Flashback Friday The 2000-01 Milwaukee Bucks – Part 1

Flashback Friday The 2000-01 Milwaukee Bucks – Part 1

on today’s lock on bucks we continue our trip down memory lane it is Flashback Friday and it is probably the most highly anticipated of those topics that we threw out there we dig into the 200201 Milwaukee Bucks a team that seemed like they were poised to be the team on the rise in the Eastern Conference but just one Conference Finals appearance in a drastically different team after that so we get into the year the aftermath and everything else surrounding that team coming up next on locked on bucks you are locked on bucks your daily Milwaukee Bucks podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day welcome in the lock on bucks I’m Justin Garcia joined by Camille Davis we thank you for making locked on bucks your first listen every day free and available wherever you get your podcasts you can find us on YouTube as well part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day and today’s episode of Locked on bucks is brought to you by prize piics it’s the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports head over to prize picks.com locked on NBA and use the code locked on NBA all lowercase use that code for a first deposit match up to $100 um Camille when we uh threw this idea out there I think we both expected this whenever we made it an option for people to vote on would probably be the topic that garnered the most interest in votes and um as of this moment it’s gotten the most votes of any of the choices we put out there although the Jabari Parker topic for next week may be close but it is the 2201 Milwaukee Bucks and I would venture to guess most of the audience for locked on bucks this is the team that you have the most memories of and and look back the most fondly outside of 2021 and that title team it’s probably this that for many listeners is really your first concrete memories of Bucks basketball definitely one of mine so the 01 season I was 12 in 01 so this was the year of the Milwaukee Bucks that made me like really start paying attention to the Bucks before that of course I dibbled and dabbled in it but I grew up in the 90s I mentioned it before I grew up in a house where we had WGN we watched a lot of Bulls games in my house a lot of Michael Jordan so I was a Jordan kid and when Jordan retired I was just like what do I do and the bugs had Ray Allen and it was one of those things where I was like this you know he I kind of like the way he plays basketball um and then when you get to that 01 season where they make it to that Eastern Conference finals run I just remember the city’s energy around that time because it was the first time I really experienced that around basketball where everyone was talking about it I remembered that feeling from the Packer Super Bowl runs in 96 and whatnot where it was just like wow like everyone is focused on this everyone’s watching this everyone’s cheering for this everyone’s together uh and seeing it for the bucks the first time seeing Milwaukee you know getting that attention was so fun for me and I remember even watching when we started talking about the playoffs there was a playoff game uh that was on DJ had on during a middle school dance and I was watching the game rather than participating in the dance in itself and that yeah that those teams this team was one of one of those ones Justin I am uh little older than you so I was old enough to like that was my formative years um I remember that playoffs very vividly I was finally old enough to attend playoff games alone uh and I just remember I didn’t go to many but I remember what was like outside the Bradley Center when you saw again it’s an easy comp to make but in many ways it reminded you of uh 2019 not 2021 but 19 when we were all pretty sure the Bucks were gonna come out of the first round of the playoffs and that there was something with this group so there was this anxiousness and energy that was in there in the building and around the city every single game I couldn’t think of anything like that until 20 uh 2001 I mean you had that interest and excitement around the fear of the deer team but nothing like this or what we saw in 2019 and ultimately 2021 um feel free to jump in and um share your thoughts cut me off whatever but let’s let’s go ahead and set the scene here so um this was an interesting time in Bucks history because this was year number three for Geor Carl as the head coach of the bucks he had joined the team or came to Milwaukee for that strike a lockout short in season in the 9899 season where the New York Knicks ultimately represented the East the Bucks became a playoff team in the uh what 50 Game season I think that was played that year they played the Indiana Pacers in the first round of the playoffs they were a seven seed the Pacers were the two- seed a lot of the same blueprints to that team we’d see some tinkering made Sam Cassell was newly acquired you had Glenn Robinson and Ray Allen um but we would really start to see that team take shape over the course of the next two years they were swept by the Pacers in the first round but I think and that’s another thing to touch on was just the arrival of George Carl and what that added for excitement as well is you know we’ll get to some comments from Doc Rivers in 2001 but uh there were certainly some George Carl detractors when you look looked at the Denver Nuggets beating the Sonics in the first round of the playoffs and I think just overall his