| Jennings might be the only Buck unavailable in trade talks. (Getty Images) |
Are the Bucks coming or going? There's no real telling. They went from the second-best team in the East at one point to .500 but had some signature wins as well. They parted ways with coach Scott Skiles but haven't fallen apart, either. They have Brandon Jennings, who will be a restricted free agent this summer after the Bucks elected not to extend him, and Monta Ellis, who has an early termination option for next season.
So are they going to go in a different direction? Hold steady with Jim Boylan? An ESPN report said that they are open for business at the trade table.
The Milwaukee Bucks are frequently nominated by insiders surveyed as one of the teams most likely to make a move between now and the deadline. Thats even though Milwaukee has essentially just reopened a new phase of evaluating its own players after parting ways Monday with Scott Skiles and installing Jim Boylan as interim coach.
Sources close to the situation stress, however, that restricted free agent-to-be Brandon Jennings is the least likely Buck to be dealt in-season, even though Milwaukee declined to sign Jennings to a contract extension between July 1 and Halloween when it had the chance.
via NBA -- Latest NBA trade chatter - ESPN.
The Bucks do have movable pieces. Samuel Dalembert is a capable center, and bigs are always in demand for playoff pushes. John Henson, Ekpe Udoh, Larry Sanders, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, Drew Gooden, Beno Udrih -- you want role players on manageable contracts, you can get them. Even Ellis is a reasonable deal for a half year with the option to let him go in free agency if it doesn't work out.
Milwaukee might hang tight and might make drastic changes. With general manager John Hammond still without a contract for next year, the situation is just too unstable to predict.