May have already been posted.
Milwaukee: C+
What are the Bucks doing? That's been the question everyone around the league has spent all week trying to figure out. Milwaukee was as active as anyone, and reportedly in discussions to trade for Josh Smith as part of a three-way trade until just before the deadline. Those talks broke down, but the Bucks still made the biggest splash of any team by acquiring Redick.
Despite Redick nominally being a rental -- he's in the last year of a contract -- it's somewhat unclear how much this trade will help Milwaukee the rest of the way. That will depend on how interim head coach Jim Boylan manages his revamped backcourt. The Bucks don't have a true backup for Brandon Jennings at the point after dealing Udrih, which presumably means Redick and Monta Ellis will share ballhandling duties as part of a three-guard rotation. If that's a win, it's not by much. The clearer upgrade comes when Redick takes Ellis' minutes, giving Milwaukee a more efficient option at shooting guard. Our Bradford Doolittle estimated that change adding about a win to the Bucks' bottom line.
The more interesting question is what Milwaukee does this summer. Assuming Ellis opts out of his contract, the Bucks have the option of using the amnesty provision to clear Drew Gooden's salary off the books and cut their cap figure to about $44 million. (Trading Ayon or turning down his player option saves nearly another million.) That means Milwaukee could offer Smith somewhere in the neighborhood of $15-17 million as a free agent, which might be the best offer he gets, while still re-signing Jennings and Redick.
The Bucks would have to skimp on filling out the roster to stay under the luxury-tax threshold, but a starting lineup of Jennings, Redick, Smith, Ersan Ilyasova and Larry Sanders is an intriguing mix. That might even be good enough to earn home-court advantage in the East. Of course, Smith might not really be interested in playing in Milwaukee, and giving up the promising Harris remains an expensive price for the right to pay Redick fair-market value this summer. So the Bucks don't grade out much better than if they had done nothing at all.
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