exit in Seattle but he was a Bonafide coach and been through the era after Dell Harris and and Mike you go to Mike Dunley and Chris Ford and everything else that for the bucks to get George Carl as their head coach I think number one that’s where a lot of this excitement really started to build because when you look at what the bugs had done before that that’s why there was excitement like again I think back to my lifetime so I’m born if I’m 12 and 01 meaning I was born in 89 like you look at the Bucks 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 like there are no playoffs within that stretch it is just some very very rough basketball going on now you have some fun guys that emerge on those teams like we had big dog was the longest tenur Buck at that time I remember like with the old1 team um so seeing him finally start to get some of that playoff success was sweet for that way which I’m sure you you remember very clearly given that big dog as your guy but George Carl coming to town I at the time was like you know who is George Carl I’m not super familiar with it uh but hearing my uncles talk about him and just being like Oh the Bucs finally got them a real Coach like let’s see what they can do with a real Coach now like if they don’t do it with the real Coach like these pieces here like big dog so like they’re going to have to disperse because it’s not going to be it like that’s how I remember at that time the conversation being around the team where it’s like H we’ll see like the bugs ain’t been good since the 80s like we’ll see how this goes like but they got a good coach so if he can’t turn this around we don’t know what will at this point um Frank Hamlin took over for Dell Harris after he resigned about 20 games into the season in the 91 calendar portion of the 9192 Season then he had Mike dun leevy for four years uh that was really the first era of Bucks basketball I remember I was around 10 years old or so when he took over and in in three of those four years the Bucks won less 25 or less games around there in the mid 20s so that’s how Bleak it was Chris Ford then we mentioned that name um comes over to take over after Mike dun leevy left he was coaching the Boston Celtics um he had success early with Boston then as the team started to change and get a little bit younger when guys like Larry Bird and Kevin mccale in that era of Celtics basketball started to go away you saw the results start to go away so that’s what the Bucks went to next and then the hiring of George Carl who again um brought the pedigree brought a lot of recognition and attention and we’ve talked about it with other teams and especially schools when you think back to Bruce Pearl um with the Milwaukee Panthers when it’s sometimes like this is what you need for that jolt of energy to get more investment in your fans and in the community and City and everywhere else and there’s no denying that’s what the hiring of George Carl did it put the Bucks to a lesser extent on the map and they were no longer the laughing stock or one of them in the league and and kind of stuck in purgatory so they go 28 and 22 in his first season I mentioned they make the playoffs they lose to the Pacers in a sweep best of five but all three of those games were pretty competitive you go to the 99 2000 season and they have another winning record they go 42 and 40 they’re the eight seed they lose to the Pacers again in the first round something that we’re very familiar with at this point in another best of five that goes the distance another very very competitive series that I think a Bucks fans will certainly remember the name of Travis best who basically shot the Bucks out of the playoffs with that corner three in the closing seconds of game five but it was that moment that it it kind of felt like okay they’re headed towards something they’re building something here so the expectations were very very high going into that 20201 um season in the off season I mentioned they would make some changes to the roster over the course of those two years after George Carl arrived uh most of that heavy lifting was already done so their big moves in the off season remember Billy Owens they traded Billy Owens to the Pistons for Lindsey Hunter who was a pretty valuable piece in the regular season the playoffs especially late would prove to be a different story they signed Mark Pope who was waved by the Pacers they added Jerome kiry uh during the season and um kiry essentially replaced Danny Manning who we forget was a member of the Bucks in the late 90s and then that summer in the draft they added some guy named Michael red in the second round and they traded Jason clier who was the 15th pick to the rockets for Joel prisilla so those were their big changes prisilla would play a decent amount Michael red we wouldn’t see a whole lot of until the following season but I mentioned Lindsey Hunter was a big piece for them especially during the regular season Mark Pope had uh by the time the season ended B basically replaced Marty Conlin as one of those fan favorite guys especially in that playoff run uh and Jerome kiry we saw for moments throughout the season so looking at the off season for that Bucks team it was the foundation is already here how do we continue to add some rooll guys and sprinkle to this team where we can continue this growth that’s what they did like when you think of the name just like thinking about that season you mentioned uh kiry where it’s like jome Cur you don’t think about drum cursy