20 Years ago - Bucks Summer of 2005

[humanrefutation]

Thinking about this summer brings back a memory. I was in my first year of college at Marquette (before transferring to UW). I got on Facebook, back when it was still a new thing. I added Bogut as a Facebook friend. I was not 100% sure it was the real Bogut, but what sold me was him posting some messages in Croatian.

Anyway, one night, I got a message from a classmate from MU that I did not know personally. She was an attractive woman. She told me that Bogut had been sending her messages on Facebook, and she saw we were Facebook friends, and she wanted to know if that was really him. I told her that I wasn't totally sure, and she should be careful.

Flash forward a few weeks. I'm working at Mayfair Mall in a cell phone kiosk. It wasn't uncommon to see professional athletes walking through Mayfair. So, I wasn't totally blown away when I saw Andrew Bogut approaching from a distance. But what did surprise me was seeing the attractive woman from Facebook walking alongside him, as if they were on some sort of date. She saw me and smiled sheepishly. I had to stifle laugher as they passed by.

[Ruben Quevedo]

Man did I love TJ Ford. I remember thinking CP3 was the best player in the draft but I wanted Marv because we already had TJ. His injury was such a bummer.

Ford
Redd
Simmons
Bogut
Magloire

On paper that was a really exciting (and young) 5.

[DanoMac]

Obviously I love that we've been a contender now for 7+ years, wouldn't trade that for anything.

With that said the glory years of this board were during our treadmill seasons that I sometimes weirdly miss. That summer, followed by the TJ/CV swap in 2006 are times I'll never forget.

15 year old me was convinced Marvin was going to be a superstar. Looking back, I still think Bogut was the right pick. Dude was so skilled for 7'0"

[jakecronus8]

Stotts ruined Bogut's development by forcing him to be a garbage man on offense and play the 4 on defense. If Bogut was drafted in today's nba with a proper coaching and development team his ceiling would be off the charts considering the defender he grew into.

Maybe someone can confirm or provide more insight, but I remember hearing years later that Ray Allen was ready to come back to Milwaukee if Redd left for Cleveland and only re-signed with Seattle after Redd's decision. The entire trajectory changes if Ray comes back and Bogut is treated like a #1 pick. Ford/Mo/Ray/Mase/Bogut would've been a fun team to watch

[BUCKnation]

Thinking about this summer brings back a memory. I was in my first year of college at Marquette (before transferring to UW). I got on Facebook, back when it was still a new thing. I added Bogut as a Facebook friend. I was not 100% sure it was the real Bogut, but what sold me was him posting some messages in Croatian.

Anyway, one night, I got a message from a classmate from MU that I did not know personally. She was an attractive woman. She told me that Bogut had been sending her messages on Facebook, and she saw we were Facebook friends, and she wanted to know if that was really him. I told her that I wasn't totally sure, and she should be careful.

Flash forward a few weeks. I'm working at Mayfair Mall in a cell phone kiosk. It wasn't uncommon to see professional athletes walking through Mayfair. So, I wasn't totally blown away when I saw Andrew Bogut approaching from a distance. But what did surprise me was seeing the attractive woman from Facebook walking alongside him, as if they were on some sort of date. She saw me and smiled sheepishly. I had to stifle laugher as they passed by.

That's wild that he didn't recognize you as a friend.

[PG Graveyard]

This was a bad offseason

[BUCKnation]

Stotts ruined Bogut's development by forcing him to be a garbage man on offense and play the 4 on defense. If Bogut was drafted in today's nba with a proper coaching and development team his ceiling would be off the charts considering the defender he grew into.

Maybe someone can confirm or provide more insight, but I remember hearing years later that Ray Allen was ready to come back to Milwaukee if Redd left for Cleveland and only re-signed with Seattle after Redd's decision. The entire trajectory changes if Ray comes back and Bogut is treated like a #1 pick. Ford/Mo/Ray/Mase/Bogut would've been a fun team to watch

I remember him having a pretty decent jumper at Utah, but he never really spread his game out in the nba. I don't know if he ever would have had Brook range, but that's a decent potential comp if he were drafted around now.

[j_hilge444]

I went to the draft party held at the BC. After Bogut was picked they played highlights of him with AC/DC's Thunder on repeat. That's all I really remember from the evening.

[j_hilge444]

Stotts ruined Bogut's development by forcing him to be a garbage man on offense and play the 4 on defense. If Bogut was drafted in today's nba with a proper coaching and development team his ceiling would be off the charts considering the defender he grew into.

