Milwaukee Bucks Blog - The Bob Boozer Jinx : Carl Landry

Bucks search for mental toughness after Charlotte defeat; Bogut day-to-day to play

J.D. Mo — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 12:35:00 GMT

Things have been awfully quiet on the Bucks front since the Charlotte Bobcats blew them out Saturday night less than 24 hours after the Bucks trashed the 'Cats at the Bradley Center, 103-75. The final Saturday was 102-92, but don't let that fool you: the Bobcats (12-22) were up 98-77 with 4 minutes left in the 4th when the benches were cleared for garbage time

The Bucks (16-19) were playing their fourth game in 5 nights, each game in a different city; and they played without Andrew Bogut, who sat out with back spasms. The Bucks are now 0-4 without Bogut in the lineup this season. Bogut's back has been bothering him since Dec. 17th in Philadelphia, but he hadn't missed a game until Saturday. According to the injury report, Bogut could play tonight at the BC against the Raptors, and is listed day-to-day. (He didn't play).

With or without Bogut, the big concern coming into Saturday's game was whether the Bucks would muster the mental toughness to beat a team on consecutive nights. The answer was an emphatic NO. The Bucks were lethargic, sloppy, and didn't move the ball (only 15 assists despite shooting 50 percent) or run the floor well. Point guard Luke Ridnour never seemed to have control of the game. Turnovers were a key (led to 29 Charlotte points), and the Bucks increasingly consistent defense took the night off.

Bad taste in Skiles' mouth: Needless to say, coach Scott Skiles was more than a little unhappy about the Bucks lack of tenacity, among other things, and for the second time this season said: "I've got a bad taste in my mouth right now." (The first time was after the Philly game Dec. 17). "... this kind of game is not how we wanted to represent ourselves. We clearly still have some things that we need to address."

Michael Redd led the team with 5 assists (and 17 pts) but they lost this game with both Redd and Richard Jefferson (19 pts) on the floor. After scoring 27 Friday night, Charlie Villanueva scored just 5 on 2-6 shooting and gave up a five-point play.

How to give up a five-point play? Charlie did it the hard way. First he committed a flagrant foul on 'Cats forward Gerald Wallace. Wallace hit two free throws, Charlotte ball. On the ensuing play, Villanueva was called for another foul on Wallace and was hit with a technical foul arguing to the call. Wallace made two more free throws and Matt Carroll swished the technical. Before getting too upset with Charlie, note that the Bucks were down 16 with 4:30 to play when this chain of events occurred. At that point, it was a fitting expression of the Bucks futility; it's okay to laugh. The degree of difficulty in singlehandedly giving up a five-point possession is impressive. Skiles cleared the bench.

Bucks vs. Raptors, 7pm, Bradley Center: The Bucks now begin a stretch in which they play 16 games in the next four weeks, on a weekly Monday, Wednesday, Friday-Saturday schedule. They begin with three games at home this week, first up the Toronto Raptors. The Raptors beat the Bucks in the final minute of the Bucks home opener Nov. 1. Remember that one? Bucks had a chance to tie with 16 seconds left when Redd decided the shot to take was a fall-away going out of bounds with a defender in his face, plenty of ticks on the shotclock. Bucks point guard Luke Ridnour (bad back) didn't play in that one. Since then, the Raptors have struggled and fired coach Sam Mitchell. Jay Triano, a Mitchell assistant, took the reins.

The Raptors (14-20) have won two straight against tough competition, beating cold-shooting Houston Friday and Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic Sunday in Toronto. Against the Magic, the Raptors shooters went off, led by long-range gunner Anthony Parker (26 pts) and All-Star forward Chris Bosh (23), to win (108-102) -- without starting point guard Jose "I made T.J. Ford Expendable" Calderon and center Jermaine "Trainer's Table" O'Neal. Neither Calderon or O'Neil will play tonight against the Bucks, and rookie point guard Roko Ucik will start in Calderon's place.

The Raptors are poised, it seems, to turn their season around, regardless of whether the stars suit up (the trade of T.J. Ford for O'Neal hasn't worked out as planned, obviously).

