. (By the way, thanks to TWolves Blog for the picture).

First of all, let me just say that there is no way this current Bucks team ever makes the playoffs. Not this year, not the next, not the year after that. No matter how bad the Eastern Conference may be after the top three teams, the Bucks will continue to be going home April after April if they don't do something.

Things need to change. Herb Kohl knows that. He's not making any money off of this team, but he is the only thing keeping them in Milwaukee. Larry Harris is probably on the way out after this year, and a lot of these current Bucks won't be Bucks two years from now.

But Kohl weighed his options, and realized there was nothing out there that he liked. He nixed a deal today that would have sent Zach Randolph and Fred Jones for Charlie Bell, Dan Gadzuric, and Bobby Simmons. Granted, Simmons and Gadz's contracts are terrible, and I was as shocked as anyone when we matched Miami's offer sheet on Bell. But Kohl was adament about not wanting Randolph, who would have been a bad contract himself, and with an less than stellar reputation.

The other trade options out there may have been the Newbie / Brown / Gooden combination from the Cavs, which would have been welcomed, but was nothing too earth shattering. We didn't have a shot at any of the big names that got traded unless we were parting ways with Redd, Bogut, or Yi, none of which were happening. This year's trade deadline just wasn't the right time for the Bucks to make a move.

But something needs to be done. This is a team that's 20-34 and doesn't seem to care. You know, maybe if they somehow weren't 3 1/2 games out of a playoff spot they would have traded Redd in a firesale. And while I would have liked to see them do something, anything, now may not have been the time. Let's take a look at the roster, and who's worth keeping.

Independsible: Andrew Bogut, Yi Jianlian

Bonafide Back-up: Desmond Mason, Charlie Villanueva (I say we keep him)

Young and Cheap: Royal Ivey, David Noel, Michael Ruffin

Twelve Man: Jake Voskuhl

So that's eight guys I think we should keep. Three to four of them starters. We're missing a quality point guard, and quality shooting guard that's not overrated.

Time to Say Goodbye: Charlie Bell, Dan Gadzuric, Michael Redd, Ramon Sessions, Bobby Simmons, Awvee Storey, Mo Williams.

If you like Bucks basketball, it's going to be awhile before this team is competitive again. They have limited trading chips, and guys that they are better off just eating thier contracts. It may be in their best interest to roll the dice with a lottery pick, and wait until the summer to make a play. I think Herb Kohl knows that, but he also knows that this season isn't going to be remembered for much more than the year all the old Bucks legends had their jerseys retired. And, for this season as least, he's done what the rest of the Bucks roster seemingly does each and every night.

He's given up.