The Milwaukee Bucks are the only team to have swept the Dallas Mavericks this season. The Bucks have beaten the Detroit Pistons three times. The Bucks went then entire month of January without losing a road game, the league's only team this season without a road loss.

The Bucks have lost to the Heat and at home to the Raptors -- twice -- and already been swept for the season by the Grizzlies. They have lost to the Bulls and Hawks, too. Ten teams in the Eastern Conference have as good or better home records than Milwaukee.

Perhaps teams do take on the identity of their coach. Manic depressive? Bipolar? There haven't been any clinical diagnoses, but one never will know from one day to the next what to expect from the Bucks and George Karl.

	George Karl writes out his plan for selling Brewers tickets.

And it turns out the Bucks, hiding in the Upper Midwest and plugging along around .500, are now ready for the next big heavyweight fight. Forget Tyson. It's Karl and Gary Payton. Karl, when he coached the Seattle SuperSonics to an average of almost 60 wins per season in the mid 1990s, often offered to fight Payton in a way of motivating his team. Never one to back down, Payton often agreed. Now, after the stunning trade Thursday that featured Payton for Ray Allen, they're back together in a curious blend that could mean a final run for both together.

Payton was to play his 1,000th game in a Seattle uniform home against Milwaukee on Friday. Now it's Game 1 in a Bucks uniform.

Payton is in the last year of his contract for a Milwaukee team that is for sale. Karl has one season left on his contract after this season, and perhaps the plans of both are to go out in one last blaze. Figuratively, one hopes.

Mostly this seems like a final housecleaning deal. The Bucks are for sale and getting Allen off the books with Payton having an expiring contract will put the Bucks below the luxury tax threshhold and would earn the Bucks payback from the luxury tax fund. It would make the Bucks a more appealing property for sale, even with lesser talent on the team.

As for on the court, now as also before the trade for the Bucks, you don't want to play them because you never knew who was going to show up.

There have been surprises in the NBA this season -- the collapses of the Hawks and Clippers, the return of the Trail Blazers, the difficulties of the Lakers, the improved play of the Suns and Rockets and the continued effectiveness of the Pacers. But no one quite knows what to make of the Bucks.

Last season this time, they were fighting for the lead in the Central Division, moving on 10 games over .500 by March 1. Six weeks later, they were watching the playoffs on TV, the biggest collapse in league history in that period of time.

They can score with anybody, ranking fifth in the NBA in scoring even after trading Glenn Robinson. Which remains one of the best trades in the NBA in years -- for the Bucks.

Robinson has been a disappointment for the Hawks, years of hard living and basketball catching up to him as he's turned 30. His shooting is easily a career low, his movement is slowed and the Hawks have collapsed and have been looking to trade most of their players, including Robinson. For Robinson, who had been at odds with Allen and Sam Cassell, the Bucks got a complimentary role player in Toni Kukoc, who has been perhaps their most valuable player, the Hawks' No. 1 draft pick this season (unless it is in the top three) and saved millions of dollars in future contract dollars and luxury taxes. It's a deal that quietly has general manager Ernie Grunfeld among the contenders for Executive of the Year. But with the acquisition of Payton, that noise gets much louder.

The Bucks also held off Dallas' bid for Michael Redd, who is emerging as perhaps the front-runner for the Sixth Man Award, averaging 15 points and shooting 45 percent on 3-pointers to rank third in the league. Sure, they've made some bonehead moves, like taking on disruptive Anthony Mason for four years and the long-term contract of Jason Caffey. And -- ouch -- we can't forget perhaps their worst night when they traded the rights to Dirk Nowitzki and Pat Garrity for the rights to Robert Traylor.

	Like most Bucks, Sam Cassell looks to score but not to play defense.

But they survived. Two seasons ago, the Bucks were a Robinson baseline jumper at the buzzer in Game 5 from the Finals in a memorable seven-game series against Allen Iverson and the Philadelphia 76ers, who went on to lose to the Lakers in five games. Iverson-Shaq! Cassell-Shaq? The Bucks still whisper the league wanted Iverson and the 76ers in the Finals, otherwise Scott Williams wouldn't have been penalized so severely for a flagrant foul in Game 6 and suspended for Game 7. (A league review changed the severity of the penalty the day after the game to insure Williams' suspension. It remains one of the lesser known conspiracies that haunt the cheese state.)

