There is an easy way to fix the Bucks.

Blow them up.

Fire general manager Larry Harris, bring in some big name like Doug Collins or Larry Brown or somebody. Maybe fire the coach. Maybe make a trade or two.

Hold a news conference and talk about a new day, tough defense, players who have character and will play hard every single night.
That's the easy way.

It is also the way things have worked for 20 years with the Bucks. In those 20 years, they have had eight coaches, which amounts to about 2 ½ years per coach.

There are two famous quotes that apply here.

Albert Einstein said, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result."

And H. L. Mencken said, "For every complex problem there is always an easy answer, and it is always wrong."

So, the Bucks can do the same thing they've always done and buy themselves a couple of years of grace and fan support and interest. And then, they can do it again.

The tough thing to do, the thing someone with courage would do, is to stay the course and give something the time and chance to work.

Let's make no mistake about it, building a championship, competitive basketball team is a very complex job. Despite what callers and hosts of sports talk radio shows think, it is a job that requires lots of skill, plenty of experience, and more than a little luck.

It also requires patience.

The current Bucks are not a bad team. They aren't playing all that well, but they aren't a bad team.

They've got three guys who could play for anybody in Michael Redd, Andrew Bogut and Yi Jialian. These guys are serious stuff.

Then there are the players at the next level. Guys like Charlie Bell, Bobby Simmons, Charlie Villanueva and Desmond Mason.

You will notice I have not included Mo Williams in either one of these lists. That's because I would trade Williams. He is not a true point guard and he is clearly expendable. He and Redd are too much in a backcourt with only one basketball.

No matter what anybody says, I just don't believe Williams is a point guard. His first instinct is to go to the basket, not look to find open teammates. That's the opposite of what a point guard should be.

I know people point to the assists Williams has compiled. But great point guards are guys who get the ball to other players in a position where the other players can score or get an assist. The position requires real artistry, and Williams is not the artist.

Then, you have a bunch of guys on the bench who can give you some minutes and maybe have a hot night or two along the way.

The coach, Larry Krystkowiak seems like an all right guy. He is a good communicator. He is a former player, so he knows what it's like. And he's got a belief system in place, even though he's the only one who seems to have bought into it right now.

The Bucks have tried black coaches and white coaches. They've tried experienced coaches and rookie coaches. They've tried coaches who love defense and coaches who love offense.

It's probably not the fault of the coach.

What I think would be the right, and the brave, thing to do is for the Senator to hold a news conference.

I think he ought to say that he's not making changes. I think he should say that he is going to give this edition of the team time to jell and to become a good team. He should say he believes in the players and the coach and the general manager. He should say that there may be a trade or two, but that this is the core of the team that will eventually become a winning team.

And then he should go and work toward getting us out of Iraq or finding health care for everyone in this country. And let his team get on with the business of getting better.