What Can Be Done?

If you're reading this blog you probably are a Bucks fan. If you're a Bucks fan you probably know by now that Andrew Bogut will be out for roughly 8 weeks, and I'd guess the rest of the season considering the Bucks will have been eliminated from playoff contention by then. I'm not here to describe how it feels to have heard that news. We all know Bogut was the most important player on the Bucks this year and without him a lot of things look grim for the immediate future of the Milwaukee Bucks. What I'm interested in currently is figuring out what could be done to prevent Bucks fans from having to watch more of the current backup center combination. I've scoured the free agent market and searched the D-League for hopefuls and compiled a list of players I would rather see, at least temporarily, than Dan Gadzuric and Francisco "That's fun to say" Elson.

1. Lance Allred
Idaho Stampede
Lance is a D-League all star. I've never seen him play, but as I look at his picture I get the idea that he is a "scrapper". A real Scott Skiles kind of guy. Skiles played Aaron Gray pretty frequently in his rookie year, could this guy be any worse? Lance's numbers have improved in each of his three years in the D-League...except for this year. But still, he's an all star. I'm not certain that either Gadzuric or Elson could make the D-League all star game. And last year in the playoffs Mr. Allred put up 24-17 in one game. That would be a weeks worth of Gadz numbers.

2. Chris Hunter
Fort Wayne Mad Ants
Michigan has a plethora of ex-players floating around the D-League. Hunter, Brent Petway, Courtney Sims, and Jamal Crawford are just a few. Actually Golden State still might be in the NBA, in which case Crawford would still be in the League. Anyway, this Hunter guy seems like a player. 17-9 and he is 6'11. Sign him up. Expectations are not high here folks.

3. Walt Waters
Lawton Fort Sill Calvary
Is this name familiar to anyone? Waters was a big juco recruit back in Bruce Pearl's heyday at UWM. He was suppose to be a force inside for those teams after Dylan Page left. I actually remember seeing this guy on campus, he was HUGE. Further research says he was the 86th ranked player in his recruiting class. He was ranked ahead of Paul Millsap!! He's now playing in the CBA. I think. Their web page is not the most useful tool in the world. They have some sort of statistics page that says Galen Young is the leading rebounder though. I thought that was funny. It's possible that those statistics are from the 2003 season for all I know though.

4. Richard Hendrix
Dakota Wizards
Hendrix case is made here. I remember getting a first hand look at how good this guy was his Freshman (maybe sophomore?) year in college against Marquette in the NCAA tournament. That was the Noel Felix game. Speaking of Felix he is doing quite well in the D-League himself. Jerk.

5. Nick Fazekas
France
He kicked around the league with Dalls and the Clippers but didn't stick. I remember him being pretty good in college. I feel extra bad for him because Dallas waived him to resign Keith Van Horn to that stupid deal so he could be part of the Jason Kidd trade. That whole thing was a sham. Poor Nick Fazekas deserves another shot in the L just for that.

6. Kevin Pittsnogle
MIA
I was thinking Pittsnogle would be a great guy to stretch the floor and give the Bucks some offense. I didn't get why he never got more than one or two looks in the league. Looks like he's been out of the game for sometime and has developed something of a medical related weight condition. Here's to him keeping his health together, he provided us all with many cool memories of people getting "Pittsnogled".

Alas I'm sure the Bucks will go with option seven, none of the above. They'll likely ride it out with the veterans and let the season waste away into another year with no development and no regression. Milwaukee: Where Nothing Happens.