Find Bucks assistant coach Jim Boylan in that suave, Billy Dee Williams cool,  disco days meets "The Great Gatsby" photo to the right and win the first ever Bob Boozer Jinx door prize. Hint: Boylan's the kid from Jersey City, New Jersey.

The photo, from the Marquette archives, via a Sports Illustrated 'Where are they now?' feature a few years back, is the official team photo of the 1977 NCAA champions. Boylan is farthest to the left, seated in the back of the '34 Packard, wearing the only all-grey tux. Left to right from Boylan: Bill Neary, Ulice Payne, Butch Lee, Jim Dudley, Gary Rosenberger (in the passenger's seat), Bernard Toone, Jerome Whitehead, Craig Butrym, Robert Byrd and Bo Ellis.

It seems odd, yet somehow fitting, that Boylan would take a seat furthest in the back -- he was nowhere near the back of the ride on the '77 Warriors. As the starting point guard, he was in the drivers' seat more often than not. But then, no player is behind the wheel of the Packard in the team photo, an important, and quite deliberate pose. Warriors coach Al McGuire was nothing if not a basketball artist; the essence of "the team" was his motif.

Or, as McGuire might have told the story of the photo shoot years later, and probably did, he had reserved the drivers' seat for himself, but left his tux at the drycleaners and had to bench himself for the photo shoot, the sort of thing that McGuire would do. There was something magical about Al McGuire when he told a story, spinning myth and street legend with wisecrack yarn and the sharp cut of Manhattan.

Up until his death in 2001, when asked who, of all the players he coached, his favorite point guard was, McGuire would get serious, and the answer was always the same: Jim Boylan. Sometimes he'd say Boylan was his favorite player, period. Boylan reminded Al of Al.

I came across a great story on the Chicago Bulls website about Jim Boylan and the team after Boylan took over for Scott Skiles in December. What caught my eye was the following quote from Boylan.

“I told the guys that we shouldn’t concentrate so much on winning. Let’s concentrate on letting go of the things we can’t control and free ourselves to be the kind of players we know we are. Live in the moment.”

That quote from Boylan, Bucks fans, is the Al McGuire basketball philosophy, to the letter. It was infused throughout the basketball world in the late 1970's and early 1980's when McGuire was on top of that world and players were told to just play moment to moment and forget the scoreboard, especially in Al's home turf in state. The coaches would let you know when to look at the scoreboard and the clock. It was all very mystical and Zen, long before Phil Jackson began writing books. It was very McGuire.

Boylan, at age 52 -- after two college coaching jobs (Michigan State under Jud Heathcote and head coach at New Hampshire) and five jobs as an NBA assistant (including his first with Mike Fratello in Cleveland and two with Skiles, in Phoenix and Chicago) -- is still Al McGuire's point guard. Always will be.

The Bucks job is Boylan's sixth assistant post in the NBA, reunited for a third run as Skiles' lead assistant. He joins Skiles' most impressive staff to date, with Lionel Hollins from the Memphis Grizzlies, a 20-year NBA assistant and Kelvin Sampson, one of the best college coaches in the game. Rounding out the staff are Kohler's own Joe Wolf, an up-and-climbing NBA coach-in-the-making from the CBA and the D-league; and Bill Peterson, the coach who developed Finley, Nowitzki and Nash in Dallas, and was responsible for Ramon Sessions development last season for the Bucks.

They've have all been "hired" for two weeks or more now (the Bob Boozer Jinx blogs about Skiles and his assistants are archived here.) This is a staff geared to develop its own stars, not to coach somebody else's 2nd or 3rd tier NBA "stars."  Boylan's story with the Chicago Bulls offers even more insight. On a Skiles-Boylan team, the ball will move and the tempo will be up in transition. It's been described as an Eastern Conference version of the Phoenix Suns phenomena -- Eastern Conference because, on a Scott Skiles team, defense will be played.

