The Milwaukee Bucks announced on Thursday, August 10 that they had acquired Ruben Patterson from the Denver Nuggets in exchange for Joe Smith.

Bucks General Manager spoke with the Milwaukee media today and answered their questions.

OPENING STATEMENT FROM LARRY HARRIS
Thank you, everyone, for coming ... We are here today to discuss another transaction. We really feel fortunate to be able to acquire Ruben Patterson from the Denver Nuggets for Joe Smith. First off, you know, as (with) any trade, some are harder than others especially when you are dealing with a character, a pros pro, in Joe Smith. The person that he is and what he has meant to this organization since we acquired him, it seems like 10 years ago he has been with us. We wish him and his family the best in Denver and thank him for all he did here in Milwaukee for us. They’re getting a pro there in Denver that is probably going to do a lot of the same things: answer the bell every night and play as hard as he can … and certainly complement what they are trying to do, play up and down and do the things he did for us in Milwaukee … As we were trying to put together a team this summer, certainly we wanted to address the four position which we think we have done with Charlie Villenvia. We addressed the Jamaal Magloire situation by bringing in another big with Brian Skinner and obviously getting a quality guard in Steve Blake. When we acquired Brian, we started looking at our roster and one of the things we truly needed was a backup small forward. We did a lot of searching for different opportunities, whether it be a free agent or another trade, and it just came about that the numbers matched the salaries, that both of them were in the last year of their deal … And (we’re happy) to be able to get a small forward that is a tough-minded, defensive person that obviously has the ability to score and has had playoff. Having spoken with Ruben earlier dealing with who he is as a person, we did a lot of research on him when he was in Seattle, Portland and know when he was recently with Denver. We’re comfortable with all the information we have gathered. We feel that Ruben understands coming to Milwaukee. That talent is important, character is important and certainly the past is one thing that he’s grown from. He certainly learned from those experiences and matured and we expect a person that’s going to come in here and fit right in with our team both character-wise and as a player. We are really excited about having him with our team.

Does he understand what his role is here?
Yes, we had a great conversation. It was Ruben, myself, his representative and Terry Stotts. I think that it is important when you grab a player … 31 years of age, especially when (they) are in your last year of (their) deal and … wanting to extend (their) career beyond this season, that when you make a trade that (they’re) coming in a situation where (they are) comfortable with what (their) role is going to be. Without getting to much into it we certainly described the two most important things, we want you to come in and be a person that can back up both the 3 and the 4, obviously, and if there are injuries at the 2, 3, and 4 you have the ability and have shown the ability to start. So that is a luxury for us. He has consistently throughout his career played more than 20 minutes a night. So we know he can answer the bell as a starter. (He) has played a reserve, has played on good teams, has played on teams that have struggled … he is all about winning … that’s all he ever wanted to do. We also told him (that when you) come into Milwaukee there’s an expectation - there’s a professionalism - we have players on this team of high character, high value. He understands that and he is ready to move forward in his life with Milwaukee.

Did he give you any assurances that his past is in the past?
Well, again, when I was talking to Ruben it was more us explaining what his role is going to be for us as a back up at both positions - both the 3 and the 4. Where we thought he would fit in, the kind of player he was going to be. I told him, look, we’ve done the research, we know what we’re bringing across both as a player and a character, and in his own words “hey I have moved on from that part. I’ve learned you’re going to expect a guy who is going to play hard every night at practice and in games and I can wait to get my next city started here in Milwaukee and my game getting off here in October”.

You said you did research. What sort of research did you do?
Well, it’s different with each player that you do, but you obviously talk to former players … you talk to coaches who have coached him in the past … you know because everybody knows when there are enough contacts in the league that if you’ve been in the league for a number of years it’s easy enough to find out.

This off-season has been really busy for the Bucks. How does this move fit into everything?
I think the thing is … we started the summer with 10 players under contract and now we have 15. We have been able to make some trades, acquire some more players, sign a free agent in Lynn Greer, we had two draft picks that we’d signed … so it looks like a lot has been taking place. I guess the essence of what we’ve tried to do is fill three holes that I thought we needed to address. We knew if (we) were going to trade Jamaal we needed a big player and that was Brian Skinner. We knew we needed a power forward, (because) we were going to move Andrew (Bogut) to the 5, and we acquired that in Charlie Villanueva. We knew we needed some help at the point guard positions and that’s where Lynn Greer and now Steve Blake fit ... When you start looking at our team across the board, the one area we felt we needed some athleticism - some more depth - was at the small forward and we think we’ve addressed that.