George Karl made a plea to Glenn Robinson a few weeks back.
The words were simple: Karl told Robinson he needed him to be the player Karl knew he could be.
And that need became much more acute for Karl and the Bucks once Ray Allen went out for the last five games with tendinitis in his left knee.
Robinson has answered the call.
In the five games Allen has missed, Robinson has delivered performances in which the low end was solid, the high end brilliant.
"I talked to him about a month ago. I was angry with him," Karl said. "I said, ' "Dog," this stuff we can work it out. But the way we work it out, you've got to become the horse that you're capable of being. I need a horse to ride.'
"And I think that's what 'Dog' has done the last week or so. He's a horse. And it's fun coaching when you've got horses out there."
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Over the past two seasons, Milwaukee guard Sam Cassell has groused about his contract to reporters, teammates and management.
Complaining about $22 million over six years might seem like a stretch. But as one of the better point guards in the NBA, Cassell can claim he's underpaid.
Of course, no one forced Cassell to sign the deal, and there's nothing Milwaukee can legally do.
Because the Bucks want their key player to have peace of mind, the organization has offered the only thing possible under the collective-bargaining agreement: an extension with a relatively modest raise.
The deal is an extra three years totaling $17.1 million, which Cassell would start receiving after his contract expires this summer.
By making the proposal, Milwaukee is telling Cassell to pipe down and sign now or wait until the end of the season to try his luck.
The danger Cassell faces is that he will be 34 after this season. And in the luxury-tax era, almost no team will give a gaudy contract to a player nearing his mid-30s.
Cassell can take his teammate as an example. After his first All-Star season, Anthony Mason, 35, was told by Miami that he was too expensive to keep. Mason couldn't get a significant offer from any other clubs. Although the Bucks targeted Mason to provide an inside presence, they couldn't sign him until after training camp. Milwaukee had to maneuver by trading Scott Williams — a key reserve — so it could afford Mason.
Cassell has a point that he's underpaid, especially when compared to teammate Tim Thomas, who makes $9 million as a reserve.
But that's the drawback to the NBA's guaranteed contracts. They can't be ripped apart.
And if Cassell had turned out to be a scrub, he wouldn't have given anything back.
No Webber, no problem for Sacramento Kings
When Chris Webber became a free agent last summer, Sacramento's future seemed to hang in the balance. But last week, after Webber missed his second span of games, the Kings confirmed that they possess enough talent to flourish without last season's MVP candidate — at least during the regular season.
Sacramento scored an NBA season-high 133 points while Webber watched from the side with tendinitis of his right ankle. It originally forced Webber to miss the season's first 20 games.
The most remarkable aspect of the Webber-less Kings is that they were among the top-rebounding clubs in the NBA.
Webber realizes that the Kings can win about 50 games without him. But the power forward has returned, if only to stop hearing the kooky medicinal suggestions from family.
"My aunt told me about the old remedy for a cold, where you put cow manure around your neck with some ammonia in there," Webber said.
"She said I had to put that bag around my leg."
Three-second calls
North Carolina may be struggling, but it remains the college program with the most former players in the NBA: 14 (Two happen to be among the best in the league: Vince Carter and Michael Jordan). The school with the second-most (11) is Arizona. ... If an award existed for most-regressed player, the leading candidates this season would be Indiana's Jalen Rose and Toronto's Antonio Davis. ... One way to appreciate the monstrosity of Shaquille O'Neal is to realize that the Lakers center dwarfs even Ben Simon, the popular, heavyweight dancer at Sonics games whose energetic moves belie his girth. ... Before this season, Pat Riley seemed like the quintessential winner. The last time the Miami coach experienced losing similar to now occurred during his first year in the NBA: his San Diego Rockets finished 15-67. But time must have healed those wounds. "I don't remember it being this miserable," Riley said. ... Two rookies who defend better than most NBA players: Sonics guard Earl Watson and Bulls guard Trenton Hassell. ... Players find it infuriating when a coach doesn't communicate about playing time. So after Brian Winters took over for David Cowens at Golden State, the new coach told center Adonal Foyle that he would see only garbage time until further notice. Foyle couldn't handle the truth. "It's horrible," Foyle said. "Certainly a vote of non-confidence. If I care about my job — and I do — it should be infuriating." ... Although NBC will be shut out of the NBA's next broadcast deal, Marv Albert is expected to take his biting commentary to ESPN or TNT, the league's broadcast partners for the next several years. ... It's worth noting that the perception of Allen Iverson has reverted to him being a reckless shooter now that Philadelphia is struggling. "We could have Michael Jordan out there," Coach Larry Brown said. "And if he just spotted up, I doubt he'd get the ball."
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The most gifted team in the East and the oddest in the league, the Milwaukee Bucks continued their strange behavior at San Antonio's expense Saturday night.
