FanHouse DanGadzuric

Crystal Ballin' takes a team-by-team look at what should, could, and probably will happen in the June 26th NBA Draft.

The Bucks' have a lot of issues heading into this off-season, and most of them revolve around below average talent (Bobby Simmons and Dan Gadzuric) receiving above average dollars ($16M next season). The team needs to begin getting its roster in better shape for the coming seasons, and the draft may be able to help them do that via trade.

Picks: #8, #37.

Needs: Small forward is the glaring need, but some roster cohesiveness would be nice too.

Best case scenario: That the Bucks use the eighth pick to entice a team to take back one of their bad contracts.

After dismissing Larry Harris from the role of general manager yesterday, Herb Kohl spoke to the press about Harris' limitations, or at least the implied notion that Kohl did not give Harris much leeway for making roster related transactional moves. Specifically, Kohl stated that he did veto a Zach Randolph to Milwaukee deal; but also said that he and Harris were on the same page all along.

"Larry has no difficulty or animosity with me over the right I had to say, 'Let's not do the Zach Randolph trade,' " Kohl said. "He would not bring that up to you as any point of contention. He would say, 'Yes, he had the right to do that, whether I agree or not.' "

Nothing smells finer on an early Thursday morning than a little politician double talk. Am I right? What Kohl essentially is saying, at least to me, is that he told Harris he was not going to trade for Randolph (purportedly for Charlie Bell, Dan Gadzuric and Bobby Simmons). And Harris won't contend that Kohl's veto power was outside any scope of normal behavior. Go figure.

Kohl's also discussed his reasoning for not wanting Z-Bo, which, not so shockingly, came down to character issues. Bear in mind that Randolph has a large contract and has had personal issues on/off court, but at least he's better than Gadzuric and Simmons combined.

With the NBA trade deadline looming, Trade Machinations rounds up real rumors (and creates fake ones) of moves that'd make the NBA a better, brighter place.

There's a rumor floating around the New York Post that the Knicks came to the Bucks and offered Zach Randolph plus expiring contract former dunk champion Fred Jones for Dan Gadzuric, Charlie Bell and Bobby Simmons. And apparently the Bucks rejected it. Which seems odd to me.

Also, a league source told The News that the Bucks' owner, Milwaukee Sen. Herb Kohl, yesterday rejected a trade that would have sent Randolph and either Fred Jones or Jared Jeffries to Milwaukee for a package including Bobby Simmons, Charlie Bell and Dan Gadzuric, who all have long-term contracts.

Milwaukee GM Larry Harris, who may be let go at season's end, is eager to make a deal to help his struggling team and presented a similar package to Kohl in January. However, Kohl is reluctant to approve any trades Harris brings to him. The Knicks and Bucks have tried to orchestrate several trades this season, including one that would have featured Stephon Marbury.

Now, getting back Z-Bo and Jones wouldn't be anything that the Bucks should consider a "prize haul", but if you can get a player as talented as Randolph and in the process free up a huge chunk of salary, well, don't you want to make that deal, regardless of how much of a lame duck Larry Harris is? Don't get me wrong -- I'm the biggest Chuck Bell fan on the planet, and Simmons scored a bunch of points for the Clippers one time ... but you gotta make this deal. Bell's contract is great because he's locked up cheaply for a long time, but the Bucks don't start him. And Gadzuric averages less points and rebounds per game than millions he makes per year (five something). Simmons can't stay healthy and he's fairly one dimensional anyway (plus, he makes NINE million this year!!). Look, Randolph is crazy, but not this crazy.

Okay, so the Bucks aren't going after Zach Randolph. According to the The Journal Times, they've also decided to pass on pursuing Ron Artest.

What are their plans? To try and trade Charlie Villanueva, Bobby Simmons, Charlie Bell, and Dan Gadzuric and hope they can get someone to bite. Simmons and Gadzuric are grossly overpaid, and Bell was until recently having one of the worst seasons ever. But there's some talent there, so who knows.

Then again, maybe they should get in line. The article's got a list of the other NBA players assumed to be available before the deadline, and it's kind of mind-boggling:

New Jersey guard Jason Kidd, Philadelphia guard Andre Miller, Memphis forward-center Pau Gasol, Memphis swingman Mike Miller, Lakers forward Lamar Odom, Cleveland guard Larry Hughes, Sacramento point guard Mike Bibby, Phoenix power forward-center Amare Stoudemire, Phoenix forward Shawn Marion, Atlanta forward Josh Smith, Chicago small forwards Luol Deng and Andres Nocioni, Chicago center Ben Wallace, Denver forwards Kenyon Martin and Nene, Houston shooting guard Tracy McGrady, Seattle power forward Chris Wilcox, Seattle point guard Luke Ridnour, Miami swingman Ricky Davis, Miami point guard Jason Williams and virtually anyone on the New York Knicks not named David Lee.

This is nothing new, and some of these are suspect. But seeing it all in one place is pretty dizzying.