Someone is saying the last two years are team options.. I'd be ok with the deal if that's the case.

That would make much more sense.

Gooden's not a terrible player, but his rap is that he's lazy and makes a lot of mental errors that drives coaches crazy.  Skiles has worked with him before though, so maybe he's not too concerned about coachability issues.

The Milwaukee paper has finally reported the deal, but they basically said "Yahoo Sports reports this..." without adding anything new from the organization.

David Aldridge is reporting that Salmons will resign for five years, $39M. Don't like that deal AT ALL.

ESPN says only the first three years of Gooden's deal are guaranteed.

Hollinger was saying earlier today that the full MLE for FA's over 28 has a miserable history- almost 100% fail rate.

Bogut-Jennings is a nice core, but Milwaukee is tying a lot of LT cash into players who have short lives as effective players remaining.

Good lord, now there are reports that all five years for Gooden are likely to be guaranteed.

Fifth year of Salmons deal may be an option.

Horrible day.

Also, there's a crazy (and discredited) rumor about a three-way trade where Redd goes to CLE, Jamison to NJ, Devin Harris to MIL.

Don't see why New Jersey would want to get involved. Harris is by far the best available PG and they can sign better PFs in free agency (plus they have Lopez and Favors already). Harris is also the cheapest player.

Jamison for Redd makes more sense.

Gary Woelfel of the Racine Journal Times was just on the radio and he didn't say anything about the rumored Harris deal. He said the team was in no hurry to add a backup PG right now (Ridnour is as good as gone) and mentioned Anthony Carter and Anthony Johnson as possibilities (he did say they may make a trade later in the summer).

WTF is Skiles thinking by letting all this happen?  The Gooden deal was bad enough but the Salmons deal......oh Lord.

They overpaid. Milwaukee will always have to overpay, I suppose, but it'd be nice to do it for guys with more upside. Just when we had gotten clear of Gadzuric, too.

PG - Brandon Jennings
SG - John Salmons/Michael Redd/Chris Douglas-Roberts
SF - Corey Maggette/Carlos Delfino/Darington Hobson
PF - Ersan Ilyasova/Luc Richard Mbah a Moute
C - Andrew Bogut/Drew Gooden/Larry Sanders/Tiny Gallon

and the bird rights to Luke Ridnour (they can convince him to sign with the right pieces and money)

Thats really not a bad team, not considering the contracts. Looks like Kohl is finally willing to spend. If they can trade Redd somewhere for another nice player, they could get closer to contending.

If Cleveland misses on LeBron, they might be willing to trade Varejao and Jamison for cap space. It could cost the Bucks more than Redd (say Sanders and Mbah a Moute), but depth isn't a problem and their frontcourt would be set even if they traded their young players.

Since Indiana took Paul George, Danny Granger could be had at the right price. Maybe Redd, Ilyasova, and Delfino for Granger and Murphy. Throw in Sanders or LRMAM if need be. Indiana would then have a ton of cap room for 2011. Milwaukee would have the closest thing they can get to a star scorer (Granger) and contender potential if Jennings continues to blossom.

Redd and a similar package for Al Jefferson and Martell Webster would also work. Minnesota would then have another chance at a big FA in 2011.

It might take more than one deal, but Milwaukee has some pieces to make something happen. They can't afford to let Redd's contract go to waste - especially after spending the money the already have - they need to use it to bring in more talent. Letting it expire would be a waste - Bucks aren't convincing any top guys to sign with them.

Picking up Varejao would have been a nice idea before throwing $32M at Gooden.

No way Granger goes for that package- the popular rumor is Favors + Harris for him.  The Nets may not be willing to do that, but Ilyasova and Sanders can't be that appealing to Indy.  And I doubt Minny is itching to dump Webster after moving the #16 pick for him, while Jefferson is worth more than a big expiring contract.

Copied from elsewhere... this is not particularly encouraging:

09/10 Clippers: With Gooden 5-19 .208% Without 24-34, .414%
09/10 Mavs: With Gooden 28-18 .609% Without 27-9 .750%
08/09 Spurs: With Gooden 9-10 .474% Without 45-18 .714%
08/09 Bulls: With Gooden 15-16 .484% Without 26-25 .510%
07/08 Bulls With Gooden 6-12 .333% Without 27-37 .422%
07/08 Cavs With Gooden 28-23 .549% Without 17-14 .548%
02/03 Grizzlies With Gooden 16-35 .314% Without 12-19 .387

Overall: With Gooden: 107-133 .446% Without 178-156 .533

Cheer up frog, maybe he'll be better now that his prime is over.