Josh Smith used to be a Milwaukee Buck, and he was traded once by John Hammond.
Well, kind of.
The 6-foot, 9-inch, 27-year-old forward was the subject of rampant trade speculation this week, much of which concerned Hammond and the Bucks. He expressed a desire to play with Brandon Jennings and Monta Ellis, then said he’d be OK with Ellis being moved, then said he’d be open an extension in Milwaukee.
In the end Smith ended up staying in Atlanta and the Bucks acquired J.J. Redick, Gustavo Ayon and Ishmael Smith from Orlando for Beno Udrih, Tobias Harris and Doron Lamb, but let’s revisit how all of this craziness could have been avoided if back in October 2001.
Ernie Grunfeld swept in out of New York and Oct. 1, 2001 and he absolutely had to have Aleksander Radojevic and Kevin Willis, so he shipped off Scott Williams and the Bucks’ 2004 first round pick to Denver.
A year later, the Nuggets traded that pick to Hammond’s Detroit Pistons as part of a deal for Rodney Stuckey. The Pistons then flipped that pick at the trade deadline in 2004 to Atlanta – along with Bob Sura and Zeljko Rebraca – for Rasheed Wallace.
That move pushed the Pistons to an NBA Championship and the Hawks picked Josh Smith at No. 17 overall.
So when it came time for Larry Harris to draft in 2004, he was able to go on vacation as the Bucks had no picks.
What might have been.
Jim Owczarski is an award-winning sports journalist and comes to Milwaukee by way of the Chicago Sun-Times Media Network.
A three-year Wisconsin resident who has considered Milwaukee a second home for the better part of seven years, he brings to the market experience covering nearly all major and college sports.
To this point in his career, he has been awarded six national Associated Press Sports Editors awards for investigative reporting, feature writing, breaking news and projects. He is also a four-time nominee for the prestigious Peter J. Lisagor Awards for Exemplary Journalism, presented by the Chicago Headline Club, and is a two-time winner for Best Sports Story. He has also won numerous other Illinois Press Association, Illinois Associated Press and Northern Illinois Newspaper Association awards.
Jim's career started in earnest as a North Central College (Naperville, Ill.) senior in 2002 when he received a Richter Fellowship to cover the Chicago White Sox in spring training. He was hired by the Naperville Sun in 2003 and moved on to the Aurora Beacon News in 2007 before joining OnMilwaukee.com.
In that time, he has covered the events, news and personalities that make up the PGA Tour, LPGA Tour, Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Hockey League, NCAA football, baseball and men's and women's basketball as well as boxing, mixed martial arts and various U.S. Olympic teams.
Golf aficionados who venture into Illinois have also read Jim in GOLF Chicago Magazine as well as the Chicago District Golfer and Illinois Golfer magazines.
