Ridnour and Alexander for a second?

[shrink]

our 2nd round pick and Stackhouse and George for the pair?

I think Stackhouse is worth more than that to several teams, like teams with lux problems WAS, MIL, etc, or teams that could get mroe 2009 cap space, like MEM, OKC, DET.

[trwi7]

OK, I get you, but if you don't match MLE offers, he'll walk, right?

Yes, but all indications are that Sessions is a priority.

I agree that's a possibility, but he's turning down the MLE elsewhere, like Sessions, right?

I'm honestly not sure what he'll do. I could see Villanueva go for the guaranteed money with no guarantee the economy will recover before he becomes a UFA possibly leaving him with few offers, especially since guys like Dirk, Stoudemire and Bosh will be the top free agent PF's. However, I'm not sure the qualifying offer will even be available since we may not even be able to retain Sessions at the MLE while staying below the luxury tax. So he may be a UFA this offseason.

LOL, ok, I didn't want to drop you too much. It'd be $2.2 mil for the 9th pick.

Yeah, we're tied with New Jersey for the 11th spot right now and we're only 1.5 games ahead of the Knicks which would move us to 9th and only three games ahead of Toronto which would put us at 8th.

Thanks for posting this. I'm sure its been well-discussed on the MIL boards. What are the most likely scenarios here?

Yeah, and let's just say 95% of the board is pissed off at our GM.

I can think of the two most likely scenarios.

Sessions is retained, Villanueva isn't given a qualifying offer and walks for nothing and we trade our 1st for a couple 2nds.

Sessions and Villanueva both walk, we keep our 1st and trade it for a lower 1st and a 2nd.

Those are what I see as the likeliest scenarios.

[shrink]

Again, thanks for your posts. I hope I'm not coming off as a jerk here questioning you so much. I truly want to hear the opinions of people from MIL, because I think that along with WAS and maybe DAL, the Bucks have the most interesting off-season of any NBA teams. Can I ask just a couple more?

Are you convinced that the Bucks won't go over the lux?

I was very surprised Jefferson didn't get mvoed for some sort of expirings at the trade deadline.

I assume that if MIL trades the late lotto pick, it will be in an attempt to move a contract like Gadzuric, or for a future 1st.

In broad terms, I feel like finances are forcing MIL to choose to get rid of one guy they'd like to keep from Sessions, CV, and the pick. Is that about right?

[trwi7]

Are you convinced that the Bucks won't go over the lux?

Yes, even after we came off our Eastern Conference run in the 2000-2001 season, we traded Scott Williams (a fan favorite) and a 1st (that turned out to be Josh Smith I believe) after we signed Anthony Mason just to avoid the luxury tax. I don't believe Kohl has ever gone over it and with the way he's losing money on the team, I can't imagine him going over it any time soon.

I was very surprised Jefferson didn't get mvoed for some sort of expirings at the trade deadline.

So are most Bucks fans. The opportunity was there as Cleveland was offering Wally S. However, our GM said he didn't want to trade RJ within the division and help the Cavs which is some of the worst logic I've ever heard in my entire life since we already traded them Mo which helped them much more than RJ would've.

I assume that if MIL trades the late lotto pick, it will be in an attempt to move a contract like Gadzuric, or for a future 1st.

I can't see any team taking Gadzuric, although it doesn't hurt to try. With Ridnour or for a future 1st is probably what we're looking at. Maybe Ridnour and our 1st for Stackhouse.

In broad terms, I feel like finances are forcing MIL to choose to get rid of one guy they'd like to keep from Sessions, CV, and the pick. Is that about right?

Pretty much. I'm not sure if they want to keep CV long term. But I can't see him getting a contract worth much more than the MLE, which would be much better value than RJ for $14 million.