Not since the 2001 Playoffs have I been this excited about the Milwaukee Bucks. That was the year George Karl led the so-called “Big Three” — Ray Allen, Glenn Robinson and Sam Cassell — to the Eastern Conference Finals, where they faced Allen Iverson and the Philadelphia 76ers. They were just a missed Robinson jumper away from making the NBA Finals.
For a small market team to develop into a serious contender, they have to get lucky. Big name free agents generally don’t want to play in Milwaukee or any other small market, so they have to acquire their superstar through the draft. The Spurs landed Tim Duncan. The Magic landed Dwight Howard. The Cavs landed LeBron James.
That Bucks team won the first pick in the 1994 lottery (Robinson), swung a draft day trade in 1996 (Allen) and traded for an underrated point guard (Cassell) during the 1998-99 season. Robinson wasn’t a franchise player like Duncan, Howard or LeBron, but with Allen and Cassell (along with an up-and-coming reserve named Michael Redd), the Bucks were able to make a run in a watered down Eastern Conference.
This summer, the Bucks got lucky again. While it would have been nice to win the lottery and the right to draft Blake Griffin, the next best thing happened — they struck gold with the #10 pick. As the draft grew closer, it appeared that the Bucks had zeroed in on Jennings, but as Chris Sheridan writes, they didn’t think he’d be there.
Are you kidding me? The current frontrunner for the ROY dropped 55 points on the Warriors in a 129-125 win at the Bradley Center. He hit 21-34 from the floor and 7-8 from long range, while also posting five rebounds and five assists on the night. The amazing thing is that he only had 10 points in the first half. He scored 29 in the third quarter, and 16 in the fourth.
