@Chris_Broussard: Brandon Jennings told me today he’ll strongly consider leaving Bucks for big market team

It’s a great article that actually shows the problem with today’s NBA. Pretty much it goes like this, Brandon enjoys playing in Milwaukee but he’s not going to think twice about a larger market. Can anyone blame him after seeing what’s happened with LeBron James, Chris Bosh, Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony and possibly Dwight Howard? No you can’t.

The players have to do what they have to do for their financial future. They’ll be set on base salary thanks to the max contract he can get from the Bucks but being in Milwaukee will he ever see big endorsement deals? Hell no. So you can’t blame him for wanting to go after those dollars.

Here’s some quotes from the ESPN article.

“It has nothing to do with the city of Milwaukee or anything like that because that’s where I started my career,” Jennings said. “They’ve been nothing but good to me. (Coach) Scott Skiles and (general manager) John Hammond have been good to me. It’s just that I’m understanding the business of basketball now.” (ESPN.com)

“I am going to keep my options open, knowing that the time is coming up,” Jennings said in an email interview. “I’m doing my homework on big market teams.”(ESPN.com)

“I’m not saying I won’t (sign an extension with the Bucks) and I’m not saying I will,” he said. “I’m just keeping my options open.”(ESPN.com)

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. If Milwaukee ever gets to the point where they have to trade them they should get an insane haul for the 22-year old. Hopefully it doesn’t come to that would love to see him stay in Milwaukee.

The one things that fans should be thankful for he’s going to play hard as long as he’s a Milwaukee Buck. This is one kid I believe what he says.

“I’m going to keep playing hard every night for the Bucks as long as I’m there,” Jennings said. “I’m not promising that’s where my future will be. I will make sure me and (agent Bill Duffy) look at all the best options.”(ESPN.com)

I’m getting greedy though and thinking damn how good would he look in a New York Knicks uniform?

First is Wipeout now on truTV one of the funniest shows on TV.

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Like I said there were more impressive plays but lets enjoy the moment with Zaza, he finally got his dunk on.

Here’s what happened during the second quarter when Bill Walker absolutely posterized Bogut.

After that most players would back down but not Andrew. During the third quarter he blocked an Amare Stoudemire drive and then hustled down the court. How was he rewarded? Brandon Jennings dropped a behind the back pass to him for his own monster dunk.

Yea, Childress helped bring the Greek Cup to the organization but thanks to some new tax laws in the country he’s become a little too expensive for them. See his $20 million contract is AFTER taxes, which means his cost to the team is that much more. Under the current tax laws his contract is actually $32.5 million but when the new laws go into effect that number will sky rocket.

The new tax laws in Greece will double the tax rate of basketball players. I’m not quite sure why the country is singling them out, other then the insane amount of money that is paid to international players to come to the country. So you can see why the Olympiakos management would love it if he opts out. I wouldn’t be surprised if they gave him some sort of buy out to to do so.

The decision maker for Childress won’t be any tax laws but if he could find a solid job in the NBA. In the AJC article they report that Atlanta Hawks general manager Rick Sund is going to extend a $4.8 million qualifying offer to make sure the team retains his rights.

The moves makes sense for the Hawks. If Childress decides he wants to come home but not play for the Hawks they can use him as trade bait in a very talent rich trade market.

Childress’ stock has gone up with his international experience so he should be able to get some team to offer a contract worth more then the qualifying offer AND be willing to trade with the Hawks for him.

The real question is how much does Childress value himself? Last year he did turn down a $5.5 million offer from the Milwaukee Bucks as he’s due to make $6.5 million in Greece.

We’ll get things going with an alley-oop in the Sacramento Kings / Washington Wizards game. This went from being an ugly bouncing ball all over the court play on the Washington end of the court to a nice simple alley-oop from Tyreke Evans to Spencer Hayes on the other end.

Next up we’ve got one from the King, Lebron James. He made a steal against the Los Angeles Clippers and took the rock coast to coast himself with a powerful jam on the finish. He tried to do the ol’ jump from the free throw line but took one huge step to much to make it happen. When you watch his speed on this play you’ll see that the dunk wasn’t even the most impressive part.

Got another alley-oop for you today. The Ronnie’s out in Utah took it to the Milwaukee Bucks on this play. Ronnie Price made the pretty sweet pass from long range and Ronnie Brewer slammed it home.

