[Izulde]

Milwaukee Bucks receive
SG Patrick Hawkins

Seattle Supersonics receive
PF Lubomir Novotny
SF Jarrod Owens

What this means for the Bucks
Hawkins, 22, is in his 4th season and has all the skills needed to be a starter. Great scoring instincts, a good jumper, pretty good defense and a good understanding of the game, with a little bit of upside thrown in. He'll serve as the 6th man and understudy to Lebron James for now, with a probable promotion to the starting SG spot next year.

What this means for the Supersonics
Novotny busts his tail off, but he just doesn't have any talent to speak of other than decent defense. While he may be just 21 and in his second season, he hasn't shown anything than a career D-leaguer skillset, maybe not even that. Hill is a safe shooter, but roster bench filler.

Winner: Milwaukee
In a youth for youth deal (Hill's 24, in his 3rd season), the Bucks unload two garbage young men for a high quality youngster who could start for them as soon as next season. The Supersonics have gone from a borderline playoff team to one of the worst in just a few short seasons and things don't appear to be getting better any time soon, if this trade is any indication.

Charlotte Bobcats receive
C Fabian Kruger

Miami Heat receive
PG Louis Mertens
PF Federico Gomez

What this means for the Bobcats
The 26 year old Argentian Kruger is the single worst defending center in the entire league. He's so bad on defense, the Great Polish Sieve, Narcyz Malinomowski, looks like a lockdown player compared to him. That said, he's a deadly accurate shooter, as in a career 58.2% from the floor shooter and has converted in excess of 60% of his shots a few seasons. His 7'3, 299 frame allows him to grab rebounds from some of the smaller centers that he wouldn't otherwise get, even if he's not a natural at it. But that big body does nothing in blocks, as he's had just 25 blocks in his entire 8 year career and 15 of those were in his first two season. He flirted with a 20 point per game average last season and he's doing it this year as well, but hasn't it. He probably will next season and between him and 24 year old Pole Oliwjer Rosiak, the Bobcats have a very exciting, young, international starting frontcourt. Victor Gipson moves to the 6th man role, giving Charlotte 7-footers around the 300 pound mark on both the starting five and the bench. That's a lot of size to bang and bruise other teams with.

What this means for the Heat
Miami seems to love collecting ex-Nuggets and they get another one in Mertens, who first came to national acclaim when playing in Denver. A breathtaking passer with an accurate shot, he's notorious for his laxness on defense. He's been made a 6th man in Miami and is absolutely furious about it, claiming he should start over Derrick Attaway. We agree with the 26 year old Belgian and it's another misstep by myopic Miami. Gomez was released, making this a Mertens for Kruger trade. On the other hand, Clifton Snyder, the new C, is a pretty accurate shooter himself and can actually play defense, unlike Kruger. Greatly overmatched at 6'9, 235 at the five, though.

Winner: Charlotte
Fantastic move for the Bobcats, who have never had an elite level scorer in their history. They get one now in Kruger and with him inside, there's a chance he could free up more shot opportunities for Rosiak when he draws the defense. The Mertens hype is overblown, as he's only been a starter once in his eight year career, in 2021 with the Nuggets and only averaged 10 points and 7.9 assists in 82 games and 61 starts.

Fascinating Kruger/Mertens deal there. Even with his inability to play defense, Kruger intrigued me and I almost thought about trying to get him a few times, just as I almost made a deal for Antonio Sarchet, the former Sun-now Bull PF who converts an average of 60% from the floor and has some wicked rebounding hops besides. That was back when he was in Phoenix, though I forget just who I was shopping at the time.

The Pacers execute a fourth quarter rally and pull out the 102-100 upset to pen the month. I'm just sick over the loss, even as Tim Butler grabs 21 points and 11 rebounds, Mateen Yeaton scores 22, Zelipe Gama gets 11 points and 12 assists and Justin Cherry and Tzvetan Kishishev provide a bench spark with 15 and 12 points respectively.

Things go from bad to worse as the Clippers bounce us 95-73 and everybody plays like they're in a fog. We're really missing Andy Sola in the lineup and I'm just about convinced that he needs to be handed a contract extension.

