I Still Care, I Promise

A couple of weeks ago, Bill Simmons wrote how frustrated he was the Bucks hadn't contacted him for the General Manager job. In his article, he said he was less frustrated about himself getting the job than he was the Bucks missing out on a key PR move by interviewing a sportswriter for the gig. Simmons wondered what else the Bucks could do right now that would give them attention from the national media, because of how irrelevant they have become. Well, lately we've been guilty of not giving them their fair shake either.

The last thing I want to do is abandon the Bucks while they are playing terrible. That's the number one sign of a fairweather fan, and I consider myself anything but. The teams I like are the teams I like, and I like (aka love) them unconditionally. It's just that with March Madness, baseball starting, and the Bucks playing terrible, my favorite pro hoops team has found itself on the backburner in my sports watching world.

The reason the Bucks posts have been short lately is because, honestly, I haven't been watching the games. As much as I love the Bucks, I have little invested in them right now. Playing your young guys late in the season matters less in the NBA than it does in other sports, and who's to say guys like Ramon Sessions and Royal Ivey will even be Bucks next year? How can you justify sitting in front of your TV for 2 1/2 hours when the outcome of the game means little to nothing in the grand scheme of the season. The playoffs and draft positions are pretty much set, and the Bucks have entered what I like to call the purgatory portion of the season. They can't really get any worse, they can't really get any better, they are just playing because there are games on the schedule.

I was able to watch some of tonight's game, but paid less attention to the television and more to the Sports Illustrated I was reading (I feel like I give that magazine a lot of pub, which isn't cool, because they ranked the Crew 3rd in the Central this year). But I didn't even stick around for the thrilling finish in which Sessions won the games for the Bucks at the buzzer as they beat the Wizards 110-109 (ESPN.com has the highlights, but look! They still use the old purple Bucks logo! Come on graphics department!)

The other day I said I'd rather have the Bucks go into tank mode, and position themselves for a better draft pick. I think I'm changing my opinion on the subject. After last night's win against the Knicks, and tonight's against the Wizards, they've put together what we like to call a winning streak. Even though we're not sure who will be wearing Bucks green next season, it'd be a lot better for the guys heading into the offseason on a positive than a negative. The draft picks are basically interchangeable from 3 to 15 this year, so does it really matter where the Bucks land? Instead of tanking the rest of the season to move "up" one spot on the draft board, why not turn this franchise around the old fashioned way, by playing inspired basketball the rest of the way, rather than take the court just because it's on the schedule (I'd talk about how long of a sentence that was, but I'm not Paul Shirley).

Yes We Can! (With or without Simmons. Preferably with though.)