It shouldn't matter. The Bucks, for all of their relapses to the bad habits and disjointed pace of the pre-Scott Skiles era, have been a good bounce-back team. After a tough trip west early last month, they turned it on in the 4th quarter for a much-needed win at home vs. the Pacers. After the last "bad taste" in Skiles mouth game (in Philly), the Bucks blew out the Knicks in NY (Ok, it was only the Knicks); and after the debacle at home against Detroit Dec. 27, the Bucks gritted out a tough win in San Antonio against a full strength Spurs team.

Yes, it's time for another statement of commitment from the Bucks, less than a week after the last one. This is the week to make it stick for at least a few games, as their competition for the bottom rung playoff spots (the Raptors, Sixers and Nets) visit the Bradley Center. I'm not so sure, however, that it's a good idea for the Bucks or Bucks fans to think about the playoffs just yet.

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Meanwhile, ...deep within the bowels of the Bucks central command center, Charlie Bell prepares to use the photocopier ...

To vote Joe, go to SeeJoeDunk.com ... I know it's not why the Bucks drafted him (or is it?) but this campaign of his to get to the All-Star dunk competition is d*** good for morale.

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Michael Redd scores his 11,000th point as a Buck: I never thought I'd see the day. Michael Redd on Friday moved past Marques Johnson into fifth place on the Bucks’ all-time scoring list with 31 pts in the Bucks win against Charlotte Friday. On Saturday, Redd scored 17 more to top the 11,000-point milestone and has now tallied 11,004 points in his Bucks career. At his current 19.4 ppg scoring pace, Redd will surpass Bob Dandridge (11,478) and Sidney Moncrief (11,594) into 3rd place on the points scored list. Glenn "Big Dog" Robinson (12,010) at # 2 will have to wait until next season, and Kareem Abdul Jabaar (14,211) atop the list? That could occur in the 2010-11 season, the final year of Redd's contract. More on this topic later; it deserves a post of its own.

Catching up with Landry: When the Bucks were in Houston Wednesday, Journal Sentinel scribe Tom Enlund checked in with Milwaukee Vincent High alumnus Carl Landry, Rockets backup power forward. Landry, 25, in his second year with the Rockets, was recently the centerpiece of a rumored trade to the Bucks involving Charlie "5-point play" Villanueva and Tyronn Lue. The trade talk was not confirmed past the rumor stage, and Enlund doesn't mention it in his story (Journal Sentinel Bucks writers didn't publish the rumor). Instead Enlund reports on Landry's progress since last season, when, as a rookie, he hit the offensive glass at a remarkable rate, muscling his way into the Rockets rotation. Rockets coach Rick Adelman is a Landry fan; it doesn't sound as though Landry's going to be wearing a Bucks uniform anytime soon.

The Scott Skiles Bucks take control against the Spurs; Joe Alexander's secret weapon dunk; more trade rumors

J.D. Mo — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 14:38:00 GMT

They were almost "the same old Bucks" in San Antonio.

They had been up by 11, 78-67 late in the in the 3rd quarter. But over the next 8 minutes they saw that lead disappear as the San Antonio Spurs outscored them 19-6 to take an 86-84 lead with 6:47 left in the game.

Michael Redd was hot in the first half (16 pts) but hadn't hit a shot in over 12 mins. He was 0-3 in this 8-minute stretch. Richard Jefferson had missed a 3-pointer; so had Charlie Bell. Charlie Villanueva had his jumpshot blocked by Ime Udoka, a post move blocked by Tim Duncan, and had plain missed a third jumper.

They had lost control of the game and looked a lot like the Bucks of the last five years -- settling for jumpshot after jumpshot and unable to get stops as the game slipped away. Point guard Luke Ridnour, who had missed two 3-pointers of his own, had to find a way to get this #h$t under control. Last possession, Luke had made sure Bogut got the ball, easy two on a layup ... it was the first shot Bogues had taken in almost five minutes ...

Then Manu Ginobili stole the ball from Ridnour and Roger Mason dunked it on the break. 88-84 Spurs, a 21-6 run.

Bucks coach Scott Skiles called time out with 6:30 left, and there it was: Who was going to play this game? The old Bucks, with their mental lapses and untimely jumpshooting -- the Bucks who showed up in Detroit Saturday? Or the Scott Skiles Bucks?