When Skiles left Chicago in Boylan's hands, Boylan ratcheted up the tempo even more, and the team stat hounds tracked ball movement and pace like it was religion. Let's just say that next season no overpaid shooting guards will be freezing the offense, palming the ball and lowering a shoulder into the teeth of the defense with no passing mindset. Or sloughing off in transition.

Monday, I'll have a take on Bill Peterson and his development work, and I'm projecting a suprising revelation in the mix. For now, check out some more Jim Boylan in-action photos from J.E. Skeets yahoo blog "Ball Don't Lie." It's true -- Boylan does kind of look like the evil president from "24." 

The catcher's crouch:

The "I just might kill Hinrich during this timeout I'm about to call" pose:

One final coaching note:  Former Bucks coach Terry Porter (2003-05) is back on what New York Post columnist Peter Vecsey calls the NBA "coaching carousel." The buzz in Phoenix says he's the leading candidate to fill the job Mike D'Antoni vacated last week. Porter, an asssistant with Detroit the past two years, is believed to be the first candidate Suns GM Steve Kerr interviewed for the job, Charles Gardner reported yesterday at JSOnline.  Vecsey saw opportunity coming for Porter a month ago in his column, and I swiped Vecsey's crystal ball for a day or two in an early BBJ post.

Bucks fans may never know why then-Bucks GM Slickless Larry Harris rescinded the vote of confidence he gave Porter at the end of the Bucks injury-riddled 2004-05 season. When Bucks owner Herb Kohl fired Harris in March, he told us the firing of Porter was "Larry's decision" -- but then Herb had been labelled a meddler by ESPN's Marc Stein and was on the defensive about that "growing reputation" and perception.

In any case, Porter got a bum shake from an impatient GM who didn't have a plan for building the Bucks. Porter deserved another year coaching the Bucks, if for no other reason than it is bad policy to treat a hometown hero with such little respect when being a hometown hero is part of the reason Porter got the job in the first place.

Terry's been coaching in Detroit the last couple of years -- under Flip Sanders, the coach Harris supposedly fired Porter to bring to Milwaukee (I've come to doubt that's the real reason Porter was fired) -- which says something about how well regarded Porter is in NBA coaching circles. Suns GM Kerr is looking to bring a defensive edge to the Suns, and who better than the top assistant in Detroit? Phoenix, with Nash and Stoudamire and Shaq, looks like a good opportunity for Porter -- and it's about time he got a second chance to head a team.

It all seemed so controversial last summer. Bucks management trapsing all over the world to track down their 1st round draft pick, Yi Jianlian, whose handlers would have prefered he play on the West Coast, or anywhere but here.

Yi was promised a starting position, ESPN reported. No he wasn't Bucks GM Larry Harris lied - I mean replied. Bucks fans worried that the team had wasted the #6 pick on a guy that didn't want to play.

The season started with Yi in the starting lineup, playing 30 minutes a game. Charlie Villanueva was relegated to reserve role and did a spectacularly bad job of it. By the end of December, Seattle's Kevin Durant, the rookie of the year and #2 pick, was the only rookie scoring more than Yi, and only #3 pick, Atlanta center Al Horford, was rebounding more. Yi was leading them all with a .503 shooting percentage. Yi was named T-Mobile Rookie of the Month in the Eastern Conference for December, and had filled it up for 29 against Charlotte (a win) on the 22nd.

But there was a problem: The Bucks were 18-30 with Yi as a starter. On Feb. 9 -- Game 49 -- Larry Krystkowiak moved Yi to the bench and started Charlie V.

But there was a problem: The Bucks lost at an even faster rate, going 8-25 in games that Yi did not start or did not play (he missed half of them) the rest of the way. (Yi did start one more game in February, a loss).

This week, the NBA coaches left Yi off the 1st and 2nd team All-NBA rookie teams, though Yi did receive 13 votes in the process. (A first team selection gets 2 points; a second team selection gets one point). That means that nearly half of the 29 voting coaches (coaches can't vote for their own players) thought Yi was good enough for second team, assuming no one voted Yi on the first team. That's nearly not half bad.