Three losses in a row after Portland pulverizes us 114-101, Tim Butler's 26 points and 13 rebounds our lone bright spot. If we keep playing this badly, I may have to do that which I don't want to.

All five starters score 12 points or more, Zelipe Gama puts in 14 points and 13 assists and Lawrence Smiley and Tzvetan Kishishev contribute 11 and 10 points off the bench to stave off San Antonio 106-87. We win two in a row by beating Phoenix 115-91 the next night, Tim Butler scoring 25, Mateen Yeaton 29. Andrew Bynum nabs 13 points and 10 rebounds, Zelipe Gama 19 points and 12 assists as Jim O'Brien gets a stay of execution.

Andy Sola comes back the next game and saves us with 28 points in a 109-107 nailbiter over the Bobcats. Tim Butler scores 21 and Zelipe Gama cheerfully totals up 15 points and 17 assists. Sola gets the two year contract extension he wants the next morning.

How does Andy Sola reward me for that extension? With 29 points in our 113-86 revenge crunching of the Clippers. Tim Butler scores 25 and David Jackson storms off the bench for 16 points and 10 rebounds. I've already decided that 50 Ninja just isn't a worthwhile starter and if I'm forced to cut salary next year, he's going to be the player I move. I love the guy and the energy he brings to the team, but unless we get a new owner, one who's less of an ass about spending, I might not have a choice.

It's Andy Sola as POTG again with 31 points as we edge the Bucks 103-95. Mateen Yeaton adds 20 points and Andrew Bynum (15 points, 14 rebounds) and Zelipe Gama (17 points, 11 assists) double-double. A far cry from the 1 for 13 in two games Sola started his Denver career with, that's for sure.

We end up on the wrong side of a 129-119 shootout versus the Wizards and not even Tim Butler's 27 points and 11 rebounds, Mateen Yeaton's 27 points and Zelipe Gama's 17 points and 17 assists can save us when Andy Sola fouls out early.

The Lakers prove great guests in letting us kick their asses 122-95. Zelipe Gama sprang up for 20 points and 12 assists, Mateen Yeaton scores 24 and Tim Butler rounds out the 20+ point club with 20.

Another shootout, but this one goes our way as we win 125-115 over Sacramento on Tim Butler's 33 points, Andy Sola's 23 points, Mateen Yeaton's 28 points and a cool 20 points and 15 assists from Zelipe Gama.

A 112-98 win in Phoenix comes courtesy of Mateen Yeaton (26 points), Zelipe Gama (21 points, 10 assists), Tim Butler (21 points, 11 rebounds) and David Jackson (14 bench points). Nice turnaround from our 0-3 start of the month.

We beat back the Jazz 121-112 thanks to Andy Sola's 35 points, Tim Butler's 19 points and 10 rebounds, Mateen Yeaton's 24 points, Zelipe Gama's 10 points and 17 assists and 10 bench points from Justin Cherry, who's had a surprisingly quiet March.

The Spurs go down 110-90 on the front end of the month's concluding back-to-back, Andy Sola and Tim Butler thundering for 27 and 29 points a piece. Justin Cherry was the other man of the night with 11 bench points. But then we go to Portland the next night and get torched 127-106. Tim Butler puts up 25 points, but Andy Sola has to come off the bench for his 17 points because of a wrist injury and Darrell James's additional 13 bench points isn't enough.

That loss drops us to 48-24, three games behind the Trailblazers for the Northwest and the top seed. God, I hate Portland. All those years of underachieving and they're choosing Mateen Yeaton's twilight to suddenly play up to their talent level. Dallas is 41-31, but the Grizzlies are still giving them a fight, just 2.5 back while 47-27 Sacramento is simultaneously chasing us for the #2 seed and trying to hold off the second-place Clippers, who are 2.5 games behind.

Toronto's already clinched the Atlantic at 49-23, 10.5 ahead of the Knicks, but the Bulls, already long-acknowledged Central champs, are in the top seed lead at 53-19 (15.5 games ahead of the Cavaliers) and two teams in the Southeast are in the thick of it as well, 48-24 Charlotte and 47-25 Atlanta.

Some exciting races in both conferences for playoff positioning over the last 10 games. I don't think we'll repeat last year's miracle clinch of the Northwest, but I'd be happy with a repeat of the #2 seed.