BUCKS STOPPED: The Hoopsworld rumor mill has a theory on the Bucks' hideous season-ending collapse:

The Milwaukee Bucks did as many expected... they crashed and burned, I know your saying I'm crazy, but when the trade deadline came and went with no movement in Milwaukee, quietly a number of people close to the Bucks pegged this to happen, they said George Karl was going to allow this to happen to prove a point... this team, as its built doesn't want to win... All year Karl has taken shots at his big three and their commitment and desire to win, saying Ray Allen wasn't nasty or dirty enough... that Glen Robinson was the problem because he was a screen door on defense... that guys weren't playing hurt enough... Bottom line he signed an extension for a team he didn't like, and now that they are a burning-heaping pile of contracts, he'll have the chance this summer to re-shape the team into something he likes a bit more.

So we have the semi-plausible conspiracy theory that Karl tanked the season because he doesn't like the team. The Confederate Mack on the DVDVR board suggests the black helicopters-level conspiracy theory about the Bucks: that they were punished by the NBA for the "it's fixed" comments from last year's playoffs. Huh. Anyway, shouldn't George Karl be coaching in college if he needs to mess with his rosters so much? Coaching at the college level involves getting players to fit into your system, coaching at the pro level involves making the most of what you got --which is why reed-bending-in-the-wind boy Phil Jackson is so successful (and, of course, coaching the best players in the league helps too.) College ball is a coach's game, pro ball is a player's game. That's what I think is the big stylistic difference between the two.