Watching a 6'11" guy run the floor better than Tracy McGrady and shoot jumpers with Ray-Allen-perfect form wasn't half bad either. Watching Yi get pushed around as he tried to box out for rebounds was not so good. Even worse was Yi flashing to open spots and being routinely ignored by Michael Redd and Mo Williams. There was a mean chill on this Bucks team; you had to be at the games to see it.

I was impressed with Yi -- and I admit, I was hoping to be impressed. He wanted to run the floor. Yet no one on the Bucks was ready to run except Mo Williams. (Dez Mason was out the first few games I attended; Yi was out the last couple). On offense, the ball didn't move -- Redd held it, waited, palmed it, waited for everyone to stop, then drove into traffic. As a team, they couldn't get uncontested shots. Mo could, easily enough, but only for himself. In a game against New Jersey, at halftime Yi and Bogut had six points combined.

After a few trips to the BC, it stopped mattering to me whether the Bucks should have drafted Jeff Green or one of the Florida players, Noah or Brewer, instead of Yi. After Greg Oden, Durant and Al Horford, it didn't matter. The way the Bucks were playing, it didn't matter. So the kid from China didn't want to play in Milwaukee. Who in their right mind would want to suffer on the 2007-08 Bucks? Scola? No. Carl Landry, who grew up here and went to Vincent? Alright, Landry would probably love to play for the Bucks, no matter the circumstances.

I did come to the conclusion that Yi should have been coming off the bench. If the Bucks couldn't do anything else well, at least Krystkowiak should have commited the team to rebounding. Charlie V last season was better help for Bogut under the boards, and should have been the starter at power forward. Both big forwards could have played 30 minutes, with Yi playing about ten minutes at small forward, posting up his defender.

But it didn't matter. The Bucks lost more when Charlie was starting. Sometimes Charlie felt like rebounding, sometimes he didn't. Sometimes he played as though all he cared about was proving that he could score just as much, if not more, than "Michael" and look better doing it. Call it the Mo Williams syndrome. By April, Yi, Mo and Charlie all seemed perfectly happy sitting in their tailor-made suits, riding out the bad vibes of the season on the end of the bench.

GM John Hammond has enthusiastically called Yi "a keeper" an "asset" and in a lengthy interview in the Racine Journal Times Sunday, said Bogut and Yi are: "two, very good young pieces ... that you can build around. Bigs are so hard to find. The Boguts and the Yis ... it would be awfully hard to move guys like that."

Bogut said this about Yi in his most recent interview with Journal Sentinel:

"To have him at the 4 (power forward) and shoot the ball the way he does, that's his main role, and I think he's done a great job with it," Bogut said. "I think he can spread the defense. But once he gets more aggressive, I think he needs to work on putting the ball on the floor and trying to get to the basket.

"He's as athletic as anybody I've seen. Ballhandling will be a key factor for him, working in the off-season. If he gets that down, he'll be a much more productive guy. Guys are scouting him and trying to make him put the ball on the floor.

"It's kind of tough, adjusting to NBA guys who are much quicker than you're used to. It's just getting strong hands, and I think he'll be fine. His work ethic is unbelievable, and he'll be in the gym every day this summer."

Sounds good to me. The NBA season is sometimes just a snapshot of basketball in time that doesn't carry over into the playoffs or the next season. The All-Rookie team presents one of these snapshots for the league; it's camera failed to capture the ups and downs of Yi's first season, just as it failed to capture how well Detroit's Rodney Stuckey played in Game 5 against Orlando last night (Stuckey missed the All-Rookie 1st team but made the 2nd).

There's no real controvers-Yi to find here. And no reason to doubt the hope that Yi will be much-improved next season.

And neither is anybody else, Bucks GM John Hammond told reporter Gery Woelfel in a feature interview that ran in the Racine Journal Times Sunday. 