The Scott Skiles Bucks took the court. Ridnour started it off draining a three off a Michael Redd pass. After Duncan missed against Bogut, R.J. found Bogut free in the lane for a dunk and the Bucks had the lead back, 89-88. ... They would not give it up, outscoring the Spurs 15-5 after the time out to take a 99-93 lead with 36 seconds left on a Bogut feed to Bell for a layup. That should have been the game. Things got a little nerve-wracking after that but the Bucks held on for a 100-98 win.

This was a team win, orchestrated by Ridnour, in which sharing the ball was crucial in crunch time. Bogut scored 8 of the Bucks last 18 points and finished with 20 pts and 14 boards, outplaying All-Pro Duncan. ... Bell had 4 pts during the game-winning run, Ridnour and Redd 3 apiece (R.J. didn't take a shot). ... Redd led the scoring for the game with 25 pts, shooting well the first 30 mins of the game, but only 1-6 in the final quarter-and-a-half. He also had 10 rebounds (when's the last time he had double figures in rebounds? - not this season) and 4 assists.

Redd's 4th assist was the one that mattered most, coming as it did when the Bucks needed a hoop after the Skiles time out. In all, five of the Bucks last seven hoops were assisted, with Ridnour (2), R.J. (1), Redd (1) and Bogut (1) ringing up dimes.

In my last post, I wrote that "the Bucks are a team in transition to the Skiles era, a new place where tenacious, consistent D and ball movement are religion. ... against the Jazz at the BC (Dec. 23), the Bucks could say that the qualities of the new era overcame the lax defense and sluggish, selfish offensive tendencies of the old." Then came the miserable game against Detroit Saturday in which the old Bucks showed that they're still around.

With this win against the Spurs the Bucks can again say that the Scott Skiles team of the new era is here, too, and that the better qualities of the new once again overcame the tendencies of old, and did so convincingly against one of the league's top teams. This was the Bucks' best win of the season, and would have been a great way to end 2008.

Instead, they'll take it to Houston for a New Year's Eve matchup against Yao Ming, Tracy McGrady and the Rockets (no, the Charlie V for Carl Landry trade rumors didn't pan out, see below). Gametime is 6:00pm. We'll see which Bucks team prevails tonight, knowing that those habits of old have a habit of showing up even when the new Bucks have had the last word.

Ridnour finished with 21 pts, 4 rbs and 6 assists.

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If Joe Alexander gets enough fan votes to win the rookie slot in the All-Star weekend dunk contest, Dwight Howard will NEVER top this dunk:

He's got my votes!!!

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TRADE RUMOR UPDATE

I wish there was a definitive way to tell whether a trade rumor was just a rumor. The rumored Charlie Villanueva - Carl Landry trade with the Rockets never panned out; the Tyronn Lue for Chris Mihm trade remains a Lakers pipe dream; and the speculation about trading Charlie V and Lue for one of the Oklahoma City Thunder's big forwards still looks like nothing more than speculation -- unless that forward is Nick Collison, the one the Thunder doesn't want to trade.

But here's the latest from the Racine Journal Times' Gery Woelfel on Michael Redd, more or less what Woelfel said on WSSP Sports Radio 1250 after the Pistons game Saturday. It's the third item on the list:

"There is a growing speculation among NBA officials that it’s only a matter of time before the Milwaukee Bucks trade star shooting guard Michael Redd. That would be unfortunate for Redd is an even better person than he is a basketball player."

So now the referees are trying to trade Redd? It's time to get some more substantive sourcing behind these rumors and speculation. And there really isn't much reason to couch terms about trading a basketball player ... is there? What would TMZ do? ...In any case, it sure does sound like Woelfel's a bit biased against a Redd trade, doesn't it? Maybe he hasn't noticed the luxury tax crunch the Bucks will be in this offseason, partly due to Redd's $17.04 million 2009-10 salary?

It's becoming widely known that Bucks GM John Hammond wouldn't balk at a move that would improve the roster, despite the team's public stance that it isn't interested now in roster moves. This from Yahoo Sports' Bucks team report:

"While Bucks officials insist they don’t have any trades in the works, they also claim to be far from content with their roster. [With the trades for R.J. and Ridnour, and the drafting of Luc Mbah a Moute] three-fifths of the Bucks’ starting lineup is new. There is growing speculation [Bucks GM] Hammond could make another significant move: trading star shooting guard Michael Redd."