be like that’s that’s such a valuable pickup in the offseason but like he was the big bet on that particular bugs team as well which carries way we talk a lot about roster construction how you need to have the right type of chemistry in the locker room the right type of rooll guys on your team and with the 01 bucks in particular like you mention a lot of the big pieces were already in place we knew the offensive scoring was going to come through big dog it was going to come through Ray it was gonna come through Sam Cassel and even Tim Thomas off the bench because Tim Thomas himself like that was a buck where was like I think he has some real potential here to to you know really grow like he was I think second and Sixth Man of the Year voting that uh in that season in particular um so you had a lot of the scoring there so being able to add some pieces that could play some defense give you that veteran presence and also help steady the ship I thought was really important for that particular team because uh you need that you need that good mix and thinking about the rooky years of Joel pris Bella and Michael red just being like wow like that really was their very first year and it’s like pris played in like a third of the games where you’re like seeing him getting his feet wet um and like you said Michael red played even fewer than that but uh even getting Jason caffy over like he had a ring with the Jordan Bulls as well so they were able to stockpile some vets and some guys around this team I think just kind of Hit the right buttons even Irvin Johnson on the team this year like he came up big in certain times Irvin no magic like he he some big roles during that uh that playoff run as well uh I do want to take a look at that name you mentioned Jason Cathy there’s some interesting moments throughout the regular season that involved Jason Cathy we’ll take a look back at before we do step aside for our first break though Tim Thomas um I remember I loved Tim Thomas in my younger years maybe it was just the Dual headband look that I think attracted me to him but I loved Tim Thomas and again it was what the Bucks did around that era to win on the margins uh the value that you got from Irvin Johnson the trade that brought you Sam Cassell I think it was Chris Gatling was really the big piece that they shipped out in um that deal the Tim Thomas trade they sent Tyrone Hill in that failed era of Bucks basketball with Terrell Brandon they sent Tyrone Hill and another young guy I do remember being very high on Gerald Honeycut to the 76ers for Tim Thomas and Scott Williams another very very important piece Y in Bucks basketball and that trade occurred about a year and a half prior to this Conference Finals run so we’ll take a look at some of the memorable moments that stand out the most from an up and down regular season that eventually turned the way of the Bucks we will get into that conversation coming up next year on locked on bucks well time to talk to you about our friends over at prize picks they are America’s number one fantasy sports app with more than 5 million members they are the most fun and exciting way to get in on the action while you watch your favorite sports players and teams you just pick more than or less than on two to six player stat categories and get a shot to win up to 100 times your cash with prize picks you could turn $10 into ,000 in a single game watching your favorite sports this summer can make a prize picks line up in as little as 60 seconds and you just need to pick more or less than on two to six player stat projections the finals mean more on prize picks and so do the star players you get boosted payouts on select basketball Stars you won’t find anywhere else and when the finals are over Hoops action doesn’t stop on prize picks women’s basketball is just getting started you got Caitlyn Clark and Angel ree in the WNBA can utilize those two names on prize picks as well looking to make name for themselves alongside other greats in the league like aej Wilson Brianna Stewart and more win up to 100 times your cash watching them ball out this summer it’s very easy download the app today and use the code locked on NBA for a first deposit match up to $100 again that code locked on NBA prize picks pick more pick less it is that easy all right on to the regular season here Camille So we mentioned the pieces that were already in place some of the tinkering that the Bucks did to um supplement their roster but as you and I were talking about before we started recording this it got off to a rocky start and I do remember this getting kicked around a lot when you would look back it it seemed like everybody had a different inflection point of when you would say hey here’s where the turnaround took place um the Bucks weren’t all that great in terms of their metrics and certainly their record for the first 30 to 35 games of the season that’s when you started to really see the uh turnaround they were 8 and 11 at one point albeit very very early but to me the big uh point on the calendar that stood out they were 18 and 15 on January 7th and they would go 34 and 17 the rest of the way if you go back even further than that though I I said it early there was a game um in Milwaukee at the Bradley Center I think it was it was the first week of December it I believe it was an NBC game when when what’s old is is new again when they had the basketball deals and their their um their Marquee games would be Sunday afternoons so this was a Sunday afternoon at