Center Andrew Bogut and big forward Yi Jianlian, however, are "two, very good young pieces ... that you can build around," Hammond qualified. "Bigs are so hard to find. The Boguts and the Yis ... it would be awfully hard to move guys like that."

Bogut and the Bucks are expected to come to terms on a five-year extension this July that would keep the 23-year-old center in a Bucks uniform through his prime and the 2013-14 season. Including his option for next season, the dollar terms would likely be in the neighborhood of six years - $66-72 million. As for Yi, the Bucks have two exhibition games scheduled in China this September; it's difficult to imagine the team showing up without Yi.

Hammond continued to address "the untouchables" issue without prompting from interviewer Woelfel.

“Does that mean Michael Redd can be moved? Or anybody else on this roster? No. But I don’t think it’s fair to use the term untouchables when you are a team that won 26 games this year."

How's that for dancing around the question? It's time to stop the music. Consider Michael Redd officially on the trading block.

Journal Times: It was pretty apparent the Bucks had some significant chemistry issues this season. Is it necessary to weed out some of the malcontents on this team or can Skiles come in and alter the attitude?

Hammond:  When you start talking about chemistry issues or evaluating what went wrong with this team ... we’re going to evaluate the situation and, if we can do something to improve our team, we’re going to do that. Does that mean we’re going to make wholesale changes? No. We will not do that. That’s not our thinking going in. Chemistry issues, weeding people out, that kind of terminology ... it’s going to come down to opportunities. We are going to explore the opportunities that are presented by other teams and go from there.”

Bob Boozer Jinx: With the exception of Bogut and Yi, everybody's on the trading block, maybe even Ramon Sessions, one player who could make trades work for the Bucks. The Bobby Simmons, Mo Williams and Dan Gadzuric contracts are difficult to move, unless attached with affordable players like Desmond Mason, Charlie Bell, Charlie Villanueva and Sessions. "The way [Sessions] finished the season ... as we continue to work the phones (in trade talks) I guarantee you his name will come up," Hammond said later in the interview.

Journal Times: There’s a good chance Michael Redd will be playing for the United States Olympic Team this summer. Yet, there are some basketball observers who contend Redd isn’t a franchise player. What’s your take on him?

Hammond: “I think Michael Redd is a great player. When you start using terminology like franchise player ... I think if we sat down and looked at the (NBA team) board together and said which team has a franchise player, we’d see there aren’t many of them in the league. Even if you said Michael Redd isn’t a franchise player, that’s not taking a shot at Michael Redd. Saying Michael Redd is a great NBA player is a great compliment to him.”

Bob Boozer Jinx: Most Bucks fans have become painfully aware over the last five years that Redd is not Kobe, Lebron, or a few All-Star teams of players, from McGrady to Stoudamire to D-Wade to Joe Johnson. Yet somebody forgot to tell Michael who still thinks he's as good as his contract, which, to him, meant that last season he had the right to undermine the team on the court. Redd's "franchise" contract is now a lodestone keeping the Bucks in the Central Division cellar.

JT: I think it’s fair to assume that this summer you’ll be making some trades. What areas would you like to shore up on this team?

Hammond: “If you look at our team, in your backcourt, it is Mo Williams and Michael Redd. Up front, we have Bogut and Yi. Desmond (Mason) is at the small forward position and that might be something you maybe address. You appreciate Desmond for the player he is and the man he is. And you got Bobby (Simmons), so it’s not like the cupboard is bare at that position. But if you say there’s maybe one spot that maybe could be addressed, that would be the small forward position.”

BBJ: The small forward position, a scoring slot for most of Bucks history, has been all but obliterated on the last few Bucks teams. Dez doesn't shoot well enough to be the starter, Simmons' career has floundered in Milwaukee and his rehab from ankle and foot surgery has been slow. Bobby's overpaid, signed on for $20 million over the next two years. Hammond won't get much back in a trade for Simmons alone, but Simmons and Charlie Bell and a draft pick? That could net a player. Hammond could trade Redd for a small forward (say, to Dallas for Josh Howard, BrewHoop's favorite trade) which would leave no space on the bench for both Simmons and Mason. A third option is to trade Redd for guards/expiring contracts/future draft picks, and see what Bobby and Dez look like without Redd, but it doesn't sound as though Hammond is leaning that way.

