OT: I miss ZaZa

[Debit One]

I think going into free agency half wanted Gadz and half wanted Zaza. But once the contracts were finalized I think maybe, MAYBE 5% thought the Gadz signing was the right one. Had they received similar contracts, no big deal. But 4/16 vs. 6/36 is a huge.

Cough ... Luke ... Cough

[LUKE23]

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Cough ... Luke ... Cough

Yep. Gadz was fools gold. Zaza isn't any good either though, can I choose neither?

[Chuck Diesel]

you guys can thank Kohl for Zaza leaving the bucks.

Not exactly. Harris was absudly overconfident in signing Dan Gadzuric over Zaza, and remained that way well into the 06-07 season, passing up multiple opperunities to trade him according to the GrandAdmiral.

[El Duderino]

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I have nothing against Zaza, even enjoyed having him here when he was here.. I really loved his tough guy act.

However, at the same time, I don't see the point in getting excited over a cheap but equally unproductive player. Honestly to me, expensive garbage or cheap garbage still equals garbage.. If I am going to regret losing a player it's going to be someone who is productive and performing well consistently.. not someone who has a couple of good games here and there, but overall looked like garbage the majority of the season (just like the player we already have).

Comparing his salary to Gadzuric and saying.. "oh he's cheaper garbage and we should have kept him because our expensive garbage is underperforming" is senseless to me. I would rather try to figure out how to get a decently paid and consistently productive player on the Bucks then comparing it the way some are now.

Ditto

The only thing i regret about Harris deciding to sign Gadz instead is the contract he gave Gadzuric. I'm not exactly bumming in regret though that Zaza isn't on the Bucks.

BTW, was when we gave Gadz that horrid contract, the period of time where team were handing out full MLE contracts like they were TicTacs?

[paulpressey25]

Yes, we signed Gadz to that deal the year before some sanity came on the salary side for the MLE and non superstar players.

The year before you had the Etan Thomas deal and Brian Cardinal full-MLE deal, so Larry Harris was operating under that environment. I'm sure he said to himself that if Etan Thomas got full MLE Gadz would clearly get that offer or something even less cap favorable in an offer from the Hawks.

El Dud, weren't you on Homer's show explaining that rationale to him? I remember Homer was beside himself when the Gadz contract came down and how ludicrous it was. Of course I think Homer had the experience of seeing his boy Jim Mac get that 7-year/$35mm deal from Seattle that he never came close to earning.

[EastSideBucksFan]

Wow.


How has nobody mentioned that Zaza demanded that Harris let him walk?

Harris wanted to sign Zaza.

Zaza did not want to stay.

Bucks let him walk

That was when Bucks listened to players instead of pulling a Charlie Bell and signing them anway.

[europa]

The year before you had the Etan Thomas deal and Brian Cardinal full-MLE deal, so Larry Harris was operating under that environment. I'm sure he said to himself that if Etan Thomas got full MLE Gadz would clearly get that offer or something even less cap favorable in an offer from the Hawks.

And my response to that remains the same today as it was then:

So what?

If the Hawks wanted to massively overpay for Gadz, here's what you do if you're Larry Harris ...

LET THEM.

The fact so many other teams made foolish financial decisions with average or less-than-average players never meant the Bucks had to. The fact they had a younger, cheaper and more talented alternative made it even more foolish that Harris opted to overpay for Gadz. And that's not taking into account the fact they had just drafted Bogut who was going to be their center of the future in all probability.

There's simply no excuse for Harris bungling the Gadz situation as badly as he did. There was no pressing need to keep Gadz and certainly no sound reason why he should have gotten a 6/$36M deal. It was a poor decision and it's hampered the Bucks ever since.

[EastSideBucksFan]

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And my response to that remains the same today as it was then:

So what?

If the Hawks wanted to massively overpay for Gadz, here's what you do if you're Larry Harris ...

LET THEM.

The fact so many other teams made foolish financial decisions with average or less-than-average players never meant the Bucks had to. The fact they had a younger, cheaper and more talented alternative made it even more foolish that Harris opted to overpay for Gadz. And that's not taking into account the fact they had just drafted Bogut who was going to be their center of the future in all probability.

There's simply no excuse for Harris bungling the Gadz situation as badly as he did. There was no pressing need to keep Gadz and certainly no sound reason why he should have gotten a 6/$36M deal. It was a poor decision and it's hampered the Bucks ever since.

Yep, we really need to fire Larry Harris

[ReasonablySober]

Wow.


How has nobody mentioned that Zaza demanded that Harris let him walk?

Harris wanted to sign Zaza.

Zaza did not want to stay.

Bucks let him walk

That was when Bucks listened to players instead of pulling a Charlie Bell and signing them anway.

I'd never heard this version. Interesting.

[vlietinho]

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I'd never heard this version. Interesting.

I thought Zaza demanded to start.. at least that's what I heard back in those days.

[jerrod]

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I thought Zaza demanded to start.. at least that's what I heard back in those days.

that's what i thought too

he wanted a starting job

[Buck You]

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that's what i thought too

he wanted a starting job

That sure worked out well for him.

[EastSideBucksFan]

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I thought Zaza demanded to start.. at least that's what I heard back in those days.

Right, Zaza wanted a promise that he would be a starter.

Harris wouldn't give him that promise.

So he signed the offer sheet with the Hawks and told Harris not to match it.

[paulpressey25]

You guys are mixing some of the elements of ZaZa.

Kohl didn't allow Larry to match because we wanted salary flexibility in the coming two years, knowing we'd have to sign Mo and TJ. Kohl told him he could only afford one, Gadz or ZaZa. Larry kept thinking somehow he'd use car salesmen ZaZa into taking a cheaper deal to stay here, one that fit Kohl's budget. Part of that sales job was trying to sell ZaZa that taking a short deal with the Bucks would mitigate him playing on a team with both Bogut and Gadz. i.e. he could be a FA sooner with the Bucks.

ZaZa didn't want to take a shorter and/or smaller deals the Bucks were offering only to sit behind both Bogut AND Gadz. ZaZa did want an opportunity, but his leaving was more a function of Gadz and Kohl's budget.