Milwaukee Bucks: Imagining a documentary on the early 2000s Bucks

The shape of the roster

Clearly, the combination of Allen, Cassell and Robinson left the Bucks in prime position to battle with the best teams at the time of the 2001-02 season.

The Bucks’ sixth man, Tim Thomas, was viewed as an incredibly promising piece within the team’s foundation and Milwaukee had handsomely paid him in the summer of 2000 where he signed a six-year, $67 million deal after the then-22-year-old Thomas had entertained taking a slightly more lavish contract from the Chicago Bulls.

With their core four in place as well as a slew of sturdy veterans such as Jason Caffey, Darvin Ham and Ervin Johnson, the Bucks looked to have the right mix of talent, skill and chemistry to stay near the top of the league. There was only one thing missing that they needed to contend with the elite of the elite.

Milwaukee’s lack of size and revolving door of frontcourt options had been magnified during their run all the way to the final game of 2001 Eastern Conference Finals. Of course, one can only wonder what would have happened had not Scott Williams been suspended for the pivotal Game 7 of that series, but the overall sentiment still was true.

But due to the Bucks’ stocked cap sheet and brushing up against the newly-implemented luxury tax, they had very little resources to improve upon their roster and address their weaknesses without subtracting from their established core and foundation. The lone exception to that was trading backup guard Lindsey Hunter to the Los Angeles Lakers for Greg Foster early in the summer.

What was a quiet offseason and training camp was disrupted when the Bucks added veteran free agent big man Anthony Mason on a four-year, $21 million deal four days before the start of the season.

Before being able to sign the then-34-year old Mason, the Bucks had cleared up the cap room that was needed to bring in Mason and his desired salary by enacting a three-way trade with the Denver Nuggets and Houston Rockets that saw the Bucks package Williams and a first-round pick, which later became Josh Smith.

On bringing in Mason, Karl remarked on what he hoped the All-Star big man would bring to the Bucks:

"“I think Anthony gives us a true low-post presence that we may have lacked in the past,” Karl said. “More importantly, though, is how well he will complement our scorers like Ray, Glenn and Sam and our big guys inside like Ervin (Johnson) and Jason Caffey. “If you listed our top five weaknesses last season, toughness and rebounding would be in there,” Karl said.”"

Years later, Mason’s entry into the fold still stands as the point of no return as it eventually set things in motion for the Bucks’ ‘Big 3’ era to fall apart in the coming months and years. Allen reflected to Sean Deveney of the Sporting News in April of 2018 how poisonous Mason had been to the team’s chemistry:

"“The huddles were the worst,” Allen wrote. “George would be giving instructions when Anthony, I kid you not, would turn his chair to the side and look into the crowd. He didn’t listen to a word George said. I had never seen a player act like that, even in junior high.”"

At the time, though, the addition of Mason looked to have fortified a very potent, dynamic five-man unit that could give the Bucks an all-purpose closing lineup at the end of games, especially in the postseason. For all the hopes they had in Mason putting them over the top, the Bucks, their core players and Karl were in for a rude awakening.