Hammond could be hinting at the draft, where 19-year-old Danilo Gallinari of Italy is projected to go as high as 6th. Donte Green out of Syracuse and Chase Budinger from Arizona are also ranked in the top 16 picks. There is no room for both Simmons and Dez in this scenario, either. And, as Brewhoop reminds us, there's always Ersan, the Bucks 2005 2nd round pick, who played small forward for Barcelona this season.

Looking at the SF position is also the obvious answer for Hammond; it's a throwaway that keeps other players' names out of the trade market. If Hammond leaks names to be bandied about in trade talks, and the deals fall through, Coach Skiles could be stuck with a situation similar to the one he had last season in Chicago. Bulls GM John Paxson put half the team on the trading block in hopes of acquiring Kevin Garnett and Kobe Bryant (Kobe's attempt to trade himself), and the resulting bad vibes didn't go away. Simmons' contract ranks as one of the worst in the NBA and every team in the league knows the Bucks would love to get rid of it.

JT: Some Bucks fans believe you should blow up this team, while others believe it just needs to be tweaked. What’s your view on this matter?

Hammond: “Maybe something in between. Maybe more than a tweak, but you sure as heck wouldn’t want to blow up a team with some of the assets that are here.

BBJ: More "maybes." Players are "assets" but are not "untouchable." Wholesale changes won't be made, but only two players are the type to build around. Hammond danced around a lot of questions. The bottom line is that the Bucks have been bogged down the last few seasons with the a group guards and small forwards (Redd, Mo, Charlie Bell, Simmons and Mason) that don't win games and will cost $46 million next season -- two-thirds of the luxury tax limit -- not the salary cap, which the Bucks will exceed next season if Hammond does nothing, the luxury tax limit which will be about $69-70 million. The four bigs (Bogut, Yi, Charlie V and Gadzuric) are young with the exception of Gadz, and will be paid $20 million next season - the last year the group remains a bargain.

So what does Hammond do? Package Simmons and Bell in a trade and hope for the best? No. That's just asking to lose again and give your new head coach a season of headaches dealing with third-tier "stars."

I think the reality is that the evaluation of the team is just getting started. Hammond has been on the job a month; Skiles is in his 4th week and has already hired an impressive staff of assistant coaches. At last report the assistant contracts are still in the process of being signed and triplicated. The Bucks won't know where they're picking in the draft until the lottery May 20.

One of the holdovers from last season who kept his job was Jason Staudt, the video assistant. This is important. Staudt, one would hope, knows the equipment room and where all the tape from last year is, having invented a filing system so confusing that he cannot be replaced. My guess is that Staudt has been working harder than anyone the last few weeks, preparing an entire season's worth of evaluation video. So far, there hasn't been anyone to watch it except Skiles and Hammond. The definitive evaluations won't get started until the assistant coaches arrive to help Skiles go through it all ... and help him drink his beer.

Racine Journal TImes Hammond interview.

Can you picture Michael Redd blocking Kobe Bryant's shot? Neither can I.

Andrei Kirilenko did it twice in overtime Sunday in pivotal Game 4 against the Lakers, and the Jazz held home court in the seven-game series, winning one of the best games of the 2008 playoffs. The Lakers and Jazz now go back to LA with Kobe damaged and limping, and the series even-up at 2-2.

Utah gets mentioned quite a bit by Bucks fans as a possible trade partner for the Bucks this offseason. Bucks fans like most of the Jazz roster, for one; but the main impetus is that forward Kirilenko, the Russian AK47, asked to be traded before the season started, citing concerns about basketball life as a "robot" in Utah coach Jerry Sloan's system. Kirilenko's contract matches Redd's - 3 more years, $51 million.