the Bradley Center against the Indiana Pacers the Bucks were somewhere around 6 and 10 6 and N something like that uh at that point Point not what we expected right we talked about this team being on the rise and building something Not only was the record not great the Optics were even worse their numbers were bad they were losing in ugly fashion and Glenn Robinson Sam Cassell and Jason Cathy all missed a team meeting they were benched in the first quarter of the game against the Indiana Pacers the Bucks ultimately won that game and that seemed to be one of the early moments where this group was galvanized they went 45 and 20 the rest of the way after that Pacers win I think they won on an eight-game win streak or they won eight of their next nine or 10 games and it was slowly but surely they started to build something everything started to click especially with that Trio of Sam Cassell Ray Allen and Glenn Robinson we fast forward to the end of the year the Bucs win 52 games it was the most they had won since 1986 when they won 5 seven games 13th time in team history they won 50 or more games and the first time they were division Champions since that same 1986 season and um the last thing I I’ll mention and get your thoughts on here was we mentioned it was ugly in terms of some of their metrics and numbers and the the win loss record down the stretch especially when you look at where this team finished I think it speaks to just just how Elite this group was playing for really the last three months of the regular season is they wrapped up the season number two in offensive rating number seven in net rating they were second in the league in both three-point attempts and makes and you know we mentioned that name of uh Tim Thomas um this team looking back at it in the memories that we have of watching them you can’t help but think these were some of the predecessors they were really ahead of their time where it wasn’t five out with Irvin Johnson um but this was at least four out in those lineups where you would play Tim Thomas even Mark Pope not a a sharpshooter but Mark Pope had a baseline jumper that this was really not a fullscale revolution of here’s how the game is going to be played but a lot of pieces to that 2001 team you think back to yeah you could do that now in the league today yeah one thing that was interesting like going back and looking at some of the games footage of basketball being played during that time uh just how many shots came from the elbows like even when big like you mentioned they don’t stretch out the floor completely at that time but from Baseline shots or working the elbows like you did see a lot of bigs trying to get that shot off and the Bucks had few guys uh who could knock that down as well in addition to the three-point shooting that we know of with Ray Allen who I felt like not before his time but like the three-point shot he got to play it for a very long time but like if if his volume was even increased because he was a 43% like three-point shooter I find it impressive what Chris Middleton has done in the r the franchise record books and then when I went back to look at it and seeing how few attempts Ray Allen was doing it in just the efficiency like that always jumps off the screen to me so in addition to rayen you mentioned Tim Thomas who was also a plus 40% three-point shooter lindsy Hunter was knocking him down now Sam Cassell didn’t have the numbers but people respected the shot enough to not just leave him out there he was clutch guy on the yes yes and he would come clutch through with some clutch mid-range shots a lot of the time as well just a big shot maker um you mentioned that game against Indiana that was a turning point for you before we started recording I mentioned like I remembered them losing at the beginning but I didn’t realize that they had lost that many games early on uh it was actually they had like an eight game win streak in January and that was when I remember being like Oh okay like there it’s not just one game then you know you win two you lose one you you win two you lose two like they finally were able to Rattle off some games consistently and they had a really good January um and that’s when I remember being like this team might be able to do something special because uh you started seeing them put it together and then to go on to win the Central Division which at that time which also made me laugh where I was like oh yeah I forgot there only used to be two divisions in each conference so winning your division you had a lot more teams to go through at that time than what we have now with the three divisional it was something to be proud of yeah truly like truly like when you look at you like dang is this the conference list oh wait no this just the division it’s only two of them here so uh it was difficult and the Bucks really came through with that and I was just remember being like I’ve never seen them be this good like let’s see what the playoffs bring because what Ray Allen was doing what you were seeing with big dog uh Lindsey Hunter was somebody who for some reason I really liked like it was just a random like I like Lindsey Hunter I think he’s a really good basketball player and for you know when you’re younger it’s always one guy where you’re just like something about him so I was disappointed the spoiler alert when lindsy Hunter was only here for a year um instead of you know staying on board but yeah that January stretch for me is when I really was like I think that this