Are you from Broken Bow, Nebraska? No? Neither is anyone who has played for the Bucks. Not yet.
Here above these words is a map showing the birthplace of every Bucks player ever. As fate bizarrely has it, these are the August things I do. You can click and scroll and all.
Split the United States right down the Mississippi River and here is what you get: Exactly twice as many Bucks in franchise history born east of the Mississippi (226) compared to west of the Mississippi (113).
If you are from, say, the state of Delaware, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont or Maine, and if you try out for the Bucks and make the team (open roster spot), you would be the first person ever from your home state to play for the Bucks. Go forth and conquer.
One fellow named Kareem Abdul-Jabbar spent a lot of time in Los Angeles playing for UCLA and the Lakers, but he was born in New York. You could put together a New Yorker starting five like this:
- C: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (New York City)
- PF: Bob Lanier (Buffalo)
- SF: Tobias Harris (Islip)
- SG: Brian Winters (Rockaway)
- PG: Rafer Alston (New York City)
Could the rest-of-the-world Bucks even defeat the just New Yorker Bucks? (And I eschewed putting Tiny Archibald at point guard here, opting to consider each player as they were with the Bucks rather than in their primes with other teams.)
Four Wisconsinites have gone on to play for the Bucks (though none from Milwaukee, since we are talking regular season, and Marcus Landry didn’t make it that far): Caron Butler (Racine), Reece Gaines (Madison), Tony Smith (Wauwatosa) and Joe Wolf (Kohler).
Some of the names and hometowns go together perfectly. Rafer Alston (and New York, N.Y.), Charlie Bell (and Flint, Mich.), Johnny O’Bryant (and Cleveland, Miss.). Others somewhat less so: Steve Blake (Hollywood, Fla.).
All in all, Vinny Del Negro was born in the same city (Springfield, Mass.) as the NBA Hall of Fame.
Just three western states are awaiting their first Buck: Alaska, North Dakota and Wyoming. These are also three western states with the smallest populations.
California could run with this squad:
- C: Greg Foster (Oakland)
- PF: Drew Gooden (Oakland)
- SF: Richard Jefferson (Los Angeles)
- SG: Ray Allen (Merced)
- PG: Brandon Jennings (Compton)
That is without me even bringing up Gary Payton. You could also swap in Jared Dudley, Keith Van Horn, Jay Humphries or Dave Meyers, if you insist.
The Bucks represent Montana (Brad Holland, Larry Krystkowiak, Keith Tower) and Idaho (Gary Freeman, Luke Ridnour) well.
Can Texas make a run at New York or California?
- C: Alton Lister (Dallas)
- PF: Kurt Thomas (Dallas)
- SF: Desmond Mason (Waxahachie)
- SG: Ricky Pierce (Dallas)
- PG: T.J. Ford (Houston)
No. No they cannot. No matter if you slide Mike Dunleavy Jr. into the starting five.
Three of the most prominent Bucks additions this offseason were born outside of the United States: Thon Maker (South Sudan), Matthew Dellavedova (Australia) and Mirza Teletovic (Bosnia and Herzegovina). They are not on this map yet, because they have not played for the Bucks yet.
Regardless, the world (non-United States) team can play, with or without the new guys. Here is one 12-man roster, to set up a little United States against the World matchup.
- C: Andrew Bogut (Australia) / Zaza Pachulia (Georgia) / Dan Gadzuric (Netherlands)
- PF: Ersan Ilyasova (Turkey) / Yi Jianlian (China)
- SF: Toni Kukoc (Croatia) / Luc Mbah a Moute (Cameroon)
- SG: Carlos Delfino (Argentina) / Greivis Vasquez (Venezuela) / Ernie Grunfeld (Romania)
- PG: Giannis Antetokounmpo (Greece) / Beno Udrih (Slovenia)
And for the United States.
- C: Kareem Abdul Jabbar (New York, N.Y.) / Bob Lanier (Buffalo, N.Y.)
- PF: Vin Baker (Lake Wales, Fla.) / Terry Cummings (Chicago, Ill.)
- SF: Marques Johnson (Nachitoches, La.) / Bob Dandridge (Richmond, Va.)
- SG: Ray Allen (Merced, Calif.) / Michael Redd (Columbus, Ohio) / Ricky Pierce (Dallas, Texas)
- PG: Oscar Robertson (Charlotte, Tenn.) / Sidney Moncrief (Little Rock, Ark.) / Sam Cassell (Baltimore, Md.)
If Maker, Dellavedova and Teletovic play ball to make you want to put them on the world team, that would be good for these current Bucks.
If Jabari and Khris eventually make a case to crack the USA team, that would be great for these Bucks.
If you start contemplating that the world team could give the USA team a game, that would be something. For Giannis, for these Bucks.