The Bucks are the only team in the league without at least 10 wins, and they sit atop our Reverse Standings with the NBA’s worst record. Teams in their position usually start thinking about the future at this point in the season, but that’s not the case for Milwaukee, which notoriously avoids bottoming out. The Bucks would be “more than willing” to trade for vets who could help them sneak into the playoffs in the moribund Eastern Conference, according to Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio, who has more from Milwaukee:
- Bucks management is still “very open” to trading Larry Sanders before the deadline, Amico writes in the same piece, echoing his report from last month. Milwaukee would want to make draft picks the centerpiece of the package it receives in exchange. The team would still have to absorb a significant amount of salary in a deal for Sanders, thanks to the Poison Pill Provision that was triggered when the Bucks signed Sanders to his extension this past summer.
- Milwaukee is enamored with Oklahoma State point guard Marcus Smart, Amico says, adding that it would nonetheless be tough to envision the Bucks taking him first overall.
- O.J. Mayo, like many on the Bucks, has seen his minutes go up and down, and he tells Charles F. Gardner of the Journal Sentinel that the inconsistent rotation is partly to blame for the team’s struggles. “It’s hard to get a rhythm when you don’t know what’s going to happen for you night in and night out,” Mayo said. “You may get six minutes, 30 minutes. There’s no staple to what we’re doing. You can hang in there, compete and keep it close.”
- Gary Neal left San Antonio this past summer to sign a two-year, $6.5MM deal with the Bucks, but he misses the winning he enjoyed with the Spurs, as he says to Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News. “When you’re evaluating job choices, the financial aspect comes into it,” Neal said. “I think I made the best decision for me and my family.”
- Darington Hobson, whom the Bucks selected 37th overall in the 2010 draft, has reached a deal with Migdal Haemek, a team in an Israeli minor league, tweets David Pick of Eurobasket.com. Hobson has appeared in just five regular season NBA games, all with the Bucks in 2011/12.