The Bratwurst – Milwaukee Bucks Blog

According to the New York Daily News, Larry Harris is trying — he can’t give up pining for Zach Randolph, but Herb Kohl isn’t buying it.

“…a league source told The News that the Bucks’ owner, Milwaukee Sen.Herb Kohl, yesterday rejected a trade that would have sent Randolph and either Fred Jones or Jared Jeffries to Milwaukee for a package including Bobby Simmons, Charlie Bell and Dan Gadzuric, who all have long-term contracts.

Milwaukee GM Larry Harris, who may be let go at season’s end, is eager to make a deal to help his struggling team and presented a similar package to Kohl in January. However, Kohl is reluctant to approve any trades Harris brings to him.”

Looks like Harris is pretty desperate. Granted, that deal would rid the Bucks of their three worst contracts and open a backup guard spot for Ramon Sessions, but they wouldn’t gain any cap flexibility because Randolph’s contract has one more year on it than Simmons’ (and if the deal included Jefferies, they would be actually adding salary and taking back a contract as bad as Gadzuric’s). Also, why would you bring in Randolph if Yi is your power forward of the future?

This proposed deal shows what happens when GM’s know they are headed out of the door. Harris is proposing a trade that might shake up the roster enough to boost their performance this year, but most likely it will just cause more problems than it would solve. And, because it would involve the Bucks taking on a huge long-term contract, if it doesn’t work it will have negative reprecussions on the franchise for years to come. But Harris doesn’t care about that any more — because if he doesn’t make any trades he’s gone anyway and if he tries this trade and it doesn’t work he knows he wont be around to clean up the mess.

Herb Kohl is doing the right thing by not allowing Harris to make this trade.

Of course, this does beg the question: if Harris is as good as gone then why is he still around? Hopefully, it is because Kohl wants to take a pragmatic approach to finding a new GM, and might be interested in someone who currently has another job. I pray that this doesn’t mean he wants Doug Collins. I hope he’s planning on actually looking outside of the organization and his immediate circle of friends.

Does Larry Harris have any power left in the front office? Is he as good as gone? The answer will come today when the trade deadline passes, and if the Bucks are quiet then it’s a pretty strong sign that the Bucks’ front office will look very different right after this season ends.