I also suspect that many fans probably thought the Lakers would jettison the Jazz from the playoffs in five games, and that Utah management might panic in the offseason, a la Dallas owner Mark Cuban.

I'm with those who like this deal. Kirilenko for Redd, straight up. Done deal. AK47 would look great in a Bucks uniform. It wouldn't give the Bucks a payroll break, but GM John Hammond could (and probably will anyway) seek precious salary flexibility by finding trades for Mo Williams and/or Bobby Simmons and by appealing to Dan Gadzuric's better angels to admit that his contract is ridiculous and cut $12 million out of the remaining $20 million (over three years).

Unfortunately, there's a big roadblock to the Redd-Kirilenko trade:  It takes two NBA teams to make a player trade, and the odds of Utah being willing partners in this deal are about the same as the odds that the Jazz's Mormon owner will convert to Judaism. 

The Jazz have plenty of three-point shooters - Deron Williams, center Mehmet Okur and one of the best, Kyle Korver. Kirilenko, Matt Harpring and Ronnie Brewer are decent shooters too, but play closer to the basket, as does Carlos Boozer (no relation to Bob Boozer). With the exception of Korver, they are all hardnosed defenders, with the spidery-long arms of 6'9" Kirilenko coming in handy, especially when Kobe is playing on one leg.

The challenge in the West over the next few years is how to contend with Kobe, Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom and the Lakers. The Jazz are contending with the Lakers now, and Boozer, Okur, Kirilenko and Korver are just entering their primes. Harpring is the only Jazz player over 30 getting PT (he's 31). The younger guys, Williams, Brewer and forward Paul Millsap will only get better, and Deron's already All-NBA. Brewer, the starting shooting guard, is only 22.

I don't foresee the Jazz breaking up this team, unless it's to dump an unhappy Kirilenko to create salary cap room to pay the younger players. Point guard Williams, the #3 pick in the Bogut draft, is on the same contract schedule as the Bucks center, and gets very expensive in 2009-10 (figure a minimum 20 percent of Utah's salary cap). No way the Jazz make a trade that gives them no more cap flexibility than they have now, much less trade an active, athletic defender like Kirilenko for Michael Redd, who no one has ever accused of being any of those things.

In fact, I can't see the Jazz having any interest in any Bucks players (Mo started his career in Utah) unless it's Dan Gadzuric. Every team in the NBA could use a marauding 7-foot backup center/luxury tax burden who can run, right? 

GM Hammond's got a tough job.

After another surpisingly out-of-synch playoff performance on the road by the Boston Celtics, Celtics coach Doc Rivers finds his team in a difficult situation with its starting point guard, 21-year-old Rajon Rondo. Rondo finished with zero assists in Game 3 against the Cavaliers on Sunday and was thoroughly outplayed by the Cavs' Delonte West.

Rondo's not ready to help the Celtics win it all; that was all too clear Saturday night. On Doc's bench is the answer: the clown prince of NBA guards, Sam "I Am" Cassell, offensive genius. Yet Rivers has been slow to pull Rondo when things are going badly.

At one point in the 3rd Quarter of Saturday night's game, the ABC cameras found West on defense, playing one of the saggiest one-man zones I've seen in the NBA. He wasn't even guarding Rondo, clogging the paint instead to make life difficult for KG and Paul Pierce. As the minutes passed, the Celtics struggled to cut the lead to 15, then watched it fall back to 20. No team in the NBA would dare to not guard Sam Cassell. Yet Sam sat. Rivers finally went to Cassell at the start of the fourth quarter and the Celtics pulled to within 12, but could get no closer.

