Following two years of uninspired play and unmet expectations, the new-look Milwaukee Bucks were greeted with equal parts relief and apathy prior to the start of the 2003-04 season.

The relief stemmed from the closure of the George Karl era and its primary accouterments, namely the Big Three. Karl, Ray Allen, Sam Cassell and Glenn Robinson (dealt before the 2002-03 season) were all gone by July 1. Whether you agreed with the moves or not, they unmistakably signaled a new era at the Bradley Center.

The apathy surrounded those who replaced them. Joe Smith, Daniel Santiago, Brian Skinner, Erick Strickland and Damon Jones -- you had heard the names before, but it felt an awful lot like the Milwaukee Brewers' blueprint for personnel acquisitions had shifted west from Hwy. 41 & I-94 to 4th & State.

The similarities permeated the coaching staffs, as well. Terry Porter's hiring felt an awful lot like the second coming of Ned Yost. He pledged the fans an honest day's work for an honest day's pay and shared Yost's hometown storyline (Yost played with the Brewers; Porter played high school ball in Milwaukee and apprenticed under Dick Bennett at UW-Stevens Point). In addition, both were breaking their professional maidens in Milwaukee following recent dry spells by each team.

And, of course, the main similarity is that just about everyone assumed the Bucks would stink as badly as the Brewers did.

The latter hasn't turned out to be true, after all. Several folks suggested the Bucks would be respectable in a diluted Eastern Conference, and some fans maintained the reformulated Bucks would finish better than the underachieving teams of the last two years. Both may turn out to be correct.

The season is one-third complete, and Porter has the Bucks on the fringe of the Eastern playoff race at 13-14. More importantly, and this echoes the Brewers once again (through September, at least), he's returned respectability to a franchise that had undergone a tumultuous 24 months.

How? Frankly, effort helps. And this Bucks team tries. That was never a given over the last two years. Under Porter, if playing time is a right, effort is its accompanying responsibility.

The internal bickering has been quelled. Cassell isn't arguing with Karl, who isn't ripping Allen in the papers, which aren't enumerating Tim Thomas' issues with Robinson, who was last heard from in Atlanta, though he's since moved on to Philly.

Michael Redd has blossomed. One of the least newsworthy personnel moves the Bucks have made since the close of 2002 was holding on to Redd despite a strong run by Dallas to lure him to Texas. At the time, the Bucks saved their best bench player; today, he's simply their best player.

Redd is averaging 21.9 points a game, plus 5.9 rebounds. Allen, the man he replaced, hasn't played a minute this season due to an ankle injury. This isn't to suggest that Redd is better than Allen -- he isn't, just yet -- but he is more affordable and just as effective for the current team. I'm still not sure that excuses trading Allen (and the emerging Ronald Murray) for Desmond Mason and two months of Gary Payton, but the deal looks a lot better with Redd's continued development.

There's more offensive balance. Rookie T.J. Ford helps the cause with 6.5 assists per night, though his 34.6 percent shooting has been everything skeptical scouts thought it would be. In sum, five players (Redd, Thomas, Mason, Skinner and Smith) average double-digit scoring, and guys like Toni Kukoc (8.7), Dan Gadzuric (7.9), Ford (7.2) and Jones (7.0) are good for an additional 30 a night.

But the most obvious changes are when the team doesn't have the ball. Porter has instilled a defensive mentality that encompasses rebounding, something Karl always preached but could never deliver. Perhaps that was a product of his personnel, but Porter has to be commended for changing the team's basic philosophy so quickly, whether via necessity or otherwise.

The core numbers are significantly improved over last year: total rebounding has increased by nearly four caroms/game (43.1 from 39.5), and defensive field goal percentage has dropped by more than two percentage points (43.1 from 45.8). The upshot of both is more offensive opportunities, as witnessed by the slight uptick in total shots per game (82.2 from 81.3). This disparity will increase if the Bucks can limit their turnovers; Milwaukee has been sloppier than last year, to the tune of an extra fumble-and-a-half each game (13.8 from 12.2). This will happen when you replace veteran ballhandlers like Payton and Cassell with a promising rookie such as Ford.

Porter has facilitated all this despite significant injury problems. Starting center Skinner played just three games before undergoing knee surgery in November; Kukoc missed nine games with back spasms before returning last Saturday; and Thomas, who leads the club with a 41 percent mark from 3-point range, missed nine games with an ankle sprain.

Of course, it's been more than just Porter. Jones, Strickland and Gadzuric have done an admirable job filling the gaps when injuries have hit. Jones has been on the floor in most fourth quarters instead of Ford, while Strickland has brought his long-range consistency to Milwaukee. Gadzuric has established himself as a fan favorite with his fast-break finishes and defensive intensity.

The general consensus among Bucks fans I talk to is that the team is once again "fun to watch," theoretically a prerequisite for any entertainment option. But as we know too well, it's not a given in Milwaukee.

It's here where similarities to the Brewers end; winning, you see, is always more fun than losing. The Bucks haven't perfected it yet, but for now, we'll gladly accept a .500 record and an energetic product. And in the NBA's Eastern Conference, that could get Porter a lot farther than anyone may have expected.