With a five-game road trip facing them, it might be safe to let the kids leave home after all, although it's anybody's guess how they'll decide to entertain themselves.
As hard as they try, they can't provide a rational explanation for why they're playing their best ball of the season with their best player sitting down. Ray Allen isn't perfect, but he is 21 points a night, and the Bucks rarely have that much to spare.
One of George Karl's favorite screwball theories is that good teams turn injuries into positives. Taken to its logical conclusion, that would make it a sound idea to smack your shooting guard around every once in a while just to make everyone else focus.
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Bucks Dec 2001 Archive
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| Dec 30, 2001
After weeks of chronically complaining about the state of his first-place team, Milwaukee coach George Karl was finally pressed to name a time when he thought the Bucks would begin to play to their potential.
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| Dec 30, 2001
If the San Antonio Spurs were about to end their recent string of futility against the Milwaukee Bucks, Saturday night should have been the night.
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| Dec 29, 2001
No occurrence in recent memory galvanized the Milwaukee Bucks into a contending team more than Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinals last May 17 against the Charlotte Hornets.
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| Dec 29, 2001
The question of how to fill a 21-point hole in a lineup can be a crippling proposition for a lot of NBA teams.
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| Dec 29, 2001
There was a moment late in the third quarter of Friday’s 105-89 Milwaukee victory over Charlotte where the Hornets’ two top players, Jamal Mashburn and Baron Davis, consoled each other on the bench.
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| Dec 29, 2001
CHARLOTTE
Everything was back to normal last night at the Charlotte Coliseum.
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| Dec 29, 2001
"They're better than we are right now," Hornets coach Paul Silas was saying earlier this week about the Milwaukee Bucks.
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| Dec 29, 2001
MILWAUKEE — The rock 'n' roll beat isn't about to let up.
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| Dec 28, 2001
For two weeks last spring, the Charlotte Hornets and Milwaukee Bucks waged war in one of the most closely contested NBA playoffs series’ in recent history.
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| Dec 28, 2001
MILWAUKEE (16-9) AT CHARLOTTE (13-15)
Time: 7:30 p.
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| Dec 27, 2001
Some people celebrate Jan.
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| Dec 27, 2001
Glenn Robinson is making sure the Milwaukee Bucks don't slip while Ray Allen is out.
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| Dec 27, 2001
Under coach George Karl, the Milwaukee Bucks have had a lovely time against the Hawks, winning 11 of 13 times.
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| Dec 25, 2001
"That," Robinson said, "was a typical San Antonio-Milwaukee game.
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| Dec 24, 2001
Along with that unmatched sock that always seems to emerge from the dryer, add these items to life's great imponderables
The night after falling to a team with a 15-game losing streak, the Milwaukee Bucks beat one on a 10-game winning streak.
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| Dec 24, 2001
Porter's teammates would have to agree.
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| Dec 24, 2001
Yes Rudy, there is a Santa Claus.
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| Dec 23, 2001
Each year since 1994, when the Milwaukee Bucks made Glenn Robinson the No.
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| Dec 22, 2001
For more than 90 minutes Friday afternoon, the Milwaukee Bucks jammed themselves into a small room off the basketball practice floor at Houston's Westside Tennis Club to discuss their problems.
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| Dec 22, 2001
Point guard Sam Cassell confirmed Friday that he might sign a contact extension with the Milwaukee Bucks before Jan.
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| Dec 22, 2001
Abrasive coach George Karl and his Milwaukee held a team meeting yesterday to discuss the team's troubles before they meet the Rockets.
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| Dec 21, 2001
Steve Nash and Michael Finley scored 33 points apiece and guided the Mavericks to a thorough 113-101 triumph.
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| Dec 19, 2001
"Typical Milwaukee Bucks basketball game," Bucks coach George Karl said.
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| Dec 19, 2001
Point guard Sam Cassell could come to terms with the Milwaukee Bucks on a contract extension before Jan.
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| Dec 18, 2001
The Milwaukee Bucks departed Monday afternoon for a four-game trip that will include a stop in Memphis tonight for a contest against the Grizzlies before they journey into the Texas Triangle.
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| Dec 17, 2001
With consecutive blowout victories against Philadelphia and Indiana, the Milwaukee Bucks appear on the verge of realizing their potential 20 games into the season.
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| Dec 16, 2001
MILWAUKEE -- Things are never dull in Milwaukee.
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| Dec 16, 2001
MILWAUKEE -- It seemed a good time for the Indiana Pacers to play Milwaukee on Saturday.
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| Dec 16, 2001
The question has never been whether Milwaukee coach George Karl has the right to publicly blast his players.
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| Dec 16, 2001
Wayne Embry first played against and then played for late Milwaukee Bucks coach Larry Costello.
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| Dec 14, 2001
The schedule, which never lies about these things, says the Milwaukee Bucks will get Philadelphia Friday night for the first time since their memorable seven-game Eastern Conference finals with the 76ers last season.
