Bucks heading towards a difficult decision.

As this disappointing season winds to an end, it's natural to look forward to the possibilities of next season in an attempt to forget the underwhelming effort of these 2007-2008 Milwaukee Bucks. And as an eternal sports-optimist and someone who picked the Bucks to make the Eastern Conference Finals this year (goodbye $5 bet), I have no shortage of tenuous half-evidences to point to suggesting that the team will be much improved in '08-'09:

-Ramon Sessions' impressive D-league play
-Bogut's emergence this year as a legitimately dominate big man
-That fact that every year they've been in the league, Bogut and Redd have worked hard to improve and add something to their games in the off-season
-Yi's expected improvement now that he has a season of nba basketball under his belt
-Charlie V's growth since the all-start break into 'the player we always thought he was going to be'

And other fans could probably add another half-dozen reasons to talk yourself into believing that next season will be different. But this question is not so much about whether things will be different; rather the question is, what if things are different?

These are Charlie V's numbers over the last five games: 24.6ppg, 9.6rpg, 1.2 bpg, and nearly 1 steal over what has been an average of 37 minutes per game. By most accounts he has been much improved since the all-start break, and especially since Yi's injuries opened up more playing time and a starting spot.

Now, pretend this is how the rest of the season plays out: Yi is limited/shut-down for the remaining games; Villanueva remains the starter at PF and continues anywhere near the pace he's been setting these last five games (20ppg, 10 rpg); the Bucks enter the off-season with legitimate all-star production at the PF spot (finally) and a chinese superstar drawing 100 million new fans to the franchise, and these two are not the same person. What then?

Presumably, there will be a new GM before next season. Both Charlie and Yi (assuming Charlie finishes this season strong) will be valuable assests, playing minutes at the same position. What does the new GM do? Go with the established 20ppg & 10rpg Villanueva, or the internationally popular Yi and his still unproven potential?

Probably no other man on the planet can draw as much worldwide attention and interest to the Bucks as Yi right now, and his impact goes way beyond the basketball court into business, politics, etc. On the other hand, the Bucks are a basketball team, the GM's job is to assemble a winning group of players, Charlie V is (hypothetically) an established 20/10 PF and a good guy to boot and how many years have the Bucks been searching for that?

Each of them is going to demand 40+ minutes a game to really develop and play at the level they're capable of, so at some point the minute-sharing of this season is not going to cut it. Ideally Villanueva can play SF equally well and the Bucks will enjoy the best of both worlds, but if he can't what then?

The new GM will have a tough decision on his hands and unless it is obvious very quickly that the right decision was made, what's left of the already disgruntled fans will turn their backs on the franchise. Photo courtesy chinadaily.com.