Ersan Ilyasova is Milwaukee’s longest tenured player. He’s been there for the mediocre times, and he’s been there for the slightly worse than mediocre times.
Over the course of five and a half seasons, the 26 year old forward has had ample opportunity to see exactly how the Bucks operate on every level.
Basically, Ilyasova has seen some real...stuff. Perhaps he’s finally seen enough, in fact, as reported here in the Journal Times.According to multiple sources, Ilyasova has expressed a desire to be traded, apparently having had his fill of the Bucks’ continual rebuilding project.
Ilyasova downplayed talk about him wanting out of Milwaukee and declined to comment on whether he or his agent, Andy Miller, had requested a trade.
Ilyasova made it clear, though, the Bucks’ revolving door policy with players has irritated him.
“The thing I’m upset about is each year, each season, we go through the same thing,” Ilyasova said. “Last year, we make the playoffs and now we start all over again. That’s really frustrating.
You’ll excuse Ilyasova for not fully understanding what plagues the Bucks. He’s been conditioned to believe that playoff appearances where you get swept by a half-awake Miami Heat team are the goal to strive for.
Milwaukee’s issues don’t stem from “starting all over again”, either. Teams that are starting over don’t sign O.J. Mayo, Gary Neal and Zaza Pachulia to a combined $16.5 million in salary in the offseason with no plan in place. Teams that are starting over don’t trade for the ghost of Caron Butler. The issue isn’t losing guys like Brandon Jennings or Monta Ellis; it’s trying to replace them through the free agency minefield.
The Bucks refuse to bottom out and try to acquire any real difference-makers, and this is the result. They’re on the right path (for now) thanks to pure incompetence (thanks pure incompetence!) and injuries, but it’s understandable if Ilyasova doesn’t want to stick around to see how it plays out.
Ilyasova has three years and $24.2 million left on his deal, though, so moving him might not be so simple. Even if Milwaukee is willing to part with him, which they absolutely should be, Ilyasova’s value hasn’t been this low in quite some time, as he’s shooting 37.5 percent from the field and 29.3 percent from behind the arc while providing his usual brand of matador defense. Long-term investments are scary, and Ilyasova is streaky, injury prone, and basically all the things you don’t want a lengthy investment to be.
That being said, you have to imagine Ilyasova would benefit from playing anywhere that’s not Milwaukee at this point. Other teams realize this, and it sounds like Ilyasova is beginning to realize that himself.
You’d like to think that someone in Milwaukee’s organization would tell Ilyasova that things have to get worse before they get better, that it’s darkest before the dawn and whatnot, but that would require a certain amount of self-awareness that’s completely non-existent in that organization. Get out now and don’t ever look back, Ersan.
