CHICAGO — NBA sources who may or may not know say the Chicago Bulls are talking about trading Jamal Crawford to … oh, right, we’re done with that.
The trading deadline has passed, which means the next day that matters for the Bulls is May 19, the date of the draft lottery.
Meanwhile, much of the rest of the NBA is in the stretch run for the playoffs. Put the Bucks in that category, Milwaukee having made a bold move in acquiring future Hall of Fame guard Gary Payton less than a year after trading All-Star Glenn Robinson. The move paired him with another point guard in Milwaukee, Sam Cassell.
Thirty years ago, people were saying two ball-oriented star point guards never could work, when Walt Frazier and Earl Monroe were united in New York.
“It reminds me a little of Walt Frazier and Earl Monroe, where you didn’t know which one was the point guard, which one was the shooting guard,” said Bucks general manager Ernie Grunfeld, who watched the duo win a title for the Knicks in 1973 when he was a high school star in New York.
Maybe Grunfeld is right, though the Bucks didn’t address their biggest needs of post offense and rebounding. Still, they completed a season sweep of Portland in Payton’s first game Saturday, the only Eastern team to have swept both Portland and Dallas this season, as Payton and Cassell combined for 38 points and 17 assists.
“Everyone expects controversy,” Payton said of the pairing with Cassell, who started at shooting guard. “But this is two best friends playing together, helping each other. Why can’t it (going to the Finals, as he did with Karl in 1996) happen again? If you ask me, they — I mean we — got enough pieces in place to make a run. I know this much; I’m happy to be back in the playoffs. To be on a team going to the playoffs and that can make some noise if we come together.”
And if they don’t, it could — and perhaps, should — mean the endof coach George Karl’s tenure
in Milwaukee.
Since coming to the Bucks in 1998, Karl has joked about being unable to coach Payton again, saying Milwaukee would be too small for Payton: “I would have to rent a helicopter to fly him in from Chicago every day.” Karl also said he’d have to buy stock in an aspirin company. Yes, Payton can give headaches to both teams. He reportedly wasn’t talking to any teammates except Brent Barry by the time of the trade. But he’s also a free agent and making a run with the Bucks would help his market value. Will he stay in Milwaukee? It doesn’t seem likely.
“It’s not a life sentence. It’s two-plus months. That’s it,” Payton said after the deal.
If he doesn’t stay, the Bucks have Michael Redd to replace Allen and have promising youngster Desmond Mason from the deal. Most important, the franchise saves perhaps $10 million in luxury tax and escrow, which in a sale could mean the difference between the Bucks staying or leaving Wisconsin.