Sporting News thinks Bucks are better

[phoostal]

Here is what an article from the Sporting News said about the deal. Evidently they don't think we will be any better. Thought you guys would be interested. Sorry I haven't posted in awhile.

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Did Hawks really get better end of deal?

By Sean Deveney - The Sporting News

The signs were there all along, with Hawks general manager Pete Babcock repeatedly saying this summer he was working on "something big."

The signs were in Milwaukee, where coach George Karl normally rips his team the way most of us rip off post-it notes. Instead, over the last few months of the season, an eerie calm settled over the Bucks and their fiery coach, and he even became complimentary of his team and its effort. It was if he knew it would be over soon, that a change would come one way or another, and that players who were ripped by their coach tend to drop in trade value.

Well, the signs came together, with Milwaukee star and thorn in Karl's side Glenn Robinson being traded to the Hawks for Toni Kukoc, a first-round pick and Leon Smith. Heavily weighted toward the Hawks, right? Not necessarily.

The financial implications of the deal for the Bucks are obvious. They are freed from the remaining three years and $34 million on Robinson's deal and replace it with two years and $18 million for Kukoc. In terms of the team's roster, the move probably means Anthony Mason and Tim Thomas, two other prime Bucks trade candidates, will stay put.

The same can be said for the Hawks. They have obviously taken on more salary -- and for a team that guaranteed a playoff berth or a partial refund to its season ticket holders, taking on more salary for the sake of winning was a necessary step.

But, on both sides, there's a big question of how this will work on the court.

For Milwaukee, many of Robinson's ex-teammates -- particularly Mason, who dished out thinly veiled slams at Robinson's selfish play almost nightly -- will not miss him. Moving him along is addition by subtraction and makes this a good deal for the Bucks. Robinson could score, but he would frequently rush the offense, take shots before the play was set and put the Bucks in a bind defensively by yielding fast breaks. Without Robinson, the Bucks should emphasize a less freewheeling offense and a more consistent defense.

Surely, though, Kukoc will not replace Robinson as the starting small forward. In fact, he is probably going to be the team's eighth man. The starting role will likely fall to Thomas, a versatile scorer who did a good job replacing Robinson when he was injured last season. But that takes away one of Karl's favorite weapons -- a high-energy scorer off the bench -- unless Karl plans to use free-agent shooting guard Michael Redd in that role. Another possibility -- and this would be a big departure from Karl's down-with-rookies style -- is that draftee Marcus Haislip will see significant time off the bench, with Mason flopping between the 3, 4 and 5 positions.

Either way, what it means in the end for the Bucks is that the two-third of the team's Big Three that is still in Milwaukee, Sam Cassell and Ray Allen, will carry the offensive load.

While the Bucks have cleared a logjam by trading Robinson, the Hawks have created one by acquiring him. The team has been desperate for a small forward, and appears to have given up on lottery pick DerMarr Johnson.

But given its current lineup, Robinson does not seem to be a good fit. The team already has two players who need the ball, Jason Terry in the backcourt and Shareef Abdur-Rahim in the post. Finding shots for Robinson could be difficult. Scoring was hardly the Hawks' problem last year -- at 94 points per game, they were in the middle of the NBA pack. Defense (98.3 points per game) was where the team was lacking, and Robinson certainly isn't going to solve that problem. Having center Theo Ratliff healthy would be a big boost, but for matching up with the quality wing players in the East, the Hawks still have no one.

Based on talent, the Hawks seem to have gotten the better of this deal. But when looking at whether this can actually work on the court ... maybe not.