Maybe someone can confirm or provide more insight, but I remember hearing years later that Ray Allen was ready to come back to Milwaukee if Redd left for Cleveland and only re-signed with Seattle after Redd's decision. The entire trajectory changes if Ray comes back and Bogut is treated like a #1 pick. Ford/Mo/Ray/Mase/Bogut would've been a fun team to watch

I remember him having a pretty decent jumper at Utah, but he never really spread his game out in the nba. I don't know if he ever would have had Brook range, but that's a decent potential comp if he were drafted around now.

Bogut's three point shot was routinely included in highlight packages leading up to the draft. I was stoked that we were getting this guy that could seemingly do it all. What a ruse.

[Ron Swanson]

Nobody "ruined" Bogut's development. The shooting range/potential was always a mirage and the passing was solid but always an overrated aspect of his tools in college. When we finally gave up the charade of him ever being any sort of plus offensive guy, is when he actually became the most impactful.

[jakecronus8]

Nobody "ruined" Bogut's development. The shooting range/potential was always a mirage and the passing was solid but always an overrated aspect of his tools in college. When we finally gave up the charade of him ever being any sort of plus offensive guy, is when he actually became the most impactful.

Hard to develop when you get no plays called for you and no touches. His job on offense was to get rebounds and put backs. It was sickening to watch and I recall a lot of us calling for Stotts' head especially given how often Magloire would get the ball in the post and do nothing but suck clock.

[MickeyDavis]

Nobody "ruined" Bogut's development. The shooting range/potential was always a mirage and the passing was solid but always an overrated aspect of his tools in college. When we finally gave up the charade of him ever being any sort of plus offensive guy, is when he actually became the most impactful.

Hard to develop when you get no plays called for you and no touches. His job on offense was to get rebounds and put backs. It was sickening to watch and I recall a lot of us calling for Stotts' head especially given how often Magloire would get the ball in the post and do nothing but suck clock.

I had to reread that last part a couple of times before giving a warning

[Debit One]

I e-mailed Larry Harris at fans2harris@bucks.com begging him to keep Zaza instead of Gadz. It did not work.

Resigning Gadz agitated me to no end.

The Bucks had the #1 pick and you knew that it was going to be Bogut. Thus, Gadz was going to be your #2 center option at best.

The contract given to Gadz sounds benign by today's standards, but $6M for a backup C was GM malpractice when the perfectly acceptable Pachulia could be had for less money and fewer years.

[AntetokounmBros]

I found this board during that offseason, right before the draft. I was more than a casual fan, but still just a dumb high school kid all about the PPGZ. I learned a ton reading what you guys had to say and became a true die hard.

I also remember telling my uncle from Chicago that this was the Bucks' year, and he just laughed at me and said "it's the Bucks" and walked away. The good old days.

[FrieAaron]

Bogut was awesome the year of his injury and we were rolling. Don't think anyone ruined his development. His career just unfortunately derailed with that, though he still managed to be quite useful to the Warriors.

[The Wet Whistle]

That summer was definitely when I started following the team in earnest. Was so excited to land the #1 overall pick

[aboveAverage]

Bogut was funnily a much better defensive anchor than an offensive force. Once the coaching staff figured it out, he was on track for a few seasons of MVP-level play.

I’ll never stop wondering what could’ve been if that Amare breakaway dunk turned out differently.

[midranger]

Worst part of that offseason was drafting Ersan rather than Ryan Gomes.
-Europa, probably

[Bucks_the_trend]

Stotts being coach did give us a few years of Epi though.

[KendallMarshall]

Probably still the most hype Bucks offseason of my lifetime. #1 overall pick, Redd coming off another fringe All-Star caliber season, TJ Ford with a clean bill of health (one rebound shy of a triple double in his first game back), signed the MIP winner from the previous season in free agency (just like Greg in 2015, new Bucks fans will never know how big of a deal this was). I wasn't even that big of a fan of the Magloire trade, but this was the first offseason that legitimately gave me hope since the Ray trade. Turns out Bogut was a fraud, Redd and Bobby never stayed healthy beyond that first year together, and trying to create the discount version of the twin towers was a disaster (not to mention 6-years too late). It didn't work out but I couldn't knock the process too much.

How was bogut a fraud?
He was on his way to being one of the best centers in the league before amare broke him.