I can remember it vividly. Year 11 (junior year to most of you). My best friend\u2019s voice riding the wind across the yard.<\/p>\n
I looked up, mouth ajar, eyes staring as if I was mid matrices exam. Then the follow-up.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Bucks have signed Bobby Simmons!\u201d<\/p>\n
Dilation. Pupils, mouth. Everything.<\/p>\n
It was true. A quick\u2014okay, slow (we\u2019re talking ADSL speeds)\u2014Google search (or was it Ask Jeeves?) confirmed the news. The NBA\u2019s reigning Most Improved Player (MIP), coming off a season in which he averaged 16.4 PPG, 5.9 RPG, 2.7 APG, and 1.4 SPG on .466\/.435\/.846 shooting, was joining the Bucks on a 5-year $47m contract.<\/p>\n
And they were movin\u2019 on up.<\/p>\n
My excitement was palpable, even as a closet fan<\/a>. Coming off a 25th-placed 30-52 season the year prior, Simmons\u2019 arrival signalled change and upward trajectory in Milwaukee. But he wasn\u2019t alone. T.J. Ford\u2014yes, that new assistant coach<\/a>\u2014was back after missing his entire sophomore season due to a severe spinal injury, Michael Redd had just re-signed on a six-year deal (remember those?), and Andrew Bogut had arrived in town after being selected with the number one overall pick in the NBA Draft. Youth and promise. Sounds familiar, right? Oh, and they had a new coach too, moving off one Terry (Porter) for another (Stotts).<\/p>\n But the roster revitalisation wasn\u2019t done. Not yet. Two months later, Milwaukee would trade for All-Star centre Jamaal Magloire in a deal that sent out Desmond Mason and a 2006 first-round pick (that would become Cedric Simmons). And just like that, the starters were set: two seven-footers up front, a big-bodied forward on the wing, a sweet-shooting two, and an exciting, young point. Read that sentence again and you could easily confuse it for this year\u2019s squad.<\/p>\n So, with a revamped starting five that also strengthened the bench\u20142004-05 starters Joe Smith, Mo Williams, and Dan Gadzuric became reserves\u2014the Bucks looked primed for a playoff push.<\/p>\n The season started with a bang\u2014a 117-108 overtime win against the Philadelphia 76ers\u2014and Simmons looked every bit the key free agent signing Bucks fans had hoped for, dropping 22 points to go along with a career-high-tying 12 rebounds. Up next, New Jersey. Kidd, Vince, RJ. SEGABABA. And when my best mate told me he\u2019d organised his next door neighbour to record it on VHS for us (it was our only access to full NBA games), I became Bango after nailing an overhead half-court shot.<\/p>\n We watched it that afternoon (time difference and all that), dragging dining chairs into the corner of his room so we could get as close as possible to his box TV. The mid-2000s style meant every basket was a grind, and when Dan Gadzuric hit the Bucks\u2019 first field goal\u2014an isolation, face-up jumper from the left block with 6:43 on the clock to make it a 9-3 Nets lead\u2014I could finally move off the front of the chair. At the end of the first, the Nets led 29-17. By halftime, it was 55-50 and Simmons had gone just 1\/6 from the field. He didn\u2019t improve much after the break, missing his only attempt, but a 33-point second-half explosion by Redd secured a Bucks victory. Enthused, we chucked NBA Live into his PlayStation 2, let our inner Larry Harrises out, and had at it.<\/p>\n Three nights later, Simmons looked back to his Opening Night self, putting up 23 points, four rebounds, and three assists to lead the Bucks over D-Wade and the Miami Heat, giving Milwaukee their first three-game winning streak to start the season since 2001-02. They remained hot too. By mid-December, the Bucks were 12-7. By the New Year, they were 17-11. And despite cooling off by the time All-Star break came around, they remained in the black: 27-25.<\/p>\n Simmons, however, wasn\u2019t quite living up to expectations, regressing statistically across the board thanks in large part to the inconsistent play his opening three games foreshadowed. 20 points one night become single digits the next. And across the season\u2019s first three months, he seemed to be hurting more than he was helping (a plus\/minus of -46). He would amend that on the back of a season-high 26 points (including 5\/9 from three) in a two-point loss to the Houston Rockets to begin February, finishing the second half of the season at +95 despite the Bucks going just 17-20 over this stretch.<\/p>\n Overall, Simmons\u2019 first year with the Bucks was solid if unspectacular: 13.4 PPG, 4.4 RPG, 2.3 APG, and 1.1 SPG on .453\/.420\/.825 splits. More importantly, the Bucks had made good on that playoff promise.<\/p>\n Despite the excitement, Milwaukee\u2019s playoff run didn\u2019t last long. Playing the second-seeded \u201cGoin\u2019 to Work\u201d Detroit Pistons\u2014Ben Wallace, Rasheed Wallace, Tayshaun Prince, Rip Hamilton, and Chauncey Billups\u2014the Bucks were beaten in a gentleman\u2019s sweep, experiencing their only taste of victory in Game 3 thanks to a combined 60 points on absurd 23\/31 shooting from Redd and Williams, and a team-leading seven rebounds and 15 assists from Ford. Simmons chipped in with a steady 10 points, four boards, and three assists.<\/p>\n Across the series, though, to say he struggled would be an understatement. In his first taste of post-season action, Simmons was held to just 6.6 PPG, 3.6 RPG, 2.0 APG, and 1.8 SPG, shooting a paltry 33% from the field while not attempting a single free throw, despite playing 31.8 MPG. Still, it was a season of growth and Simmons and the Bucks headed into the offseason full of optimism.<\/p>\n Despite being released in 2009, much of the Black Eyed Peas\u2019 fifth studio album, The E.N.D., was recorded in 2006. And its vocally-manipulated spoken-word hidden intro could easily be seen as an epigraph for the 2006-07 Bucks: \u201cEverything around you is changing. Nothing stays the same. This version of myself is not permanent. Tomorrow I will be different. The energy never dies.\u201d After all, the 2006-07 Bucks were changed.<\/p>\n In June, Ford was traded to the Toronto Raptors for Charlie Villanueva. In July, Magloire was traded to the Portland Trail Blazers for Steve Blake, Ha Seung-Jin, and Brian Skinner. In August, Smith was traded to the Denver Nuggets for Ruben Patterson, while Ji\u0159\u00ed Welsch left the Bucks for Spanish ACB league club Unicaja M\u00e1laga. Then, in September, Toni Kuko\u010d retired.<\/p>\n