Milwaukee Bucks: 3 biggest ‘what ifs’ during the Bucks’ 1970s run

Not running it back in 1971-72

All Bucks fans know the core players that were instrumental in winning the franchise’s only NBA title in 1970-71 and in the manner they mowed through the opposition, including sweeping the Baltimore Bullets in the NBA Finals.

The Bucks’ dominance created such a weight of expectations that they would win night after night and Allen admitted to Sports Illustrated in May of ’71 that it took some of the excitement out of it:

"“People expect us to win,” he said. “Everything we see in the paper says we’ll win. It takes some of the excitement away from us. And I guess if you get right to it, we’re not a very emotional bunch.”"

Those pieces obviously remained when the Bucks were looking to defend their title the following season, but their roster depth significantly changed year over year and subtly changed the complexion of the roster. Key reserves either retired (Bob Boozer), were traded (Dick Cunningham) or released (McCoy McLemore) in the lead up to and before the start of the 1971-72 campaign.

The biggest move in this regard, though, was the decision to trade starting forward Greg Smith as well as a third round pick in the 1973 Draft to the Houston Rockets in exchange for second-year forward Curtis Perry and a first rounder in the ’73 Draft.

Smith had fortified the Bucks’ starting unit throughout the championship-winning season and what he lacked in size at the power forward position, his quickness, athleticism and versatility made him ideal for what they did defensively and especially in their uptempo, fast breaking game.

That made his and Dandridge’s partnership a special one as they actively switched off in spending time defending bigger and more powerful forwards at that time as The Greyhound reflected on in March of 2015 to Bucks.com’s Truman Reed:

"“We made that work,” Dandridge said. “Neither one of us was capable of guarding a power forward night-in and night-out because of our size, so we switched off. This was something Larry Costello didn’t have to tell us.”"

In contrast, Perry was a more bruising athlete that offered up more size that could help the squad on the boards, but was rawer than Smith and prone to getting into foul trouble early into his Bucks stint.

Wayne Embry recounted to NBA.com’s Steve Aschburner in March of 2017 the intent of the move from the Bucks’ side of things and why he views the trading of Smith as something that bit the Bucks in the end:

"“At that point, I was trying to not screw it up. And I was always afraid that trading Greg Smith screwed it up because we were trying to get bigger at the power forward position. That’s when we brought Curtis Perry in. There were a couple years there where we got beat in the playoffs [by the Lakers and the Warriors], and then we got back to the Finals in ’74. We lost the final game in Milwaukee, which was a heartbreaker.”"

Abdul-Jabbar was more direct on what was lost specifically when Smith was dealt to Houston:

"“We had one guy who was the key to that team, Greg Smith, a 6-5 power forward. Nobody could understand it, but Greg could could rebound with the 6-9 guys and run with the guards. He was as fast as the guards, and it was a unique combination that gave everybody fits. Guys like Gus Johnson and Dave DeBusschere used to hate to see Greg come into the gym. After we lost him, we lost that advantage.”"

As the old saying goes, all of the pieces matter and Smith’s departure is far from the first thing remembered for why the Bucks didn’t end up enjoying a dynastic run during this era. However, given how the Bucks quickly aged and were injured over this run, losing Smith’s positional and style fit didn’t help their championship pursuits following the 70-71 year.