A Bucks Monday: Doubting Kurt Thomas

Published Oct 11 2009, 11:43 PM by J.D. Mo

37-year-old Kurt Thomas started at power forward for the Bucks Saturday night.The Bucks got their first preseason win up in Green Bay Saturday against the Derrick-Rose-less Chicago Bulls, thanks to some good versatility by their young forwards off the bench (a combined 30 pts and 17 rebs by Hakim Warrick, Ersan Ilyasova and Luc Mbah a Moute), some solid minutes from Andrew Bogut (12 pts, 5 rebs in 19 mins) and some long range bombing from Carlos Delfino.

Young forwards off the bench?

That's right. 37-year-old Kurt Thomas and Carlos Delfino started at the forward positions. No, it's not another Bucks nightmare. Thomas and Delfino got the start, and both Journal Sentinel and AP confirm that, indeed, Skiles did it on purpose. Really.

Of course, Luke "too many nicknames" Ridnour has started at point guard thus far, with rookie Brandon Jennings coming off the bench. That much we saw that coming. It was never likely (and still isn't) that coach Scott Skiles would start a rookie at the outset of the season. So far, though, Jennings has played the bulk of the preseason point guard minutes.

Heading into this season the Bucks needed to be four things: young, defensive-minded, tough on the boards and quick to move the ball around on offense.

It's far too early to say the mission is in the mud, but after GM John Hammond's summer-ending moves and three preseason games, I'm beginning to wonder.

Can it be that Skiles on Saturday was sending a message to his young forwards, crowded as they were in a bunch on the Bucks bench? -- "If you want PT, you have to play better than Kurt Thomas and Carlos Delfino."

Please. But perhaps it does shed some light on why GM Hammond held onto Thomas and traded young PF Amir Johnson for Delfino (adding to the payroll in the process) when he could have bought Thomas out and let him seek a contract from a playoff contender. The Bucks actually intend to play Thomas (at least for now), and this was apparently more important than resigning Ramon Sessions.

Even in his prime with the Knicks, Thomas was no great difference-maker (remembering the 1999 finals). Some nice stats a few years later but the Knicks had fallen fast into lotteryland. Now that Thomas is 37, he's little more than a big body taking up space, albeit one who may still be able to knock down a jumper or two. But why would the Bucks need him to knock down J's when Ilyasova and Warrick can do the same? The big man's value on this team is primarily as a backup to Bogut should the injury bug hit the Bucks center again.

Can Ersan play power forward? There's the rub, the question that the starting of Thomas definitely raises, especially after Kevin Love and the T-Wolves, and then the Detroit Pistons frontcourt, bruised the Bucks in the first two preseason games. On the other hand, Bogut played so little that it's too early to judge whether Thomas would have made any difference. The good news is that Ilyasova, Mbah a Moute and Warrick all played more minutes than Thomas, even after the early start.

And let's be thankful it's only preseason and these games are meaningless ... up to a point. ...

Highlights/lowlights from last week's Pistons-Bucks game are still up at NBA.com. Check 'em out. Lotta good guards in the NBA. Better than ours, I'm afraid. Why am I writing like the android "Leon" in BladeRunner?

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Comments

 

curak said:

I'm afraid you're making some of the same mistakes the trolls over on the JS blog make: it's preseason, for chrissakes. Trying to read too much into what preseason lineups is as silly as thinking you can understand a basketball game purely by the stats.

And frankly, if KT starts and plays 15 minutes a game, so what? The Bucks could use some veteran leadership and steadiness, and young guys might need to come off the bench at first. My guess is that may be where Warrick fits in in any case: 25-30 minutes, but off the bench. At least according to matchups.

Also, when did Amir become so good? They dumped him for a shooter and a third (big) PG to develop for a reason, maybe. He really sucked in the summer league. I think Hammond did a good job turning that around. And the RJ trade was never about who they got, it was a salary dump. The Bucks will spend a couple more seasons getting out from under all of Larry Harris's bad deals, this is just collaterall fallout. Sad, but true.

October 12, 2009 8:06 AM
 

On the $ said:

Ditto.

October 12, 2009 12:09 PM
 

J.D. Mo said:

And here I thought my big mistake was a Bladerunner moment or two there at the end (whew). Good point -- it is preseason.

Still, the knock on Ilyasova is that he's probably not rugged enough to play PF in the East, and already Skiles is going with KT. It's something to pay attention to.

As for Amir Johnson, when did a long, athletic 6'9" young guy who started on the Pistons, who John Hammond said was "a special player", NOT be a guy Bucks fans would want to see playing with Andrew Bogut?  

And when did Carlos Delfino become so good? He's yet to prove he can play in the NBA, and shoots 35% from downtown. I'm not happy with that trade, and I not at all happy with the decision to let Sessions get away. Most teams in the East have the Bucks sorely outmatched at the guard spots.

Speaking of Delfino: What do we make of Joe Alexander's DNP? More fodder when looking at John Hammond's jumbled roster.

Who starts games does matter obviously. And with a few big name exceptions (Havlicek, Bridgeman, Ginobili), most players covet starting roles. I would suspect that during the season Skiles will let matchups decide who starts at the forward slots and who doesn't, but that the younger forwards will play the majority of the minutes. We can be assured, I think, that Luc Mbah a Moute will be on the court quite a bit, shuttling between three positions and often guarding the other team's biggest scoring threat. We shall see.

I just don't have all that much interest in watching Kurt Thomas play basketball. I did enough of that 1999-2002 or so when he was a Knick and don't see much benefit for the Bucks in keeping him around. Amir Johnson is better help than KT on the defensive end.

And of course the RJ trade was a salary dump -- I just don't understand why payroll-conscious Hammond didn't keep dumping.

October 12, 2009 9:36 PM
 

J.D. Mo said:

Note: Sonny Weems wasn't guaranteed and if the Bucks had bought Thomas out, they would have cut payroll in whatever pro-rated amount he would have received from the team that picked him up. Minimum salary for a 10-year+ veteran like Thomas is $1.3 million.

Bucks payroll is now at $68.3 million. Hammond could have cut that down to $66.5m or so. That left enough room to sign Sessions. And if he didn't want Sessions around (crazy as that seems), there's no harm in saving money instead of spending it on players who don't help all that much and aren't going to put fans in the seats.

October 12, 2009 9:59 PM
 

curak said:

I agree that the jury is definitely still out on Ilyasova playing PF in the NBA. Probably a case of matchups, but I guess we'll see. But on the other hand, I see no reason to says Amir is better than Kurt. More potential, yes, but he's been all about potential since he came into the league four years ago. I think it's a wash.

Delfino is better than Amir right now, no question. Bucks needed a swingman who can shoot. And he could start if they find a way to move Redd during the season...

October 13, 2009 6:25 AM

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About J.D. Mo

J.D. Mo is the perpetrator of The Bob Boozer Jinx, your sportsbubbler.com Milwaukee Bucks blog.

About This Blog

I'm J.D. Mo, and welcome to my Bucks blog. I've been a Bucks junkie since 1977 when Nellie drafted Marques and the team was Green and Growing -- until a bizarre lawnmowing accident robbed it of its power forward, Dave Meyers. I knew then that truths stranger than fiction can happen to the Milwaukee Bucks, and probably will. This view rifles through much of what you'll find on the BBJ, along with commentary on Bucks news, fun NBA research and other interesting stuff from the Bucks-i-verse ... as well a cast of characters from around the NBA to liven things up around here, and, above all, keep the rock moving.

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