There's that word again: speculation. But the speculation of Woefel's "NBA officials" and others isn't much more than common sense. The main unknowns are whether the Bucks will look for salary cap room for this summer now (the most likely scenario) or wait to deal with next season after July 1; and how much cap room they're looking for.

It is only a matter of time before the Bucks find a trade for a shooting guard or big forward who can play some D and would a good fit for Skiles' uptempo offense. The trouble is finding a team that 1) Needs a scorer like Redd; and 2) has the right mix of pricey expiring contract(s) and player (s) to help the Bucks improve.

If not, there's always Tracy McGrady. Rockets fans are beginning to call for a McGrady-Redd trade (or something) and the Rockets want to contend for the title this season. McGrady doesn't seem to be up to it. This should only be acceptable if the Rockets also take Dan Gadzuric and the $17 mill or so he's due the next 2-and-a-half years. I realize the Rockets just signed ~~Mutumbo~~ Mutombo, but who can resist a three-headed international center combo? China, the Congo, Netherlands represent! And with an Argentinian power forward ...

What the Rockets need to challenge the Lakers, to beat the likes of Deron Williams and the Jazz; Manu and Parker and the Spurs; Chris Paul and Hornets is a better outside game -- they've got the paint covered. I would think they would be very interested in Redd, if they could ignore that he's nothing more than an average three-point shooter. Maybe this is where Damon Jones comes in handy in a trade. ...

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I do know that Chris Mihm, will not become a Milwaukee Buck this season, and that's a good thing. The Lakers reportedly have had a standing offer on the table to trade little-used center Mihm to the Bucks for Tyronn Lue. The Bucks, however, have little interest in Mihm, who had two foot surgeries last season.

Enter the Rockets, looking for a center to back up Yao Ming, or so the rumors go. The Rockets would have traded Carl Landry and a reserve guard to the Bucks for Charlie V; the Bucks would send Lue to the Lakers; and the Lakers would send Mihm to the Rockets.

That won't happen now because the Rockets on Tuesday brought center Dikembe Mutombo back to the team on a veteran minimum contract. Looks like the rumored Bucks-Rockets trade was always contingent on whether or not the Rockets could lure Mutombo out of retirement (he retired after last year). Had the Rockets not convinced Mutombo, a three-way trade with the Lakers and Bucks may have been the plan B the Rockets were considering. According to Mutombo (see the linked story), the Rockets pursued him heavily over the weekend, so that's one indication that Houston wasn't too hot about the Lakers-Bucks option.

Now the Rockets don't need Mihm, the Bucks don't want him and apparently the Lakers don't either. But that doesn't mean that the Lakers or the Bucks should stop looking for a team that does. Lue played a solid NBA finals for the Lakers against Allen Iverson and the Sixers, and Phil Jackson wants him back, obviously. Lakers backup point guard, Jordan Farmar, just had knee surgery. The Bucks could pick up a worthwhile young player, or even a bench contract and a 2nd round draft pick if somebody wants Mihm badly enough.

Not that the Bucks should be too interested in trading Lue. Ty from downtown is on the Bob Boozer Jinx Christmas list, which should be an important consideration for the Bucks in any moves from here on out. He's shooting 52% from 3-point-land this season, and has moved past Redd this season into the top 20 career 3-point shooters in the league. He's 44th all-time in the NBA, taking aim at Jon Barry, Danny Ferry, Hersey Hawkins, and, yes, Reggie Miller too if he keeps shooting at his current clip.

Note: Damon Jones is right behind Lue on that list at #47. This may become important as the Feb. 19 trading deadline approaches, as I've noted above. Any number of contending teams could be interested in Lue or Jones because 1) They are veterans with playoff experience; and 2) The ability to hit from downtown is a potential edge in the playoffs. And there's so very little separation among most of the top 12 teams in the league.

Bucks trip over holidays, trade rumors and the Answer's Pistons

J.D. Mo — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 19:50:00 GMT

The Bucks game at the BC Saturday night against Allen Iverson, Tayshaun Prince, Rasheed Wallace and the Detroit Pistons was in many ways a test of Scott Skiles and the new era Bucks.

Coming into the game, the Bucks had yet to win a game against a team the caliber of the Pistons -- not one with its parts relatively in place (it's rare to find a team at full strength in the NBA this time of year).

They still haven't. .

