Markota Waived!
So just days after we were discussing Damir Markota's uh, interesting reasons for not trying hard last season, the Bucks stepped up and waived him. I figured the Bucks would be loathe to do so given it'd be simple to just stash him in the D-League for another season rather than admit their mistake, but being both bad at basketball and immature off the court does apparently count for something. At least in the NBA.
I'd have to guess his latest comments were perhaps the final nail in the coffin, and with Krystkowiak trying to build a more disciplined team Markota was probably viewed as a bad apple not worth wasting time on. Given he was friends with Bogut this might also be a bit of a wakeup call to the former #1 overall pick--no more coddling, Drew. In fairness Bogut doesn't have a rep for being much of a party animal, but his friendship with Markota was largely rumored to have been a reason the Bucks acquired Markota in the first place (and for a high '07 second rounder no less). I'll be curious to hear how much of his remaining two years' salary (about $1.5 million total, the minimum for a player of his tenure) was guaranteed.
3 comments:
Man, I hope you can keep this up during the season. Tremendo work.
Frank, I sent a comment last night that may not have got through as the blog did seem to be messing up. Anyway, here it is again under the presumption that you didn't just think my comment was a waste of bandwidth :)
How much stock is there in the Markota-Bogut friendship rumor? Didn't they meet at the junior world championships 4 or 5 years ago? It isn't like they shared house or met up every week for a night of clubbing.
I just don't see Bogut ever approving of Markota's drinking and clubbing. He's already publicly dissed that sort of stereotypical NBAer lifestyle.
I doubt Bogut will be losing any sleep over Damir's exit.
DD, I think you're probably right about the extent of Bogut and Markota's friendship...some very reliable posters at RealGM said that the Bucks might have misread the extent to which they were friends, and that it wasn't as though Markota was getting Bogut in trouble. I'll be honest, until recently I didn't even realize they knew each other before Markota was picked--I just figured the buddy comments came from them both having Croat roots. I assumed Markota was picked purely for basketball reasons.
Turns out they definitely knew each other before Markota was drafted, that we know for sure, and from what I've heard they hung out a fair amount on the road. Bogut actually mentioned Markota before the 2005 draft here:
http://www.nbadraft.net/bogutinterview001.asp
Still, that doesn't mean Bogut was out running around with Markota. It sounds like that was not the case, and it meshes with what we've heard about Bogut's relatively low key off-the-court style. I'm not worried about Bogut being mad, for the reasons you mentioned. I'd guess he might have seen this coming.
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