When it comes to plays in the post one of my favorite is the putback dunk, preferably the power ones that shake the rim and make all the defenders underneath feel like shit. Well, Amare Stoudemire did just that last night against the Charlotte Bobcats, too bad his team was the one getting embarrassed at that time.

This next one probably included the most star power of any of the dunks today. It involved Rudy Gay and Tim Duncan. Duncan played some help defense in the post and I’d have to say it was pretty weak at that.

Finally is the dunk that NBATV chose as their Dunk of the Night. It comes from Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat. It was a steal in the back court taken all the way down for the one handed jam. It was nice, I just don’t know if it was really the Dunk of the Night thou. What do you think?

“Cleveland definitely is not a bad spot. I’ve played with LeBron. I played with LeBron in the McDonald’s All-American Game, and we played well together. Is there a possibility? Yes. Will it happen? Time will tell”, Villanueva said at ESPN.

Villanueva’s first choice is actually to stay in Milwaukee. And who can blame him with the success he’s had there? Last season he averaged 16.7 points and 6.7 rebounds over 26:53 minutes a game. Not bad numbers at all for the 25-year old power forward. I’m sure the Bucks would love to have him back but the problem is purely financial.

“I understand the situation Milwaukee is in financially,” Villanueva told Freddie Coleman. “They don’t want to go over the cap or what not (actually the luxury tax level). Whatever team decides to make the best offer, I’m going to think about it.

It’s a shame that that’s the case, especially for the fans. Yea, the Bucks were a dismal 34-48 but there are certain players you should bring back, Villanueva being one of them. Charlie was easily one of the teams best players, I can’t even count how many times ESPN would focus on him while showing Bucks highlights. I’m sure a majority of the fans who actually showed up were waiting for his highlight reel dunks.

But hey what can you do when general manager John Hammond is cheap and says the team won’t pay the luxury tax just to re-sign players. It’s so bad in Milwaukee the team might not even make the $4.6 qualifying offer to Charlie. If that happens the team won’t even get a chance to match other offers made.

What sucks for you Buck fans is that Cleveland is really a possibility for a player on the verge of stardom. I know I’d hate it if my Knicks trade David Lee or Nate Robinson to a rival, especially when that rival is a championship contender. But with it looking like Cleveland’s Anderson Varejao heading for free agency that Cavs could come calling.

Varejao can opt-out of his current contract and appears to be leaning that way. He’s set to earn $6.2 million this season but after setting career highs with 8.6 and 7.2 rebounds a game he’ll be looking for a raise. Crazy, I know. But with that being said Charlie would be the perfect replacement.

Here’s the reasons why.

Versatility – Charlie is probably one of the most versatile big men in the game. He’s 6’11 but a light 230 pounds. He’s got speed and size. He can play inside or outside, on the offensive and defensive ends. He’s a match-up nightmare. A perfect fit for Cleveland.

Defense – Villanueva is never going to be considered with one of the best defenders in the NBA, I don’t even know if you can say he’s above average. But he does bring a level of toughness to a unit, he can block the occasional shot, steal the occasional ball but something more importantly. Because of his versatility you can use him to guard the tall big guy on the perimeter (a Rashard Lewis) or the big guy in the middle (a Dwight Howard). Areas where the Cavs lacked.

“I think I would be able to help out a lot,” Villanueva said, “just the fact I bring my versatility and create mismatch problems. One of the reasons Orlando is in the Finals is because of Rashard Lewis. They have a legitimate big man (Dwight Howard) that demands attention, and they surround him with guys that can play on the perimeter.”

Offense – Charlie enjoyed his best offensive season in the NBA with those 16.2 points a game. More importantly he continued to develop his long range game, by averaging 34.5% from the 3-point line, the highest in his career. The confidence he gained in the shot was evident to as he averaged more then three shots behind the arc.

Scoring is something the Cavaliers really lacked against the Magic. LeBron did his thing but he didn’t get much help anywhere else. Charlie can definitely help there as teams have to respect his game. He’s not Mo Williams, he’s not Varejao, he’s not Delonte West. When Villanueva gets the ball and he’s got a decent look he’s not always going to look for LeBron he’ll take the shot. And when James is on the bench, they’ll still be a legit threat on the court.

