You love Sam Smith. You hate Sam Smith. No matter which camp you fall under, you can't deny his creativity when it comes to reporting trade gossip.

Last June Smith began to muse about the possibility of trading Elton Brand. On draft night, he was dealt to the Clippers. Earlier this season he spoke prophetically about a trade that would send Jalen Rose to Chicago. Remember that deal?

Now comes the doozy. Is Smith reporting a rumor or just talking to be heard when he proposes a trade of Kevin Garnett for Ray Allen, Tim Thomas and Anthony Mason/Jason Caffey?

Note that Smith's "sources" did not tell him this, a la Pete Vecsey. He simply proposes that such a deal might benefit both teams. But if this deal does go down at a later date, he'll be officially know as the Miss Cleo of NBA Reporters.

While there is no doubt that part of the blame for the Milwaukee Bucks? late season implosion could be placed on injuries, can it really be called the main reason?  What about the New York Knicks, who also missed the post season while finishing with a 33-49 record, their worst in 15 seasons?

Tom Enland, a writer for the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, is reporting that the Bucks lost 176 player-games to injury, a figure that holds them as one of the healthiest teams this season.  Using a survey prepared by Sixers statistical guru Harvey Pollack as a basis, only New Jersey (174), Utah (137), Sacramento (131) and the Los Angeles Lakers lost less.

The New York Knicks, a team hoping that health will keep their post season exclusion short, lost 229 games to injury and some are not considering the Knicks? situation as one in need of rebuilding just yet.

"We had some big injuries," said Knicks point guard Mark Jackson. "We had a tough, disappointing season. But by no means do I believe this is a rebuilding situation. I believe we'll be back where we belong."

But five teams that are currently in the playoffs had more player-games lost than the Knicks, and 10 of the 16 teams in the post season lost more than the Bucks, raising a question mark on the theories of both.

Just to put things into perspective of the teams currently in the playoffs Dallas missed the most player-games with 282, followed by Portland (269), Detroit (265), San Antonio (240), Boston (230), Orlando (211), Seattle (208), Minnesota (197), Indiana (192) and Charlotte (182).

The team which could perhaps make the best case for injuries removing any chance of post season action would be the Atlanta Hawks, who missed 319 player games.  After acquiring Shareef Abdur-Rahim in an off-season trade with Memphis the Hawks were predicted to be right in the mix of things, but with starting center Theo Ratliff once again pulling a ?Marcus Camby?, managing only three games for the season, the Hawks chances were doomed before they officially began.

Other Hawks missing in action were forward Chris Crawford, who missed 75 games; forward Alan Henderson, who missed 56; Emanuel Davis, who missed 54; guard Dion Glover (26); and forward Toni Kukoc (23).

Despite the injuries the Hawks did manage an eight game improvement over the previous season much in thanks to a 20-13 finish.  This came after the team lost 33 of their first 49 games.

"The season was tough on everybody because we had higher expectations - the playoffs," said Atlanta forward Shareef Abdur-Rahim. "We had some adversity but I think our team will be stronger in the long run because of this year. We have the opportunity to have a bright future."

Other teams to be hit hard by the injury bug were Memphis (310), Houston (304), Philadelphia (299) and Toronto (298).

Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal Times reports: You don't have to have a doctorate in professional basketball to realize the proverbial crap is going to hit the fan this summer with the Milwaukee Bucks.

Changes will be made. And they could be radical changes. You know Bucks owner Herb Kohl, general manager Ernie Grunfeld and coach George Karl -- all intensely competitive in their own right -- won't accept the status quo.

The odds are overwhelming one of the Bucks' so-called "Big Three" of Ray Allen, Sam Cassell and Glenn Robinson will be relocated to another zip code. Of course, Bucks management almost broke up the Big Three just prior to the February trading deadline. According to a Bucks insider, that's when the Denver Nuggets had a deal on the table in which the Bucks could have obtained Raef LaFrentz, Kenosha native Nick Van Exel and George McCloud for Tim Thomas, Joel Przybilla and Cassell.

"I heard about that,'' Van Exel told me. "I thought it was going to happen.''

Instead, the Nuggets dealt Van Exel and LaFrentz to Dallas as part of a multi-player deal that brought them Juwan Howard. While Van Exel and LaFrentz went on to help the Mavs advance to the playoffs, the Bucks went into a free fall seldom seen in NBA history.

Now the Bucks brass has to make a slew of decisions, many of major proportion. None of them will involve Karl; he's staying put. You can't safely say the same about Cassell, Robinson and Allen.

Name another NBA team who has had a nose dive that is at least comparable to the one suffered by the Milwaukee Bucks this season.  You can?t.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is reporting that, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, Milwaukee is the only team since the current playoff format began in 1983-'84 that was in first place in its division on the morning of March 16 then failed to make the playoffs.

On that day the Bucks, tied with the Detroit Pistons for first place in the Central Division, lost to the Pistons to break the tie.  Coach George Karl said the Pistons had more to play for as his Bucks owned a 2-1 advantage on the season, meaning an all-important tie breaker should the teams be equal at the end of the season.

"They had to beat us. And they probably have to beat us in Detroit (on April 17), although I don't know if it's going to go to the last game or not. They had to win and we didn't have to win. Maybe that was the difference in the game," said Karl on March 16.

How one month can change a scenario.  It did come down to the last game but not for the tie breaking scenario that Karl was talking about, the Pistons having already sealed the #2 spot in the East while the Bucks had to win to make the playoffs.  

As everyone knows they lost, completing a 5-14 (.263) record since that game they didn?t have to win on March 16, giving the Bucks the biggest choke in NBA history.