If it was a test, the 87-76 loss should quiet Bucks' playoff talk. For a few days at least. The 14-17 Bucks have beaten only three teams with winning records and two of them were missing a pair of star players (the Spurs and the Jazz).

The Pistons game went bad quickly in the 3rd quarter, so badly that Skiles pulled his starters. With the exception of rookie Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, Skiles left them on the bench for the final 16 minutes of the game. The home crowd boos that descended on them in the 4th Quarter should be a loud enough local protest to trail the Bucks to Texas, where this week they play a Tuesday-Wednesday back-to-back against West contenders San Antonio and Houston.

The Bucks are a team in transition to the Skiles era, a new place where tenacious, consistent D and ball movement are religion. In their most recent win against the Jazz at the BC Tuesday, the Bucks could say that the qualities of the new era overcame the lax defense and sluggish, selfish offensive tendencies of the old. The Skiles Bucks, led by point guard Luke Ridnour, took charge in the final four minutes against the Jazz with good defense and team play, and won the game. Yet the depleted Jazz, playing without All-Stars Carlos Boozer and center Mehmet Okur, played a lackluster game that Utah coach Jerry Sloan said looked to him "like streetball."

The Pistons were also missing an All-Star, leading scorer Rip Hamilton, but there wasn't anybody in a Pistons uniform handing out streetball passes Saturday. After the Bucks scored the first four points of the 2nd half to take a 48-46 lead, the Pistons D forced errant Bucks shot after shot and hustled the Bucks misses into a 21-3 run. It happened quickly, over the course of 5 minutes or so.

The only Bucks points in that run were a 3-point play by Andrew Bogut, who was productive with 17 pts and 10 rebs, but he too found himself benched toward the end of the 3rd quarter with Michael Redd (who finished with just 4 pts on 2-11 shooting) and Richard Jefferson (10 pts and one of his worst games as a Buck).

"It felt like Mbah a Moute and Ridnour were the two guys that stood out as being ready to play and to have that winning-type energy you need," Skiles said.

Ridnour had to fight off the effects of the flu to play Saturday. It must have irked Skiles to no end to watch Luke's teammates reward his perseverence by playing as if they were sick. I have a feeling this contributed to the benching of the Redd, R.J. and Bogut.

The message was clear: The Scott Skiles Bucks have not yet arrived in Milwaukee; and the coach was in no mood Saturday to pretend that his starters could mount a 20-point comeback playing anything other than Scott Skiles basketball.

So what was wrong with the Bucks Saturday? A few things, and more. But before I get to that, it's time to go out and have a smoke:

INTERMISSION

You gotta love The Rim Rockers Milwaukee's own flying basketball circus. Here's the Rockers setting a couple of world record for the Guinness Book Saturday, Dec. 20 at the BC.. Thanks go to eric for sending in this clip.

END INTERMISSION

What was wrong with the Bucks Saturday? To be fair, the Iverson Pistons are a bad matchup for the Bucks. The Chauncey Billups Pistons played closer to the walk-it-up pace of the Michael Redd Bucks of the last five years. As a result, the Bucks had some past success against Detroit, even a win last season. Those days are over. Iverson plays the game in a gear known only to Iverson, and he has players like Rodney Stuckey, Prince and Hamilton (when healthy) to run with him.

The Bucks are playing a faster pace, too, part of the uptempo Skiles approach. Problem is, this team is not built for it: The feet of Redd, Bogut, and the two Charlies don't move that fast and it's something Skiles has had the team working on. Skiles addressed the tempo issue this weekend in raving about the job Ridnour has been doing at the point:

"[Ridnour]'s been good on the break. As I've said a couple times, we need to help him more by getting up the floor with a little more thrust. We've done that the last few games (before Detroit). The past six or seven games he's been very, very good."

Point being, if the Bucks need to be reminded not to fall behind Luke Ridnour pace, how can they keep up with Iverson's pace? They haven't done it yet. They've lost two games to the Pistons and neither one has been close.

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Focus is another problem. The Bucks apparently lost it in the days off Skiles gave them Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. They obviously lost it in the 3rd Quarter Saturday, which raises questions about the mental tenacity of this team. This is another lingering trait from the pre-Skiles Bucks, and the mentally tough Pistons exposed this on the Bucks home floor. It'll be interesting to see how the aforementioned starters - the "stars" - respond to being benched.

