Grantland: Bucks "Sensible" Team To Pursue Rudy Gay

[europa]

Rudy Gay is reportedly available for trade (again) and Grantland lists the Bucks among the teams who make sense to pursue him. It's pure speculation and Zach Lowe even says he doesn't think the Bucks would get in the mix for Gay but I agree they make a ton of sense as a team he'd be a good fit with. Here's the writeup:

Milwaukee Bucks

Other teams are trying to figure out whether Milwaukee prefers Monta Ellis or Brandon Jennings long-term, but Ellis’s semi-expiring contract could work as a “best of both worlds” centerpiece for the Grizz. Ellis doesn’t bring the reliable long-range shooting Memphis sorely needs, but he can be a productive scoring guard under the right circumstances, even if he’s sort of a super-charged Jerryd Bayless. The Grizz need some creativity off the bench, and they have plenty of defensive stalwarts to cover for one sieve. A package of Ellis and Doron Lamb works and gets Memphis under the tax. The Bucks could put seldom-used Tobias Harris in Lamb’s spot, giving Memphis a promising small forward and opening up the wing a bit more for Gay.

Small forward is already very crowded in Milwaukee, with Mike Dunleavy Jr., Marquis Daniels, and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute splitting minutes. Dealing Ellis would leave a giant hole at shooting guard, but it’s the kind of move a team in Milwaukee’s place — small market, unattractive to elite free agents — might make with the future in mind more than the present. If you can’t get an “A” star with the kind of cap room Milwaukee might have this summer, why not take a shot at an overpaid “B” star in the hope he develops into an “A-” guy on your dime? Milwaukee’s cap room for this summer depends on Ellis declining his own player option anyway, and the Bucks could make up the difference between Ellis’s deal and Gay’s by using the amnesty provision (remember that?) on Drew Gooden.

The Bucks have never liked the idea of paying Gooden (or anyone else) to go away, and my hunch is that they're not likely to get involved with Memphis here. But there might be a workable deal, especially if Gay wants out of the ultra-competitive Western Conference.

http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-trian ... ll-he-land

[ampd]

Gay has been inefficient this season and if we can buy low on a player like that who would fit perfectly with our team, I can't see not doing it.

[paulpressey25]

As always, the problem with Gay is he is a Michael Redd/RJ level player who is being paid a superstar max. (and he's maybe not as good as prime Redd/RJ)

He's owed $16, $18 and $19 over three years including this one. The good news is that he's only got three years left.

The trade from our standpoint has major financial consequences if done as proposed. We would send out about $11.650 million and take back about $16.460 million, so it just works under the cap for this year. But next year we'd be back to the Michael Redd problem. 1/3rd the cap tied up in one guy who isn't a needle mover.

Gay shot the ball horribly in December. Well off his career averages. My guess is that we'd exchange one chucker for a slightly better chucker who makes a lot more money.

http://espn.go.com/nba/player/gamelog/_ ... 5/rudy-gay

I could be talked into this if Gooden's salary is jettisoned in this type of deal. Also, who plays guard for us? Lowe is off base in thinking Tobias can play guard.

[europa]

Gay has been inefficient this season and if we can buy low on a player like that who would fit perfectly with our team, I can't see not doing it.

The decline in efficiency is concerning but I think he'll bounce back and return to more career norms as the season goes on. I've always liked his talent and while he is an overpaid "B" like Press says I also agree with Lowe in saying this is likely the best way for a team like the Bucks (who adamantly oppose a full-blown tank) to get someone who could be a high-impact player.

As far as who would play SG you could go with Dunleavy or Udrih or perhaps make another trade (Ilyasova and Dunleavy perhaps) to land a new starter or a capable stopgap. Neither Dunleavy nor Beno are ideal obviously but the current SG can't defend Yi's chair so it's not like you'd be downgrading on that end of the court.

[DocHoliday]

Do not want, but it fits the Hammond "plan."

[paulpressey25]

Trade Dalembert for Morrow or Devin Harris and now you've got your guard replacement.

These two trades would change the team direction a bit and juice up the scoring.

Again asterisk that I'd prefer to go after Pau if available than this option.

But I still think we need to drop Gooden in any Memphis deal.

[PkrsBcksGphsMqt]

I'd prefer to avoid taking on any medium-long term big salary players in the hopes that it makes it easier to find someone to buy the team by the end of the season. Who knows how likely that is, but I'd still cling to that shred of hope.

[ampd]

Gay gives us our half court iso scorer. He is a bit redundant in Memphis since they have Zach and Gasol to do that, and his strength is not spot up 3 point shooting.

As for a guard we can either play Daniels there or make a move for a guy like Morrow to give us more shooting (which frankly we should do anyway).

[Nebula1]

ugh I knew this was coming. Rudy has been okay this season but not good enough and the Grizz can't break through to the WCF unless he takes a step up in his game. However, he has been injured as of late which has slowed him down.

In the end I don't think the Bucks will be the team he lands on since they're not good trading partners outside a 3 way deal. I do wonder if Granger could be part of a Gay package.

Obviously the Grizz have a big hole at SF to fill upon Gay's departure. I think an Atlanta deal is probably a decent idea.

[ampd]

I don't particularly care if we jettison Gooden or not in a deal like this. If we are tied to win-now, this is the type of trade we need to be looking for and aggressively pursue.

[coolhandluke121]

If the Bucks have a chance to trade Ellis and one decent prospect for Gay, they need to jump on that. They can fix the roster imbalances later.

Actually, scratch that. They shouldn't trade for a young all-star sf because they have Marquis Daniels.

[EastSideBucksFan]

Bucks will never be able to sign a better player than Rudy Gay and if people are trashing this organization for failing to take a risk on Zach Randolph then they should be the same people that want us to take the plunge and go after Rudy Gay in hopes that he can take his game to another level in a different system. Unfortunately, I don't think Skiles is the guy to take his game to the next level.

But I would certainly give up Monta Ellis & Lamb for him and if we could dump Gooden too then all the better.

Following up with a move of Dalembert for Morrow would give us some real good size & scoring at the wing positions.

[N8Frog]

Ellis/Gooden for Gay/Wroten

It's a big contract to take on though...

[Lippo]

Ellis/Gooden for Gay/Wroten

It's a big contract to take on though...

throw in a future prot 1st and done deal IMO.

Love Wroten's potential and could be the next Blodsoe

[N8Frog]

Gay is actually 19th in the NBA in defensive rating right now as well.