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According to multiple reports, the Bucks are going to make a strong run at free-agent point guard Chauncey Billups when the free-agency period begins next month. While there's no question Billups would provide a major upgrade at the position over Mo Williams, I have always believed the Bucks signing Billups was nothing more than a pipe dream for two significant reasons:

1. The Bucks would have to seriously overpay to pry him away from the Detroit Pistons.
2. I can't see any reason why Billups would want to go to the Bucks given how his primary interest has always been winning.

The Bucks are a sorry team. Two trips to the lottery in three years and only one trip beyond the first round of the playoffs in the past 17 years is hardly the type of enticement that can be expected to sway Billups. Furthermore, if the Bucks are to make a run at Billups, it will likely take at least $12 million a year and possibly as much as $13 million a year to get him. However, as much as I value what Billups could bring to the point guard position, that's simply too much to pay for him.

What I find most interesting if these reports are true is that they make it quite clear the team is not sold on Williams as the long-term answer as the starting point guard. I have had this sinking suspicion for some time based on the comments made by the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinal reporters. Given how the Bucks tend to spoon feed the J-S when it comes to Bucks coverage, when that paper posed the question of whether Williams was really a good fit as a starting point guard on a contending team, it sent out a strong signal that belief was coming straight from Bucks' management.

Making a run at Billups would prove without a shadow of doubt that is the case.

Combine this with the recent report about Charlie Villanueva possibly being on the trade block and it would appear the two greatest liabilities I have been talking about with this team are ones the Bucks may be prepared to part ways with if necessary. That provides me with some hope that General Manager Larry Harris understands the issues these two players in particular bring to his team and how important it is to either remove them completely or shift them to backup roles and find better talent to work with the starting lineup.

During his online chat today, ESPN.com NBA reporter Chad Ford confirmed the Bucks are very interested in moving up in the draft so they can select Al Horford. Something to keep in mind is Ford has a strong connection to Bucks' GM Larry Harris and that connection has resulted in Ford breaking a lot of stories about team moves and the direction the team was headed. So when Ford talks about a possible personnel move for the Bucks, there's a 99.9% chance it's legit.

Combine this with Bucher's report and it seems clear the Bucks want Al Horford in a bad way. And if the Hawks believe they can move down to six and still get the player they want (Mike Conley Jr. perhaps) these are two teams sitting in a great position to make a deal. 

According to ESPN's Ric Bucher, the Bucks are willing to make a Draft Day deal with the Atlanta Hawks that would send disappointing power forward Charlie Villanueva and the sixth pick to the Hawks for the third pick. The Bucks would then take Al Horford with the third pick.

This would be a sensational move for the Bucks in my opinion. Larry Harris' biggest mistake as the Bucks' GM thus far was last summer's trade of T.J. Ford to the Raptors for Villanueva. While Ford was one of the game's top young point guards and helped lead the Raptors to their best season in years, Villanueva was injured and disappointing and spent most of the season unable to pass a career journeyman (Brian Skinner) on the depth chart. He played soft, showed no interest in defense and his motivational issues (long a problem) reared their head again when Harris called him "lazy" at the end of the season.

Villanueva is a horrible fit for the Bucks at power forward. The Bucks need a strong, defensive-minded PF next to Andrew Bogut in the frontcourt. Villanueva brings neither of those things. He plays weak in the post, has little interest in defending and needs to shoot a lot to make an impact. On a team that had major issues with selfishness this season, Villanueva adds more problems to the mix. 

If the Bucks were able to move him and the sixth pick to get Horford - who I believe is the third-best player in the draft - that would be a tremendous move. Horford is essentially the anti-Villanueva. He brings defense to the interior, is a strong rebounder, a solid shotblocker and while his offensive game is limited at the present time it has room to grow. He could become an All-Star caliber PF in this league for many years.

The Bucks have made it clear they want a physical defensive presence in the frontcourt. Combine that and Harris' comment and it's clear the team has some major questions about Villanueva. If Harris trades him now and removes one of the team's greatest liabilities in terms of becoming a contender it shows he's aware of the gigantic mistake he made and rather than save face he's willing to rectify the mistake quickly and assertively in an attempt to improve the team.

That's what the great GMs do. Harris has yet to prove he's even an average one given his rather dismal record with the team the past four years. But he is smart and he has a chance this summer to make the right moves to turn this team around. If he pulls the trigger on this trade it will send a strong message that he's prepared to do just that.

Much debate over "The Sopranos" finale so let's leave that to the multitude of threads devoted to it. How about a list of shows you think got it right when it comes to the series finale. Here's a few that would be on my list:

"The Mary Tyler Moore Show" (no other group hug has ever been that hilarious).

"Hill St. Blues" (Attention David Chase: Stephen Bocho called and wants his "Life goes on" ending back).

"Cheers" (The show waned in later seasons but they got the finale right - plus if people recall there was a live party with the cast after the show aired and most of them were smashed).

