The first big deal of the NBA off-season is set to go down with the San Antonio Spurs getting star forward Richard Jefferson from the Milwaukee Bucks for garbage players in Bruce Bowen, Kurt Thomas and Fabricio Oberto.
What a steal of a deal this is for the Spurs. They get a former Olympian who can easily put in 20+ points a night when he is healthy. Put Jefferson with Parker and Ginobli and you could have 60 points a night from your guards and small forward. Add in the usual 15 and 12 from Tim Duncan and the Spurs have an outside shot of fighting their age for a shot at he Finals for at least this upcoming season.
The only negative about this deal for the Spurs is that this may hamper the development of Roger Mason Jr. Mason, who has been getting hammered for disappearing at the end of the season, will lose his majority if his minutes at shooting guard when Ginobli comes back and he will no longer be able to steal time from Bruce Bowen at small forward.
For the Bucks, there is no explaining the stupidity of this deal. Why trade a 28 year old scoring force that may be the only thing keeping Michael Redd from demanding a trade?
Ok, you can trade him, but at least get something in return. Not 38-year old Bruce Bowen, 36-year old Kurt Thomas and 34-year old Fabricio Oberto. I would be shocked if any of those guys had a 10-point game this season, let alone score 20 a night like Jefferson did. I would put money on the three not combining for 20 points any game during the season.
Many were expecting the first major trade of the off-season to involve draft picks, but that was not the case. Too bad the first deal was somewhat unbelievably one-sided.
Source: Bucks deal Jefferson to Spurs [ESPN]
2009 NBA Draft Preview: No. 10 Milwaukee Bucks [But The Game Is On]
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