With Rondo in the game, Paul Pierce fought for shots and Ray Allen scarcely shot at all, turning playmaker when he did get the ball. Unselfish play by Ray, but that's what Rondo should have been doing, instead of driving the ball at Big Ben Wallace, Z-Ilgauskus and Lebron James. Is Rivers worried about deflating Rondo's confidence in the playoffs? Or is it a team chemistry thing because Sam is the new guy? Whatever the case, Rivers has been far too much of a players' coach where Rondo is concerned, and it's part of the reason the Atlanta series went to seven games.

It doesn't seem to matter when the Celtics are playing in the Garden, but on the road, Rivers has to be quicker to go to Sam when the offense is struggling. If Sam, at 38, wears down, go back to Rondo, but don't give Rondo the reins in the 3rd Quarter on the road -- unless Doc is willing to sacrifice a championship for an "experience" playoffs for Rondo. If the Celtics fall short of the NBA Finals (they're by no means a shoe-in for conference finals) Rivers failure to make game adjustments will be the first thing called into question.

Trust in Sam, Doc. You won't be sorry.

Steady rollin' Joe   The Celtics-Cavs series is THE one for Bucks fans. There are future Bucks to watch in Cleveland's Danny Gibson and Wally Szczerbiak ( I finally spelled it right - I think) -- How you doing on that Michael Redd, trade, Lebron?  And there are ex-Bucks to watch in Ray and Sam "I Am", and, coming off the Cleveland bench, Joe Smith (Damon Jones is on that bench too, but rarely leaves it).

Joe had a steady-rollin' game Saturday - 24 minutes, 17 points on 7/8 shooting, 6 rebounds, 4 fouls.  Smith made a couple of more shots than he normally would, but as Bucks fans know, his game was not that different than it ever was. Smith doesn't force anything, takes good shots, rebounds, plays D and gives his team a chance to win, though he won't be "the guy" winning it.

Smith, 32, came to the Bucks from the T-Wolves in the 2003 trade for Sam Cassell and Ervin Johnson. It was Ernie Grunfeld's last trade as GM, which coincided with the drafting of point guard T.J. Ford. Two weeks later, the woeful era of GM Larry Harris began. Smith started at power forward for two years, averaging 11 pts., 8 boards per game (which makes him one of the more productive power forwards in Bucks history). The following year, Smith came off the bench behind Jamal Magliore and Andrew Bogut, but was hobbled with injuries for much of the year - no doubt the effects of the Bob Boozer Jinx at work again at the Bucks PF position.

"Slickless" Larry eventually traded Smith to Denver for forward Ruben Patterson in Aug., 2006, trade #5 in a series of six dubious Larry trades that left Charlie Villanueva as the only player resource standing. Apparently Harris, never known for his patience, didn't feel like waiting for Smith to fully rehab his knee. The Bucks let Patterson go to the LA Clippers as a free agent in 1997.

In other words, in true Slickless style, the Bucks got nothing for Joe Smith. By the transitive property of the tradelines, this also means the Bucks got nothing for Sam Cassell, who, when he was traded for Smith in 2003 was under contract with the Bucks for another three seasons (at about $6 million per year) -- and should not have been traded at all.

What if the Bucks kept Sam?  Instead of drafting T.J., the Bucks draft a forward in 2003 (say, David West). Terry Porter, in his first year as coach, has a leader on the floor in Sam (who was 2nd Team All-NBA 2003-04), and a developing big forward instead of injury prone Smith. Michael Redd's development as a scorer is more natural and team-oriented, and Redd never becomes the black hole or the $51 million, three-year contract problem that he is now. Sam controls the offense; Redd's contract extension doesn't get insane. Tim Thomas is happier (for a while anyway), the Bucks win more and there's less for Slickless Larry to foul up in 2005. Terry Porter keeps his job. Let's stop there, as it's beginning to look like this topic would be better as a post of its own.

In the meantime, Sam "I Am" fans have the Celtics-Cavs series, and Joe Smith and Ray Allen too.

And there's this, which I found whilst surfing around today. It's samcassellonline.org, the unofficial Sam Cassell website, created by a few of the LA Clippers faithful. Now that's good stuff.