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Personnel shortcomings: The Pistons have been the Team of the 2000's in the East, but they've been struggling since the Iverson trade, and came into the BC with a 12-11 record with the Answer. In fact, on the night the Pistons played the Bucks, an Arizona Republic writer asked in an NBA Insider column, "Pistons better off without Iverson?"

Rasheed Wallace is past his prime and the younger Pistons are still growing. Stuckey, who recently became the starting point guard, is only in his second year. Young big men Amir Johnson and Jason Maxiell are still developing. Forward Antonio McDyess missed more than a month after the Iverson trade (he was traded for Iverson but obtained a buyout from Denver and returned). Former Buck Michael Curry is their 3rd coach in five years and this is his first year as a head coach.

Despite all this, the Bucks haven't gained ground on the Pistons. Bogut is still the only Buck who would start on Detroit. R.J. and Luc Mbah a Moute (eventually) would fare well in Detroit and find PT. And Sessions? But the rest of the Bucks?

Of course it's no shock to anybody that the Pistons roster is better than the Bucks. Or that the Bucks core of R.J., Redd and Bogut is simply no match for the Iverson/Hamilton, Prince and Wallace core. But the bench edge goes to Detroit too, especially when they go big in the starting lineup and bring Hamilton off the bench.

These are not the defending champion Pistons of 2005. They are the 5th-in-the-East Pistons looking up in the standings at the Atlanta Hawks. The Bucks are tied for 8/9th with Chicago. This was not just "one bad game" for the Bucks. It was an illustration of how far they still have to climb to compete in the East.

The Richard Jefferson trade has improved the Bucks, yes, and so has the coaching change. And Mbah a Moute. Ramon Sessions is an improvement. Ridnour is coming along under Skiles. There's a lot to talk about. Yet STILL there is a huge talent and performance separation from the East's 5th place Pistons to where the Bucks are in 8/9th. Based on what I saw last week in the home games against the Jazz and Pistons (with three days off prior), I don't believe this Bucks roster can close the gap. It's not in all of them.

When does Bucks GM Hammond wake up and realize that there is no point in holding off on major, long-term looking moves. To do so only holds back the players who can play Skiles basketball.

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.... Which brings us to another possible distraction for the Bucks on Saturday:

TRADE RUMORS

(read at your own risk - these are mostly rumors, which makes me a rumor mongerer, for better or worse)

The Bucks camp was rife with them through the X-mas holidays, including word that Michael Redd is back on the trading block.

On the Sports Radio WSSP AM-1250's postgame show, Racine Journal Times Bucks columnist Gery Woelfel, reported that a number of teams have contacted the Bucks to inquire about Redd, and that the Bucks are listening. Charlie Villanueva and Tyrone Lue have also come up in trade scuttlebutta within the last few days. Only one Buck is untouchable: Andrew Bogut.

Woelfel didn't say which teams have inquired about Redd, though he did mention that NY was interested last summer. (Hey Gery, why didn't you report it then?) The Knicks have made two big trades since, so a trade with the Knicks is now likely lost opportunity. (And of course, Cleveland pursued a Redd trade until settling for Mo Williams; the Cavaliers are out of the trade market for now, standing pat with their title hopes and a 26-4 record.. for now).

The Bucks took Redd off the market after acquiring Richard Jefferson in June and, as recently as November, the word around the NBA was that the Bucks were not actively working the trade market on any player. GM John Hammond's stance has apparently changed in recent weeks. The trade deadline is just seven weeks away.

It's encouraging (to say the least) that with Redd's lavish contract ($45 mil over 2.5 yrs), his recent poor play and absence the entire month of November, teams are still interested. Redd has struggled in Skiles' system and seems to have an aversion for the quick pace that is Skiles basketball (he had the same problem in the Olympics playing Team Redeem's relentless pace, and his shooting suffered ... a lot).

Redd is leading the Bucks in scoring at 18.5 pts per game, but his shooting has plunged below 40% from the floor; .337 from 3-point land. If the lousy shooting persists, the other parts of his game -- his poor defense and passing, along with his overall poor decision-making on the court -- become pretty big liabilities to a team trying to implement a system of constant defensive pressure and up-tempo ball movement. Oh, and then there's that aversion to running the floor.

