<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">By chance last week I happened to be in Toronto, where in a city of 5 million I managed to bump into a Raptors employee. "So, who's going to be your point guard this season?" I asked, knowing full well the Raptors did not have one. "That's the problem," he said. "Well, have I got one for you." Not that I have anything to do with how the NBA conducts its business, but readers of this space are aware that I've been an advocate for a T.J. Ford trade since the Milwaukee Bucks' season ended more than two months ago. Nothing against Ford personally, but the way he was abused in the playoffs only confirmed the notion that the Bucks will never be anything more than what they are with a wisp of a player running the point. Unless the Bucks can schedule Earl Boykins every other night, Ford is too small to cover anyone for a team that must get defensive to move forward. There was also the matter of Ford's exponential self-evaluation. He had to be benched last season because he wasn't playing hard enough, or maybe because Charlie Bell, without any of Ford's natural quickness, was willing to play that much harder. The Bucks will be better off alternating Bell and Mo Williams at the point, if only for the example they will set from a leadership perspective. Presumably, the Bucks will also benefit from the 6-foot-11 Charlie Villanueva, who will become the power forward as Andrew Bogut moves to his natural position of center. On paper, the combination appears quite promising, but so did the Bogut-Jamaal Magloire tandem. Admittedly, I was onboard with the trade last year that sent away Desmond Mason and a first-round draft pick for Magloire, the reason being that the Bucks had a better chance to get back to the playoffs with a big inside player than another 'tweener in Mason. But how bad does that trade look at the moment? Not only did the Bucks lose the pick, one of their pressing needs is for an athletic swing man, which happens to fit Mason's description. And for anyone who fears that the Bucks will lose their ability to run with Ford's dispatching, please know that the plodding Magloire threw them off their up-tempo game long before Friday night's deal. That is another reason why Magloire must be traded, along, of course, with the fact that he has been officially dropped from the starting lineup. Meanwhile, his value continues to take a beating because everyone knows the Bucks have no choice but to dump him. But if Larry Harris can get an athletic big man for a delicate and fragile point guard, there might be hope in salvaging the Magloire situation, which is all the franchise has left to show for the Ray Allen fiasco. Harris acquitted himself well with Villanueva, but he still has to make up for Magloire and overpaying Bobby Simmons, who would've been fine as a sixth man for half the money. Getting something - anything, really, at this point - for Magloire is the next step in the Bucks' makeover.</div> Source