bugs team might be able to win now my uncles weren’t as uh B they have as much belief as I did at that time used to Decades of the previous exactly exactly like that’s cute but like let’s see how this actually shakes up um yeah Lindsey Hunter was you know when we talk about the way that the Bucks could space the floor Lindsay Hunter was was one of those guys with his shooting ability we’ll get to it when we uh take a look at at the playoffs that would become a different story but he came to the bucks from the Pistons where the the previous season he shot 43% on his threes and took about five per game which granted you didn’t have the volume of guys taking quite as many threes as it seems like now you’ll have five to six guys on a roster that take five or more threes per game uh but Lindsey Hunter one of the elite Shooters out there in the league shot 43% on threes prior to joining the uh the Bucks and even his one year in Milwaukee he was a 37% three-point shooter it was just man what about the playoffs Lindsay that’s what we really really needed that shooting um 15% on threes in the postseason in that 2001 run with the Bucks and you know it’s it’s I think the other thing that we’ll get to is as we’ll we’ll save the postseason because there’s a lot of conversations to be had about that playoff run and the Intrigue behind each of those series we’re going to break that off into a part two here um but coming back from the break I want to talk about the optimism what you mentioned your belief in this team the fact that I think anybody that was older or slightly older than we were that experienced not just the bad eras of Bucks basketball but even those teams in the 80s that were good but just couldn’t get over the hump there was the Celtics or the Hawks or the Sixers that were standing in their way and that kind of beat you down to think yeah it’s just not going to happen the numbers that inspired that confidence that a lot of us that were probably too naive and too young to know any better had I want to get into that conversation coming up here after the break un locked on bucks well if you’re watching Fox Sports or ESPN on your TV all day and have to turn down the volume with all the shouting it’s time to make the switch to locked on sports today there are free 247 sports streaming channel that is programmed for you every day to bring you the biggest stories without all of that screaming locked on sports today brings you can’t miss analysis opinions news and it streams 24 7 on YouTube or the free Amazon Fire TV channels app part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day um this is the other thing I think that that probably gets referenced the most we could put together a Mount Rushmore of what are things that we mentioned the most about that 2001 uh Buck team two of them we’re definitely going to get to in the playoff discussion but one of those when I talked about you explaining your confidence and your belief in the team me as well anybody else all my friends that were watching the games together feeling the same way a big big reason for that was we would point to one stat and that stat was eight and0 the Bucks went eight and0 that year against the top four seeds from the West yeah they swept the Spurs I remember watching both of those games is I think they were both on channel 18 they swept the Lakers they swept the Kings and they swept the Utah Jazz so there was this not only is you know I I think there was this stigma that you know Charles Barkley has talked about a lot of jump shooting teams don’t win and that kind of held true until we saw the Golden State Warriors break that in the mid 2010s but I think that was a big thing that people would would kind of use to diminish the Bucks of yeah Ray Allen and Sam Cassell and Glenn Robinson they’re good players uh Ray and Glenn were Allstars that year but they’re not alen Iverson they’re not Kobe Bryant they’re not that tier or level of player it’s it’s I suppose funny that it’s kind of the same conversation we’re having about the Boston Celtics but um people would point to that and well they’re a jump shooting team but I think we would all push back with all right I understand it’s the regular season it wasn’t quite the era that it is now where the regular season and playoffs were too drastic different things and we would point to well explain this then how have the Bucks swept all four of those teams in the conference that is viewed as the better conference that was like you mentioned the confidence and that is why I know we’re going to get to the next episode and that is why them losing that Eastern Conference Finals bothered me and so many other people so much I think because it was like yeah I think a lot of bugs fans had the confidence that that bugs team could have beat those LA Lakers now whether that is true or not we will never know we can do a 2K simulation I’m gonna I don’t think they would have beaten that Lakers team Listen Justin there gon be some I guarantee you in the comments there gonna be some people saying like no Justin we would have beat that Lakers team but I think the bu think would beat competitive yeah right I think it would have been a more competitive series maybe they take two games um and I I think we are all pleased too that as that series unfolded The between the Sixers and the Lakers you had the Sixers improbably winning game one with the iconic moment of AI stepping over to um I think when that game happened you had a lot of people myself included