(If there are any scouts reading this, a BIG if I know, just keep moving -- there's nothing to see here. Everything's fine in Milwaukee with Michael and we think he's a good candidate to make a return to the All-Star game this season).

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Moving right along. The most tangible trade reported this weekend again came from Gery Woelfel, in his Woelfel World of Sports column Friday. The Lakers are looking for backup help at point guard now that Jordan Farmar's left knee will require surgery, and Woelfel says they're offering little-used center Chris Mihm for Tyrone Lue, who played for Phil Jackson on the 2000 and 2001 Laker championship teams.

The Los Angeles Times reported that, yes, Lue's agent has been in contact with the Lakers, though neither the Bucks nor Lakers have confirmed that a Mihm-for-Lue deal is on the table. Mimh is a stiff who's had two ankle surgeries in the last couple of years. No wonder Hammond won't pick this one up off the table.

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The trigger for much of the speculation about a move for Lue was Damon Jones joining the Bucks over the weekend. Jones and Lue are both backup point guards specializing in 3-point gunning, and with Lue potentially gone, the good-shooting Jones would fill a role off the bench. Jones was acquired in the Mo Williams-Luke Ridnour trade last summer but he and the Bucks agreed that he wouldn't report to the team while the Bucks sought a trade. Hammond found no takers.

But Jones' addition may have more to do with necessity than Lue's future. Starting point guard Luke Ridnour (3 games lost to injury) has played hurt for much of the year and so has Redd's backup, Charlie Bell (7 games missed). That leaves Michael Redd (14 games missed, ankle) and Ramon Sessions as the only two healthy guards on the 15-man roster.

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Charlie Villanueva, being a big forward with offensive versatility, generates a lot of trade interest around the league. He's the subject of rumors involving Houston forward Carl Landry and more speculation (Woelfel again) about another trade with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Thunder are looking to trade at least one of their three power forwards, Chris Wilcox, ex-Buck Joe Smith and possibly Nick Collison. I still can't figure out why OK City would want another one in Charlie, or how they expect to acquire a player with Charlie's offensive skills when bringing any one of their PF contracts here would require that the Bucks send a second player. (Tyrone Lue again). If I do figure it out, that probably means the trade has already happened, somehow. Collison has a 3-year, $19m deal.

The rumored trade of Charlie to Houston for forward Carl Landry, 25, born and raised in Milwaukee and an alumnus of basketball powerhouse Vincent High, was good while it lasted but seems to have fizzled out. Neither the Journal Sentinel or the Houston Chronicle has confirmed that a deal was or is in the works, while other sources (realgm.com/bucks) believed trade to be imminent over the weekend. The Bucks and Rockets have been silent.

What I do know is that Charlie played about as poorly as Charlie can play against Detroit, and that he may be a bit sensitive about being the subject of all this trade speculation, especially over Christmas. Villanueva for the rebound-hungry (and cost effective) Landry was discussed on NBA fanboards all over the country this weekend, and may have even invaded his iPod.

The absence of a denial about the trade from either team as the Bucks head for Texas does raise questions about whether the trade is only on hold because of Rockets injuries.The Rockets rested both Tracy McGrady and Ron Artest in separate games over the weekend. The Bucks will be in Houston Wednesday.

The Bucks were rumored to also be seeking a Rockets guard in the trade. Luther Head, one of the guards mentioned, started in place of McGrady Saturday night. The Bucks would send Tyronn Lue to LA in the Mihm deal and Mihm would go to the Rockets.

However, that end of the deal is off, because the Rockets on Tuesday brought center Dikembe Mutumbo back to the team on a veteran minimum contract. The Rockets don't need Mihm, Bucks don't need him and apparently the Lakers don't either.

Landry averages 8.7pts, 5.1 rebs in 20 mpg. He has two years left on his contract after this season, and the last year is a player option.

Charlie's averaging 12.6 pts, 6.6 rebs in 22 mpg -- the best rebounding year of his 4-yr career. The one rebound more per game than Landry that Charlie is grabbing is on the defensive end. CV's a restricted free agent after this season and could end up costing twice as much as Landry.

Would the Rockets do a straight up Charlie for Landry deal? It's difficult to see why they would.

Disclaimer: It's nuts to anticipate a rumored trade based on the absence of the rumor's denial; in no way am I endorsing or encouraging this sort of thinking, unless we're talking politics. Nuts.