"Newhart" (It's become the standard by which all comedy series finales are measured).

"The Larry Sanders Show" (A perfect ending to a near-perfect series).

"Angel" (Plenty of debate among the fans over this one but I thought it really worked - Angel concluding the series by trying to defeat the dragon worked as a symbolic and powerful conclusion to the story).

In the article at the bottom, Chase is quoted as saying the final scene of his series finale wasn't intended to suggest that Tony Soprano is killed. Chase says Soprano is indeed alive and safe, as safe as he is capable of being, of course.

The fans seem to be waging war on both sides of the debate with some insisting the final scene was meant to tell us that Tony's demise was at hand while others insist it was merely a brief respite from some onion rings.

I think this is at the heart of the issue for me as far as my frustration with the way the series ended. We shouldn't need Chase to tell us; the story itself should tell us. This reminds me of "The X-Files" when Scully got pregnant (the storyline that essentially ended the series; but that's another issue). Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz played the game of Was Mulder the father or not throughout an entire season. They thought they were being clever when the fact is their ambiguity annoyed the very fans they were trying to entertain. So in the season finale there's a big emotional scene where Mulder and Scully fawn over her baby and the two of them kiss for the first time.

Fade to black.

When I interviewed Spotnitz after the season concluded he said the scene was meant to portray that Mulder was indeed the father of Scully's baby. The problem is, the two of them never acknowledged that fact onscreen. It was all implied. The ambiguity they thought they were being so clever in terms of introducing merely served to piss off a large segment of their fan base.

I see a similar reaction here with the ambiguity of the final shot. Now this doesn't mean I need to have every little thing explained to me with a nice little bow on top. I'm fine with allowing for viewer interpretation of events and storylines. But the most important storyline of the series shouldn't end with ambiguity in my opinion. We shouldn't need interviews with David Chase to tell us what the story itself should have clearly presented.

Link to the story below:

 http://www.patriotledger.com/articles/2007...life/life01.txt

I stopped watching "Northern Exposure" after Rob Morrow left but I remember fans being irked at how that series finale went too. Do you know who the exec producer of that show was? David Chase. That means he's now been a part of two series finales that left people upset.

That could be an unofficial record.

As far as an actual ending to this episode- how about ending it after the scene with Tony and Junior? That would've worked for me. Perhaps with a shot of Junior looking out into the sky clueless as to what's going on around him and Tony looking at Junior, perhaps seeing his own future - alone and unable to comprehend anything that's going on around him?

That would've worked for me.

I will say the tension in those final few minutes was extremely well done. As was the paranoia that will always be a part of Tony's life. Every stranger in a room is a potential threat. The only sanctuary is his family. In that respect, the final moments were extremely well done.

But that still doesn't make it a satisfying end to the entire series for me.

I'm not a big fan of the "it's not really an ending" ending. Some may say that's clever and creative. Others will counter by saying it's a cop-out.

I lean toward the latter.

I'm fine with David Chase not going with a conventional type of ending for "The Sopranos." But I wanted some kind of resolution. A family get-together over onion fries was not how I expected the series to end. I didn't need bloodshed and murder and mayhem, but I did need something.

To invest six seasons (and even more time) into a show and then have that show end without any type of resolution at all is extremely unsatisfying. I realize there's no ending that is going to satisfy everyone. If Tony died or was hauled off to prison, some fans were going to be pissed off either way.

But Chase couldn't come up with something better than this?

Be honest, how many people thought HBO had lost its signal when the screen went black and the audio went dead? I'll bet millions of people around the country had that exact thought. I sure did. I was pretty damn pissed off for a split-second. And then I realized that was the actual ending. A family meal, a mysterious man heading into the bathroom (shades of "The Godfather"), Meadow walking through the door of the restaurant and then ...

Nothing.

Some will say everything going to black means Tony has been killed. To that, I say bullshit. If we're going to be left without an ending where we have to speculate on how it all ends I might as well pretend that Meadow has taken over the family business and A.J. is the new President of the United States.

The ending is what we are shown. Speculation is fun but the show itself exists only within the parameters of what it reveals to us. And the ending did not reveal Tony's departure. It did not reveal anything other than ... well ...

Onion rings.

Has Chase left us with a lot to talk about? Sure, I suppose he has. But one would think that rancor among the fans is hardly a positive discussion point. The problem perhaps is there was no way for Chase to come close to meeting his fan's expectations. I understand and appreciate that. But the finale he did come up with had way too much A.J., quick resolutions to storylines that had been pivotal for months (i.e. Phil getting taken out) and did I mention way too much A.J.?

And onion rings. Some damn fine onion rings. Plus a Journey song which reveals Chase's true intentions:

Working hard to get my fill,
everybody wants a thrill
Payin' anything to roll the dice,
just one more time
Some will win, some will lose
Some were born to sing the blues
Oh, the movie never ends
It goes on and on and on and on

Fade to black.

That was it?