Josh Smith used to be a Milwaukee Buck, and he was traded once by John Hammond.

Well, kind of.

The 6-foot, 9-inch, 27-year-old forward was the subject of rampant trade speculation this week, much of which concerned Hammond and the Bucks. He expressed a desire to play with Brandon Jennings and Monta Ellis, then said he’d be OK with Ellis being moved, then said he’d be open an extension in Milwaukee.

In the end Smith ended up staying in Atlanta and the Bucks acquired J.J. Redick, Gustavo Ayon and Ishmael Smith from Orlando for Beno Udrih, Tobias Harris and Doron Lamb, but let’s revisit how all of this craziness could have been avoided if back in October 2001.

Ernie Grunfeld swept in out of New York and Oct. 1, 2001 and he absolutely had to have Aleksander Radojevic and Kevin Willis, so he shipped off Scott Williams and the Bucks’ 2004 first round pick to Denver.

A year later, the Nuggets traded that pick to Hammond’s Detroit Pistons as part of a deal for Rodney Stuckey. The Pistons then flipped that pick at the trade deadline in 2004 to Atlanta – along with Bob Sura and Zeljko Rebraca – for Rasheed Wallace.

That move pushed the Pistons to an NBA Championship and the Hawks picked Josh Smith at No. 17 overall.

So when it came time for Larry Harris to draft in 2004, he was able to go on vacation as the Bucks had no picks.

What might have been.