It's hard to be too critical of Richard Jefferson's initial unhappiness about going to the Bucks. Imagine that: A guy doesn't want to leave the only team he has ever played for in order to join a squad just as firmly entrenched in no man's land.
It's even harder to be critical of RJ's new reaction now that the deal has sunk in.
As reported by the AP:
"I didn't know anything was going on and then the next thing I know my phone didn't stop ringing for about a week," he said. "When this happened I was upset, but after calming down and evaluating everything I became excited."
"It was nothing about Milwaukee," he said. "I could've been traded to Boston. I could've been traded to L.A. I could've been traded anywhere.
"It wasn't about the city. It was about that feeling of rejection by the team that traded for you on draft day seven years ago. But when that happened, I didn't want to go to New Jersey either."
The man knows how to say the right things. That much is for sure.
As far as I'm concerned, good for RJ. While I have a hard time being overly 'sympathetic' to those making eight figures to play this game on the occasion that it becomes a business and they have to deal with some unpleasantness, if Jefferson can convince himself that he is happy playing for a Milwaukee franchise that has completely lost its way, more power to him. Meanwhile, with the selections of Joe Alexander and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, the Bucks went from zero small forwards to three on draft night. Now, they are rumored to be dealing two-guard Michael Redd and power forward Charlie Villanueva. Good times.
Enjoy the cheeseheads, Richard -- and props on being a class act on this one, especially by the time introductions in Milwaukee rolled around.