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| Dec 13, 2001
The roles are reversed, but the respect still runs both ways.
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| Dec 13, 2001
Although Rafer Alston has played a combined total of only 5 minutes in the last four games, Milwaukee Bucks coach George Karl insisted the backup point guard wasn't in his doghouse.
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| Dec 13, 2001
Larry Costello, who won NBA titles as a player and coach and was one of the last to use the two-handed set shot, has died.
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| Dec 12, 2001
After holding his tongue for weeks, Heat coach Pat Riley is becoming increasingly irritated with criticism from former Heat players Anthony Mason and Tim Hardaway.
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| Dec 12, 2001
The fourth-quarter meltdown arrived almost on cue, erasing all of a nine-point Heat lead.
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| Dec 12, 2001
Milwaukee coach George Karl notices something different about Pat Riley as the Heat have fallen to the bottom of the NBA, and he does not like what he sees.
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| Dec 12, 2001
It wasn't that the Bucks played poorly in a 99-97 loss to the Heat in yet another Milwaukee-Miami game that went down to the final shot at American Airlines Arena.
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| Dec 12, 2001
Milwaukee Bucks coach George Karl says there is no rift between him and All-Star forward Glenn Robinson, who had harsh words for his coach's motivation tactics last week.
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| Dec 11, 2001
When coach George Karl left town last week after the death of his father, the Milwaukee Bucks were reeling in the midst of a five-game losing streak.
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| Dec 11, 2001
The Milwaukee Bucks deemed ex-Heat forward Anthony Mason the missing piece to an Eastern Conference title.
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| Dec 10, 2001
A number of league insiders think more than a handful of head-coaching positions will continue to open between now and the end of the National Basketball Association season.
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| Dec 9, 2001
There is rebounding, and there is rebounding.
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| Dec 8, 2001
Player of the game: Like fans, only a few Sonics showed up to play yesterday.
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| Dec 8, 2001
No, not that kind of theft.
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| Dec 8, 2001
With the funeral for George Karl's father scheduled for Saturday afternoon in the Seattle area, Terry Stotts will serve as Milwaukee's stand-in head coach again Saturday night when the Bucks play the much-improved New Jersey Nets.
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| Dec 7, 2001
Milwaukee Bucks forward Anthony Mason said he never could have envisioned the Heat starting the season so poorly.
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| Dec 7, 2001
Having made so many early defensive mistakes, it should come as no surprise that a solid late-game offensive effort went wasted for the Toronto Raptors last night.
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| Dec 7, 2001
Joseph Karl, the 95-year-old father of Milwaukee Bucks coach George Karl, died of natural causes Thursday morning at his home in Marysville, Wash.
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| Dec 7, 2001
The Milwaukee Bucks' effort and intensity were better.
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| Dec 7, 2001
Glenn Robinson wasn't going to keep quiet any longer.
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| Dec 6, 2001
What, you thought the Raptors were annoying? You reckoned the market on great expectations and its corollary of cold, hard reality had been cornered? The Raps roll into Milwaukee tonight for round two of a series that began two weeks ago in Toronto with this appropriate bon mot from George Karl: "It's way too early for me to know what the hell's going on.
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| Dec 6, 2001
In each of their last three seasons, it is almost as if the Milwaukee Bucks have had to create a crisis in order to respond.
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| Dec 5, 2001
Tired of seeing his team score 85 points a game, George Karl found a lineup that got him 71 Tuesday night.
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| Dec 4, 2001
From the those-who-can't-stand-prosperity file, we proudly present Your Milwaukee Bucks.
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| Dec 4, 2001
Anthony Mason was mad.
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| Dec 3, 2001
There was a time when George Karl's first glance at a freshly released NBA schedule would've found him searching for the date he'd return to Seattle.
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| Dec 3, 2001
Talent and potential have never interested George Karl as much as execution and experience.
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| Dec 3, 2001
HIGHLIGHTS: Brent Barry hit a 3-pointer from the right wing, barely beating the halftime buzzer, to put the Sonics in front 57-40 .
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| Dec 3, 2001
After two consecutive losses befitting a team hoping to snag the No.
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| Dec 3, 2001
George Karl often says that his best career coaching move was getting out of the Western Conference.
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| Dec 2, 2001
Practice has a relaxed, almost collegiate, feel to it.
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| Dec 2, 2001
While the game was decisively lost, the Milwaukee Bucks came away from their 104-85 beating by the Los Angeles Lakers last Tuesday with hope that they may have done something to possibly create a competitive series should the teams meet in the National Basketball Association Finals.
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| Dec 2, 2001
George Karl has been away from Seattle long enough that his returns to the Emerald City are no longer newsworthy.
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| Dec 1, 2001
The third consecutive defeat has left the Bucks (9-4) with their longest regular-season losing streak since Nov.
