MILWAUKEE -- Two weeks after the third-year option on his rookie contract wasn't picked up, Milwaukee forward Joe Alexander says he wants to be traded.
Alexander's 2010-11 option for $2.76 million was not picked up by the Nov. 2 deadline, making him an unrestricted free agent next summer. In an interview with FanHouse before Tuesday's win over the Nets at the Bradley Center, Alexander was asked if he believes that means the Bucks could deal him as the February trade deadline approaches.
"They made it pretty clear that they don't see me having a future here,'' said Alexander, the No. 8 pick in the 2008 draft who averaged 4.7 points last season as a rookie. "So I'm assuming a trade would definitely be one of the options.''
Bucks general manager John Hammond confirmed to the Journal Sentinel earlier that he will not match the Minnesota Timberwolves' four-year, $16.4 million offer sheet for Sessions.
The Timberwolves signed Sessions to an offer sheet after they failed to lure point guard Ricky Rubio, whom they selected with the No. 5 pick in the June draft, over to the NBA from Europe.
Sessions, a restricted free agent, last Friday signed a four-year, $16-million offer sheet with the Timberwolves that the Bucks have until the close of the business day Friday to match. Sessions' agent, James "Chubby'' Wells, doesn't believe they will.
"We don't think they're going to match,'' Wells told FanHouse on Wednesday. "That would put them in luxury-tax territory. I feel pretty confident that they're not going to match."
LAS VEGAS -- Under the NBA transaction radar was Milwaukee's signing of second-round pick Jodie Meeks to a three-year deal this week, a money-saving deal for an organization looking to improve and remain economical at the same time.
The Bucks have just six players signed beyond the 2009-10 season and that includes Michael Redd's $18.3 million player option for 2010-11. If he doesn't exercise that option, he could become part of the esteemed free-agent class of 2010. General manager John Hammond is attempting to replace the departed Charlie Villanueva, waiting for teams to offer restricted free agent Ramon Sessions a contract and hoping that Andrew Bogut returns healthy from back surgery.
Milwaukee is one of those fiscally challenged teams trying to survive in today's economy, a situation so bad that Charlotte and Miami passed on summer league teams while New Jersey and Philadelphia shared a squad in Orlando.
As if being traded twice in one day wasn't enough, Oberto should probably wait by the phone; his contract is only partially guaranteed, meaning the Pistons have the option of waiving him before July 1 and only be on the hook for $1.9 million of the $3.8 million he'd otherwise be owed.
Andrew Bogut has agreed on a five-year deal that could be worth up to $72.5 million, including $60 million of guaranteed money. That's not quite as much per year as Chris Paul (who was selected three spots below Bogut in 2005 and recently agreed to a four-year, $68 million deal), but it's certainly a hefty raise and will easily set him up for life. Bogut is in Australia at the moment preparing for the Olympics with his country's national team, but he's expected to fly to the U.S. so he can officially put pen to paper on Friday.
It's still unclear what Hammond's master plan looks like (will Michael Redd remain part of the picture? will Ramon Sessions supplant Mo Williams as the team's point guard of the future), but locking up his up-and-coming big man was a no-brainer. Sure, the Bucks would probably take Paul or Deron Williams if given a do-over on the 2005 draft, but if Bogut continues to improve at his current pace he could be an All-Star this coming season.
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.
What about the Bulls? Carlisle and Van Gundy are tied with 7:4 odds, followed by Fratello at 7:2, Terry Porter at 9:2 , Thibodeau at 6:1 and Mark Jackson at 8:1. Personally, I'd peg Carlisle as the favorite to land with the Bucks over the Bulls due to his history working with John Hammond, but all in all I can't disagree with these odds.
But what about the Knicks job? This is where it gets interesting. In talking with a contact from Bodog over email, I was told Bodog almost didn't post any odds on candidates since "Jackson is such a prohibitive favorite." What they settled on was a straight-up question: "Will Mark Jackson be named the new head coach of the New York Knicks?" The only option bettors can select is "no," which pays +150. In other words, which means they're so sure he's going to get the job they're not willing to risk a single dollar for people wanting to bet "yes," no matter how long the odds.
Granted, all of this might change once Donnie Walsh starts bringing in candidates to interview, but it's interesting that the snap judgment from a company whose business is based on making correct guesses is that the job is absolutely Jackson's to lose.
The video is already a few days old, but it's still relevant considering Ramon Sessions set another career-high by scoring 25 points to go along with 14 assists in Milwaukee's season finale against the Timberwolves. Now, I imagine most of you probably just asked yourself, Ramon who?
Well, in case you haven't been paying attention (and I understand if you haven't been -- the Bucks did end the season on an eight-game losing streak), Sessions is Milwaukee's rookie point guard who's come out of complete obscurity to average a double-double the last month of the season (11.3 points and 11.3 assists), including an obscene 20 point, 24 assist performance earlier this week. For more, read up on BrewHoop.
You want to know the crazy part? He didn't even make his NBA debut until March 9th, instead spending most of the league terrorizing the D-League. Seriously, Larry Harris, you deserved to be fired just for that. Needless to say, but I'm guessing the first order of business for new GM John Hammond is putting Charlie Bell squarely on the trading block.
Bill Simmons dream of running an NBA franchise may have hit a little speed bump today. And by "speed bump" I mean it has been totally derailed. The Milwaukee Bucks, according to Marc Stein, have reached an agreement to "lure" John Hammond away from the Detroit Pistons to run their front office.
Hammond's first task in Milwaukee, according to sources, will be hiring a veteran coach to help the Bucks make a firm assessment of their talent after a group expected to compete for a playoff berth in the Eastern Conference woefully underachieved in Larry Krystkowiak's first full season on the bench.
Sources say Hammond is expected to make a strong push to hire former Pistons coach Rick Carlisle. Working as an ESPN analyst this season after leaving the Indiana Pacers, Carlisle is also widely considered as a strong candidate to coach the Chicago Bulls next season.
If you are a Bucks fan -- even one that was staunchly behind the potential of the Sports Guy experiment -- you have to be thrilled right now. Hammond has resisted overtures for quite a while now -- and it appeared he was resisting Milwaukee's as well -- and in case you don't watch basketball, he and Joe Dumars put together a decent team in Detroit for the past few years.
Maybe it's just me, but assuming that nothing else changes (which it probably will) and Hammond and Carlisle get hired (I don't see why not) but the Bucks are immediately about 10 times more respectable than they were yesterday. Or would have been if they'd let the Sports Guy run the team. It will be interesting, of course, to see how much leeway Herb Kohl will give Hammond, but you have to think that if he agreed to move to a rebuilding project of his own, he's at least getting more or less carte-b to make the Bucks decent again.
MILWAUKEE -- Two weeks after the third-year option on his rookie contract wasn't picked up, Milwaukee forward Joe Alexander says he wants to be traded.
It's official: 
Barring an unexpected 11th-hour move by Milwaukee, guard 
LAS VEGAS -- Under the NBA transaction radar was Milwaukee's signing of second-round pick 
Just hours after being 
Who's going to be the new coach in Milwaukee? The 
