Ridnour Could Be Ready Against Cavs, Other Bucks Ramblings

Yeah, that video pretty much sums up the Bucks season at this point. Bango may have been injured in the process, but at least the ball went through the hoop! Once again, another Buck gets injured, yet the team shoulders on. But fortunately, Luke Ridnour may be one of those injured Bucks that could soon return to the floor.

According to JS Online's Bucks Blog, Ridnour participated in contract drills on Thursday and hopes to be ready to go against the Cavs on Friday night. This would be great news for the Bucks, as long as he doesn't return to the starting lineup. Look, we all love Luke Ridnour and his shop class looks, but this Bucks team needs to keep Ramon Sessions as the starter. I just think Sessions has so much more to offer than Ridnour, and the Bucks are better suited letting him get this quality experience at 22, rather than giving time back to Luke.

Of course, this train of thought is useless if the Bucks can't keep Sessions next year. But their chances of doing that decreased significantly with Milwaukee unable to trade Richard Jefferson at the deadline on Thursday. One quick glance at the Bucks salary cap situation will show you that if Jefferson stays on the books, there's not a lot of wiggle room to sign guys like Sessions and even Charlie Villanueva.

As I argued in this week's Winks Thinks, I want the Bucks to succeed. But making the playoffs as a low seed that is likely to lose in the first round is pretty much the same thing as missing the playoffs a few games under .500. I don't think the Bucks should be thinking short-term here, they need to think long-term. Trading Jefferson, or his contract anyway, would have been a better move in the long run. Now, we know Hammond did offer Jefferson in a couple of trade scenarios, but I wish he would have been able to get the job done. Who knows when the next chance to move that contract might be.

But alas, no trade was made. Actually, barely any trades were made in the NBA at the deadline - another year of all buildup, no action. So this is the team we're going this rest of the way with. It's time to put whatever thoughts about whatever possible would-be trades aside, and ride this thing out with the Bucks.

I guess making the playoffs as a low level seed wouldn't be that bad.