National Basketball Association

Milwaukee Bucks History: Sidney Moncrief Player Profile

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Sidney Moncrief was at the head of some of the best Milwaukee Bucks teams of all time, and is a certified legend in Milwaukee.

There are a few players who stand out when looking back at Milwaukee Bucks history. Obviously Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is one of the first names to come up.

It shouldn’t be long after Kareem is mentioned that Sidney Moncrief gets brought up. Sid the Squid was the best player on some of the best-ever Bucks teams in the 1980s. Milwaukee was a playoff team every single season Moncrief was on the team, which was no small feat in the Eastern Conference of the ’80s.

Not many players have brought wins to Milwaukee in as consistent a fashion as Moncrief. Not even Kareem’s presence resulted in a winning season every year he was on the team, but Sid the Squid’s did.

Some credit for that must go to Moncrief’s excellent supporting cast of course, but the fact remains that he was at the helm of the Milwaukee Bucks during their most successful decade ever.

Not many franchises can boast runs like Milwaukee has in the ’80s. Much of that success is due to one man: Sidney Moncrief. But how did Sid the Squid get to Milwaukee?

Moncrief’s Career Before The Bucks

According to an NBA.com profile, Moncrief grew up in segregated project housing in East Little Rock. He attended Hall High School and proved himself there, earning a scholarship to Arkansas.

Moncrief showed steady improvement throughout his four-year Arkansas career. His points per game rose in each of his seasons, starting at 12.6 in his freshman year and finally peaking at 22.0 in his final collegiate season.

Sid was all-around excellent that year, averaging 9.6 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game while converting 56 percent of his field goals. His performance was strong enough to earn him Southwestern Conference Player of the Year and First Team All-America honors.

Arkansas enjoyed a lot of success with Moncrief, although the Razorbacks never won it all during the NCAA Tournament with Sid the Squid around.

Moncrief then went fifth overall in the 1979 NBA Draft, although he might even sneak up a spot or two if the teams could re-do the picks. Luckily for the Milwaukee Bucks, that’s not happening.

Moncrief’s Career With The Bucks

As previously mentioned, Sidney Moncrief has no idea what it feels like to play on a losing Bucks team. Sid is somewhat unique in that regard among Bucks legends–most of them ended up on at least one losing team in Milwaukee.

Aside from Oscar Robertson, Moncrief is essentially alone in not knowing that feeling. In each of his ten seasons with the Bucks, Moncrief was in the playoffs. Despite not leading Milwaukee in any cumulative career statistics aside from free throws made, Sid the Squid has 20 more playoff games logged with the Bucks than Paul Pressey, who’s currently in second, does.

Moncrief was a winner, plain and simple. Another legendary winner, Michael Jordan, showed a lot of respect towards him for it. He told the LA Times that Moncrief was a fierce competitor on both ends:

“When you play against Moncrief, you’re in for a night of all-around basketball. He’ll hound you everywhere you go, both ends of the court. You just expect it.”

That’s mighty high praise from the Goat himself. Moncrief earned it all. He won the first two Defensive Player of the Year awards, leading many to claim it was invented solely to honor what Sid did on the floor.

Moncrief made five All-Star teams, five All-NBA teams and five All-Defensive teams. From 1981-82 to 1985-86, he was one of the best NBA players, period. Unfortunately, after that injuries set in.

Sid was limited to 39 games in 1986-87, 56 games the year after and 62 games in ’89. After that he retired, and his NBA career ended. Or so we thought, anyway.

Moncrief’s Career After The Bucks

It turns out Sid wasn’t quite done in 1989. The Bucks were done with him after three injury riddled seasons, but Moncrief wanted to see if he still had gas in the tank. He staged a comeback and entered training camp with the Atlanta Hawks in 1990.

Moncrief made the team and carved out a role for himself, playing in 72 games with the Hawks and getting over 15 minutes per game. He clearly wasn’t the same player he was nearly a decade earlier with Milwaukee, but Sid still had some miles left to run.

The Hawks made the playoffs, continuing Moncrief’s streak of making the postseason in all of his NBA seasons. They, like the Bucks, failed to make it out of the East in Moncrief’s last season. He retired again, for good this time, in 1991.

Moncrief went on to be a coach, either head or assistant, for high school, college and NBA teams. Most recently he was calling games for the Milwaukee Bucks, although that stopped before last season.

Moncrief’s Legacy

Sidney Moncrief will always be remembered as an integral part of Milwaukee Bucks history. Moncrief was the anchor that kept Milwaukee in the playoffs for his entire, decade-long tenure with the franchise.