Milwaukee Bucks: Failing to trust and preparing for overdue positive change

The “never trust the Bucks” motto has been spreading among Milwaukee Bucks fans for over a decade. What led us to this point, and is the worst finally behind us?

Never trust the Bucks. The phrase that provides Milwaukee Bucks fans with relief in dire times. The immortal motto that can’t be shook. The source of vocal comfort when Miles Plumlee puts pen to paper.

Never trust the Bucks? What happened? How did we get here? Is there an end in sight?

Let’s take a teary-eyed trip down memory lane, and take a sharp turn on to Cream City’s 4th Street. What exactly prompted this phrase that is expressed in social unison like it’s the Lord’s Prayer in church?

More from Bucks News

• Bucks 2023-24 player profile: Can MarJon Beauchamp take a leap?
• Piecing together the Milwaukee Bucks’ dream starting 5 in 5 years
• Predicting Thanasis Antetokounmpo’s 2023-24 stats for the Bucks
• Grade the trade: Bucks land reputable backup guard in swap with Pacers
• New workout video should have Milwaukee Bucks fans excited

Prior to the social media boom of 2005 to the present day, the environment for online fan interaction was relegated mostly to message boards; certainly not as public and visible as your modern day-to-day hashtags. It was on these famous message boards that the foundation of the boisterous, animated, web-based Bucks banter was born.

As the formative years included the Anthony Mason experience, the Gary Payton trade, and Joel Pryzbilla being Joel Pryzbilla, a tone was quickly established. Unmet expectations would no longer be called out only on Brady Street barstools and in local print newspapers.

In the summer of 2005, Larry Harris chose Andrew Bogut with the first overall pick. Following recent No.1 picks LeBron James and Dwight Howard, the Bucks could certainly be forgiven for feeling like they had finally obtained a franchise centerpiece. The fans found hope, which had proven elusive since the deconstruction of the Big 3 soon after their near-miss in 2001.

Then, mere days after Bogut was chosen, Dan Gadzuric is given a six-year extension (yes, six years) to play the same position as Bogut, while Michael Redd simultaneously re-upped for over $90 million. Literally within hours in the summer Wisconsin heat, that feeling of hope and comfort turned into something closer to an all-out frenzy.

As Gadzuric and others (don’t forget Bobby Simmons!) were severely under-performing their contracts, Bucks online pessimists gradually migrated from message boards to the much more visible mediums of Facebook and Twitter. The Floodgates slowly opened and a perfect storm of past, present, and future questionable moves collided head-on with a more public forum for thousands to critique those decisions. #NeverTrustTheBucks was born.

Enter John Hammond, who replaced Larry Harris in April 2008. Hammond’s famous first move, drafting Joe Alexander with the eighth overall pick, is so poor that it actually evolved into an adjective —D.J. Wilson is later referred to as Jon Horst’s “Joe Alexander pick”.

Corey Brewer, a popular pick among draft experts in that same spot, may soon be entering his 12th season in the NBA, while Alexander lasted only one year in Milwaukee. That proved to be the same length of stay as the prior year’s sixth overall pick Yi Jianlian too.

The 10th overall draft pick in 2011, which many fans assumed would be spent on sharpshooter Klay Thompson, was traded to acquire Stephen Jackson, on the downside of his tumultuous career. Tobias Harris, the promising prospect selected with the lower pick, was promptly moved a year-and-a-half later for a two-month rental of a different sharpshooter, J.J. Redick, to ensure a playoff seed.

Andrew Bogut was eventually traded for an inefficient shoot-first point guard Monta Ellis, to play alongside another inefficient shoot-first point guard Brandon Jennings.

The Larry Sanders experience came and went in a blink of an eye. Within that blink, Sanders was able to guarantee a piece of the Bucks payroll for years to come, explained here by Sports Illustrated.

In 2014, new ownership took over and a new hope shone bright on the horizon. Within days, Jason Kidd replaced Larry Drew as head coach in unorthodox fashion, yet he fared well in his first year at the helm, showing off a new top-five defense in the process. Was Milwaukee’s luck finally turning?

Fast forward one year to draft night 2015: Rashad Vaughn is chosen while fan favorites and logical selections, Bobby Portis and Kevon Looney, remain in the green room. A 2017 first round pick was traded to Toronto for Greivis Vasquez, who played in only a handful of games before an ankle injury ended his season and Bucks career almost before it started. Toronto eventually used this pick on the promising OG Anunoby, six picks after D.J. Wilson donned a Bucks hat for the first time.

The infamous summer of 2016 can’t be skipped past either. Days after 7’1” center Thon Maker was drafted in June, center Miles Plumlee was re-signed for four-years as a restricted free agent who had received no reported offers from other teams. John Henson’s four-year extension also kicked in. This all occurred exactly one year after the signature signing of Greg Monroe.

Within weeks of the summer of 2016 beginning, the Bucks found themselves with three veteran centers owed nearly $150 million combined, plus the 10th overall pick, all playing the same position in a modernized NBA that devalues the 5-man.

Kidd remained coach through it all, never seeing eye-to-eye with Jabari Parker, the second overall pick and hopeful second banana in a future championship contending team. Kidd’s unwillingness to adjust his in-game principles coupled with an unconventional approach to motivating his players, and unsurprisingly, it proved to be disastrous.

Jon Horst replaced John Hammond as general manager following one of the more well-documented botched hiring processes in the NBA since…the Jason Kidd hire?

And with that, it finally boiled over.

The #NeverTrustTheBucks climbers reached the peak after a decade-long ascension, and swiftly slammed a #FireKidd flag into the top of the mountain. The trust completely evaporated into the thin mountain-top atmosphere.

As we prepare to enter the 2018-19 season, finally things are changing, though. Once again, there is hope or at the very least good cause for it. The summer of 2018 may prove pivotal in turning the trust narrative for two primary reasons.

Firstly, Giannis Antetokounmpo continues to develop, improve and rise the NBA ranks. For all of the bad picks and bad contracts and bad trades, the Bucks finally have a bona fide superstar in their ranks, and one who is committed to Milwaukee and potentially on the cusp of an MVP-caliber season.

Secondly, not only is Jason Kidd gone, but he hasn’t been replaced by an unproven or inept head coach, the likes of which the Bucks have often settled for. Instead, it’s Mike Budenholzer, a former Coach of the Year, a player development guru, and a disciple of Gregg Popovich who will be entrusted with leading the Bucks’ charge.

Just how colossal that upgrade could be will likely be underestimated until the evidence of the change becomes apparent with the return of the season.. Budenholzer is known for having a keen understanding of the modernization of the game, and perhaps most importantly (and most contrasting to Kidd) will adjust on the fly to his players’ strengths.

Giannis and Bud: the one-two punch entrusted by Bucks nation to light the way down the mountain of doom to the valley of prosperity.

The “never trust the Bucks” online community is looking for a new mantra as a new decade of hope draws near. Only time will tell what this might be, but for now the worst times at least seem to be left in the past, somewhere near the nosebleed sections of the recently abandoned building on the corner of 4th and State.