There are no guarantees this will happen, but with Charlie already showing his interest I’m sure the Cavs will give him a call. Two main reasons. One it gives LeBron another weapon and possibly enough help to make him consider staying in Cleveland himself. Two if LeBron bolts in 2010 it leaves Cleveland with a proven scorer.

First up to discuss is Villanueva. The Bucks desperately would like to move up in the draft, #3 pick specifically, to possibly select point guard OJ Mayo. The Minnesota Timberwolves hold that pick, and wouldn’t mind moving down in the draft if it could also net them a solid veteran as the team has many holes to fill. Another possibility is to trade Villanueva to a team further down in the draft, and then use their two picks to move up. Golden State holds the 14th pick in the draft and has expressed interest before in Villanueva.

Second, Mo Williams. If a trade was to go down with Villanueva or Minnesota in general then Williams becomes expendable. The team would likely draft Mayo, and that would create two point guards worthy of starting. With the salary that Mo has, $35 million over 4 years would make him somewhat easy to move.

Lastly, Michael Redd. There’s been much discussion about him in past weeks, we’ve even talked about the possibilities of him being sent to the Cleveland Cavaliers. From the sounds of things thou interest in Redd has been growing, notably the Los Angeles Clippers and the New York Knicks. Ideally, the Bucks would like to clear salary cap if they did move Redd, but there is a possibility of a Redd for Zach Randolph swap with the Knicks. The two have pretty similar contracts so money wise it wouldn’t be too difficult to work out. The problem would be for the Knicks to convince the Bucks to take Randolph and his personality. Rumor has it that Randolph was just involved in another bar fight so who knows where that goes. There is no doubt that Zach can play thou, averaging a double-double last year for the lowly Knicks, playing in the Bucks front court would give the team a pretty solid front line.

So there are plenty of rumors right now swirling around the Milwaukee Bucks. I’m not quite sure if any of these deals will wind up going through, but it’s definitely looking like something will happen. If all three of these wind up in Bucks uniforms come training camp I’ll be pretty surprised. I tell you what thou, I wouldn’t mind seeing Redd in the Knicks offense next season.

Here’s a link to the Racine Journal-Times for more Bucks news.

The first reason to think a trade is possible, is the new regime in Milwaukee. The Bucks have a new coach, a new general manager and are officially in rebuilding mode. Redd is currently costing the Bucks $50 million over the next 3 seasons, something that could really handcuff a team trying to rebuild. There’s strong talk that the Bucks would like to shed themselves of this contract. What makes Redd even more expendable with that, is the fact that he is coming off his worst season since 2002-03, only scoring 22.7 points per game, a 4 point drop off from the previous season.

The Cavaliers seem like an obvious destination as the team needs a legitimate scorer to take pressure off Lebron James. The two even have experience playing with each other from their time on Team USA. The Cavs would possibly have the best back court in the Eastern Conference if a deal could be worked out. They’d have Redd and Delonte West at the guard positions, with James manning the small forward position. Pretty explosive.

The problem is thou, what do the Cavs have that they could offer to the Bucks.

First and foremost would be Wally Szczerbiak. Szczerbiak’s contract is currently at $13 million and expires after next season, something rebuilding teams always like. If a deal were to be worked out, he’d obviously be the center piece and a must.

Another expiring contract is Damon Jones at $4.5 million. Anderson Varejao who will make $5.8 also expires but he does hold a player option for 2009-2010. Varejao would be an interesting situation with that because its almost a one-year tryout with the Bucks on his part. Varejao wants out of Cleveland, he doesn’t want to split time with Ben Wallace. The Bucks do need an inside presence, and at his current salary, he wouldn’t be to much of a burden if he decided to pick up his player option. What he would most likely do is try the team out, if he’s not happy he opts out becomes a free agent, and then both player and team win.

A deal like this could be pretty good for the Cavs, but if it happens who knows its pretty speculative at this point. Personally thou, I do believe the Cavs need to find another scoring presence to take pressure off Lebron. If that doesn’t happen, this team will never be as good as it truly can. Here’s the link to the Akron Beacon-Journal article as it goes much more in depth.

Let me know what deals you think the Cavs should make. This is a big start to the NBA off-season rumor mill.