OK, the Bucks play a European defense. That's right, Swiss, full of holes. But perennial all-league defender Payton should help change that some. Their centers are usually about as rugged as a hunk of Brie. Their leading rebounder, by far, really, is Mason, who these days appears wider than he is tall. He's the only one on the team averaging more than five rebounds. They're next to last in the league in rebounding, don't pressure the ball much and are among the poorest in steals and don't move that quickly. In now Payton, Mason and Kukoc, much of their core is well into their 30s. Tim Thomas often plays like he is.

But, they can shoot it. Overall, they shoot the ball better than anyone but perhaps Dallas. The Bucks are in the top five in field-goal percentage, 3-point percentage and free-throw shooting. Only the Mavericks rank in the top five in the three major shooting categories, but the Bucks are better in overall field-goal percentage.

Which makes them dangerous, especially to their coach. The feeling is mutual.

The George Karl mutual admiration society in Milwaukee has cooled considerably in the last year, not unlike when it began to come to an end for Don Nelson there in the late 1980s. Nellie was the most popular guy in the state not wearing a Styrofoam brick of cheese on his head. He rode around in a tractor to raise money for farmers and spread the floor as well to score. He never had much at center and didn't much care. He popularized the point forward and never won the big game.

Karl, a protégé of Nelson's, has followed the same script, even to the point of losing the players as Nelson seemed to later do in Golden State.

When the Bucks went to the conference finals in 2001, Karl was the most popular sports figure in the state this side of Brett Favre. The hair must have been the difference. Karl actually got standing ovations when he entered the Bradley Center. He got himself a $7 million-a-year annual extension, making him the highest-paid coach ever, especially among the ones who'd never won anything outside the CBA and Spain.

Then came El Foldo, the Wisconsin version of the curious weather pattern.

Karl does blow hot and cold and the previous season he'd gotten away with blasting his so called Big Three of Robinson, Allen and Cassell. But as with all things Karl, eventually the players tire of the antics. Allen's relationship with Karl had been cool the last few seasons as Karl openly derided Allen for not practicing hard. Their communications had broken down and some said it reflected in Allen's sometimes unenthusiastic play this season, although Allen was also bothered by ankle problems.

The Bucks' players did seem to revolt a year ago January after a loss when Karl demanded the team either trade them or fire him. It worsened when Karl was caught up in a magazine imbroglio about whether blacks were deserving to be elevated to head coach so soon. It wasn't exactly what he said, but Karl does say so much. A year before, he'd gotten into it with Doc Rivers as the two teams were vying for the final Eastern playoff spot, and Rivers fired back, catching Karl in the racial crosshairs that are difficult to dodge.

	Karl came into this season reeling, his usually mirthful demeanor seemingly dulled by tranquilizers. He refrained from shouting and calling out his players, not employing his drawerful of motivational tricks that always seemed to serve him so well. He fired all his assistants. It looked to some like he was isolating himself like Captain Queeg.

The Bucks would soon end up like many do in Wisconsin, on the hood of some hunter. Then Karl went to the World Championships for the U.S. and those players responded about as well as the Bucks down the stretch as the U.S. lost the last pivotal battle for fifth place.

Karl came into this season reeling, his usually mirthful demeanor seemingly dulled by tranquilizers. He refrained from shouting and calling out his players, not employing his drawerful of motivational tricks that always seemed to serve him so well. He fired all his assistants. It looked to some like he was isolating himself like Captain Queeg. Sometimes, it was hard to tell if he was coaching or waiting for a bus. But Karl is a bright and innovative coach. He always preferred the gimmicks to hard work, but he has an active, facile mind.

The combination began to work after a 14-20 start. They occasionally worked at defense, and Karl went back to playing more veterans, mixing and mismatching -- putting Caffey at center and posting up his guards. It's Nellie-ball as well, which is why Karl can have so much success against Nelson-coached teams by spreading the floor, driving and pitching and shooting. He doesn't have the size Nelson does, but he has the theory. The Bucks don't have a Shawn Bradley-type to employ in a zone, so they don't win as much.

They're still not big, but with Payton, they're tougher. Their shooters make them dangerous in the playoffs -- that is, if Cassell, Payton, Karl and Mason aren't wrestling on the floor.

The main issue is getting into the playoffs, of course. That remains a question because they still have to play Cleveland, Toronto, Chicago, Denver, Miami and Atlanta.

Sam Smith, who covers the NBA for the Chicago Tribune, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.