While the Knicks remained deathly dormant 48 hours before Thursday’s NBA trade deadline despite six straight defeats, the Bucks greatly enhanced their playoff prospects Tuesday by acquiring Monta Ellis, Ekpe Udoh and immobilized Kwame Brown (shoulder surgery) from the Warriors for Andrew Bogut and Stephen Jackson.
In other words, the Eastern Conference team currently deadlocked with the Knicks in eighth place, the team that won five of its last 10 games, a team that almost definitely would be at .500 had its All-Star caliber center been halfway healthy, obtained a scoring guard averaging 21 points and a young big man on the rise … for two non-vital organs.
Though considered one of the NBA’s top five centers when healthy, Bogut’s career has been besieged by injuries. In six previous seasons, he missed 94 of a possible 492 games. This season, he fractured his left elbow in Game 12 and isn’t expected to be fit to play until the playoffs, a tournament the Warriors will be watching from home.
Jackson has been a non-factor as well, missing the last 11 games supposedly due to a strained hamstring. A strained relationship with coach Scott Skiles is much closer to the truth. Many in Milwaukee felt he’d been a bad influence on Brandon Jennings.
So, the contentious Jackson, a career 16.1 scorer, had to go back to the Warriors., whom he helped to upset the league-leading Mavericks in the first round of the 2006-07 playoffs.
Look for his hamstring to heal in time for tonight’s home game against Boston, definitely no later than Friday, when Skiles, Ellis and the Bucks mosey into Oracle Arena.
And look for Jennings to be right alongside Ellis. Contrary to counterfeit conjecture, Jennings was never available to the highest bidder or ever on the market, for that matter. Jennings and Ellis form one of the league’s most venomous backcourts, practically identical to what the Warriors had going for them with Monta and Stephen Curry — whom the Bucks almost acquired until being scared off by his fragile right ankle.
Hence, the Bucks backyard is bolstered and their frontline is fortified. Udoh, chosen No. 6 overall in 2010, offers immediate rebounding and shot blocking help. Inconsistent for much of the season, the 6-foot-10 center/forward has shown conspicuous improvement in his last 10 games — averaging 9.8 points, 4.9 boards and 1.8 blocks in 11.64 minutes. In hisa last five, his numbers are 10.6, 5.0 and 2.0.
As important as Udoh is to the Bucks playoff pursuit, he may prove priceless come summer. Ersan Ilyasova, arguable the team’s best player (18.3 points, 8.8 rebounds over his last 10 games) becomes an unrestricted free agent.
By filling a gaping hole in their middle, the Warriors also are investing in the impending future. At the same time, they essentially wrote off this season. The good news is, Bogut is locked up contractually ($13 million/$14 million) through the 2013-14 season.
As for the declining Knicks, if they don’t make a deal, the plan is for coach Mike D’Antoni to scour Europe for another talented son of an ex-teammate.