Colossal collapse

Bucks fall from division lead to draft lottery with late slide

Glenn Robinson averaged just 17 points per game -- nearly four below his season average -- in Milwaukee losses in April. AP

MILWAUKEE (AP) -- The Milwaukee Bucks led the Central Division two months ago and were talking about reaching the NBA Finals.

Now, despite beginning the season with hopes of a championship, one of the league's five highest payrolls and three All-Stars, they're headed to the draft lottery for the first time in four years.

It was one of the ugliest nosedives in NBA history.

The Bucks were 26-13 as the season neared its halfway point, but they lost 17 of their last 23 games, including their last 12 on the road.

Their last hope at salvaging a playoff berth came to an inglorious end on Wednesday night with a lethargic 123-89 loss at Detroit.

But things actually started to go wrong for the Bucks when they signed Anthony Mason to a four-year, $21 million contract on the eve of the season opener. He never was a good fit on or off the court.

"We basically ran the same offense we ran last year for 26 days" in training camp, Bucks coach George Karl said. "And then all of a sudden here comes the post-up offense. And it's a different post-up offense. It's a little bit of a slow-maneuvering post-up offense."

But Karl said Mason couldn't be blamed for all the Bucks' problems.

"I think it falls on me for changing the formula and trying to get it fitted," he said.

That task was made harder by a rash of injuries.

Mason's addition to the lineup, along with the subtraction of Scott Williams, whose jumper and demeanor were sorely missed, dragged the Bucks from a high-flying unit that came within a shot of the NBA Finals last summer to a plodding team that had no consistent offensive identity.

Mason grumbled all season about the team's propensity for firing up shots without pounding the ball inside. Others, including Ray Allen, griped that Mason had it all backward, that he need to adjust to his new teammates and not the other way around.

When injuries took their toll and things started to fall apart, Mason was brutally honest, picking up where Karl had left off when he went from ranting about their poor play during good times to raving about their heart and hustle during bad times.

Finally, a week ago, Mason acknowledged: "Maybe it's me. I'm the new guy and I haven't fit in."

By then, the Bucks were well on their way from Eastern Conference favorites to the draft lottery.

General manager Ernie Grunfeld said he wasn't going to make Mason the scapegoat for the team's collapse.

"Anthony is an easy target because he's the only new player on the roster," Grunfeld said. "But he added a lot to this ball club. It's not about one individual player. Everybody has to take responsibility. I take responsibility. I know George and the coaches take responsibility. All the players as individuals have to take responsibility because it's all of us."

But the Bucks could be in for a major makeover, which may or may not include a farewell to Mason or any of the "Big Three" shooters: Allen, Glenn Robinson and Sam Cassell.

"This is not the right time to evaluate anything really because the emotional part is very big right now and our role is to put emotion of it and to evaluate and analyze what exactly what happened," Grunfeld said. "We are going to do whatever we can to improve this ball club."

Injuries took their toll on the Bucks, who missed 173 combined games, including 16 by Robinson, 13 by Allen and eight by Cassell. Only Mason played in all 82 games.

And Karl said the injuries made practices an adventure.

"Sometimes we'd run plays in a game that only two guys had practiced," he said.

Added Grunfeld: "We have some very talented players when they are all together. When they are all healthy we could be a very dangerous ballclub."

Grunfeld said signing free agent guard Michael Redd is a priority: "He's one of the guys we think we can build with in the future," Grunfeld said.

One change that won't be made is the coach. Karl's two-year, $14 million extension kicks in next year.

"George is one of the best coaches in the game, and anybody who doesn't think that doesn't know the game of basketball," Grunfeld said.

To a man, the Bucks thought they could make some noise in the playoffs had they just sneaked in.

"There's not a team in the East that we're afraid of," Allen said. "We could beat anybody in the East."

 

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