Azcentral.com broke the news
Free agent point guard Tyronn Lue may have said that playing for the Suns was his first choice but his real choice wound up being going to Milwaukee for more money.
Lue’s agent, Andy Miller, informed the Suns today that Lue has agreed to terms with Milwaukee. It appears Lue has accepted the biennial exception, which gives him a two-year contract starting at $1.91 million this season (the second year is a player option). Phoenix was firm in offering a one-year veteran minimum contract of $1.26 million to Lue because the Suns project to be over the luxury tax threshold.
I don’t understand this signing at all for Milwaukee. Ramon Sessions is clearly a very talented young point guard who deserves the opportunity. Ahead of him they have Mo Williams on a huge contract coming off of a career season. Why would Lue want to be third fiddle? Why would Milwaukee waste their time signing Lue to be their third fiddle? They already have Charlie Bell for that. Why would they waste their LLE on a third string point? It makes no sense for the Bucks. I don’t understand why Lue would want to join a team where he’s the third best point guard? Must have been the money but Lue has made a decent bit over the years and that’ll be a very difficult situation for him if he’s not playing regular.
I’d love to see Sessions start next season and have Mo Williams return to his Vinnie Johnson role that he plays so well. It’d really help balance out the team. A pass first point guard to help the scorers – Redd, RJ, Charlie, Bogut – and a top bench scorer to provide firepower and a game changing force off the pine. Could be beautiful, like it once was with TJ and Mo a few years ago. They paid Mo too much money so it likely will never happen, pity.
Milwaukee have a lot of depth out on the perimeter right now.
PG – Mo, Sessions, Lue
SG – Redd, Mason, Bell
SF – RJ, Alexander, Mbah-Moute
Could a trade be in the works? Or planned targets in the near future? Looks that way.
Update: The Bucks Blog on JSonline say that Lue signed a one year contract for $2.5mil.
I linked your story on bucks jsonline forum. If thats ok with you?
Like you said, at least they have a lot of depth on the perimeter now.
I’ll be honest, I didn’t really see why you guys chose Mbah-Moute. I watched him constantly at UCLA, and while he has skills defensively on the college level, I don’t see him being a stopper in the big leagues. And don’t even get me started on his offensive game.
How are ya’ll liking Vanilla Sky?
I have no idea what the Bucks are thinking. I am a Cavaliers fan, first and foremost, and all of these guard acquisitions confuse the hell out of me. All I see in Williams, Lue, Redd, Mason, Bell, and Jefferson are undersized guys that do hardly anything besides score. If the team gets lucky, and Villanueva and Bogut start to contribute on all sides of the game (in categories such as defense and rebounding), then they might be in contention for the playoffs. Unless that happens, I am just puzzled by what the front office is doing for the Bucks. Here’s to hoping they can find a way to trade Redd to us…
Travis,
That’s fine with me. Thank you.
AG,
I’m confused by the Mbah-Moute selection too. I’m always very hesitant on a stoppers at the college level because it normally takes them awhile to grow into NBA level stoppers. They need to be able to provide something else while they’re learning their trade at an NBA level and I’m not sure he has enough other skills. With RJ and Alexander in front of him it only gets more confusing.
I haven’t seen enough of Alexander yet. Looking forward to seeing more.
Jacob Rosen,
I’m surprised the Bucks have made no move to upgrade their interior defense. They need more rebounding, more shot blocking and a lot more toughness. Bucks ranked dead last in the NBA in defensive efficiency last season, the Knicks even beat them, and one of the major reasons was how soft they were in the paint. They clearly need a lot of help.
I can see RJ and Alexander providing some improvement at small forward, plus Des Mason now becomes the backup at shooting guard which is another solid defender, so their defense on the wings should improve.
It’ll be interesting to see what Skiles can do with this roster next season.