like holy cow what’s what’s going on here and then the Lakers promptly won four straight games and you started to hear a little bit not a ton about a little bit and I I think look if if that happened today in the day and age of everybody having a podcast you would have you would have heard a lot more of you know the Bucks would have made this a more competitive series I don’t think they would have beaten the Lakers but I I think you would have seen X Y and Z and you heard a little bit of that as we moved into the offseason which again similar to what we talked about coming into 2000 to 2001 led to even more optimism of okay you you got to do things in steps and this team took a giant leap to win in the first round for the first time in 12 years and not only that reach the Conference Finals this group is relatively young they’re all under contract we should be able to keep this thing together for the foreseeable future this team is headed somewhere and as we’ll get to back half of part number two that that just was not the case I’m still disappointed about that Justin I’ve made jokes saying I still have some some hard feelings towards George Carl uh because I put for years I put that at at the at his feet like this team was not this team anymore because George Carl wanted to make some roster changes but we’re not there yet we’re not at that point what I will say one more thing just about the regular season that that particular Milwaukee Bucks team had um and heading into the playoffs I remember thinking like oh hey it does not look like we’re gonna play the Pacers again for the third year in row in the playoffs so I was like okay like let’s let’s shake this part off and let’s get past this because as we mentioned the first two years it was against the Pacers swept the first time take him to distance the second time around but I was like okay at first I was like I want to see the Pacers again like let’s let’s get this again and then when I saw it wasn’t going to happen I was like actually I’m okay with that not to say like you know I didn’t think that they could win but it was like let’s let’s see something different um and at that time too I was a big T-Mac fan like T-Mac was one of those guys so being able to be like oh we get to see him in the playoffs was exciting now we’ll talk about that series more in the next part but um yeah it was just a lot of excitement um something you never saw before with that bugs team and again like I mentioned just the city being behind it where it was just like this feels different like that’s when Bradley Center like I was hearing like the fortress on the fourth like I remember watching those games and being like I don’t remember hearing the crowd this loud ever before yeah it was something the the way that that crowd was really into it I think you saw moments of that in 2010 as well with the fear of the deer team um it it’s tough to make the C when you move to fer forum even the final game that was played in The Bradley Center I still remember in that Series against the Boston Celtics where the Bucks held serve they won their three games and sent the Bradley Center out a winner something it didn’t experience much of in its Heyday um but that crowd and the the energy in the Bradley Center around this team in 2001 was certainly something and that Pacers thing that that was one of the things that stood out to me the most was I I vividly remember those two Series against the Pacers in the two years prior and in going through and cleaning things up with some of the research and realizing you may have misremembered some things about 2001 I remember thinking the same thing of wait a minute what what happened to the Pacers because they were in the East they were in the finals the year prior and assuming well there had to have been that had to have been the offseason when Jaylen Rose left or other guys started to leave but no it was just the Bucks and the Allen Iverson the Ascension from those guys of really being that and the Pacers on the other end of the spectrum getting older that they took a step back and were the e seed that year playing the 76ers were 500 that year right yeah yeah it was it was an interesting Year all around all across the board but nothing was more interesting than the playoffs that year and what we saw from the bucks each of the three series they were in were with storylines and memorable moments we’re going to get into that conversation and of course the ultimate ending to that postseason run and what we saw that lead to which um I think robbed a lot of Bucks fans of the joy that they had following this team so we’ll get into the postseason conversation about the 2001 playoff run with this Bucks team on part two of this Flashback Friday Epis episode next unlocked on bock

Justin and Camille take a look back at a Bucks team that captured all of our hearts, the 2000-01 team that ultimately became the Eastern Conference runners up. How was the team built and how long were they building towards that ECF push? What did George Karl’s arrival bring and how much did the 2019 playoff run evoke memories of 2001? We take a look at the foundation of the team in part one of this series

Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…
🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOBucks?sid=YouTube

Locked On NBA League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft, WNBA & More
🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNBA

#MilwaukeeBucks #Bucks #GiannisAntetokounmpo #NBA