Milwaukee Bucks Blog - The Bob Boozer Jinx : Delonte West

Eastern Conference Preview

J.D. Mo — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 20:30:00 GMT

The NBA Eastern Conference got better in the offseason, and is probably stronger top to bottom than the West. Our Bucks, unfortunately did not improve for the short term. This is the inescapable Bucks reality as the 2009-10 season gets underway. Playoffs...(read more)

Sessions market coming down to earth... Hakim Warrick... Another center traded East... Charlie Bell wants to do your job

J.D. Mo — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 02:51:00 GMT

The sky still hasn't fallen on the Bucks as they seek to retain Ramon Sessions. And it probably won't, as the market for restricted point guards is neither so lucrative nor so free. The Knicks, who courted Sessions most heavily, decided they'd...(read more)

Bucks Weekend: Halfway mark stats... Bucks on the West Coast... Eastern C-notes

J.D. Mo — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 11:17:00 GMT

Bucks (19-22) @ Sacramento Kings (10-30), 9pm Friday, FSN

Bucks @ LA Clippers (8-30), 9:30pm Saturday, FSN

The Kings and Clippers are struggling but the Bucks would do well to stay focused in California this weekend without center Andrew Bogut, who is staying home to rehab his ailing lower back; it's never fully recuperated since he first injured it on the road in mid-December, and flared up again Monday during the Wizards game.

Avoiding a shootout with the Kings would be wise, as would remembering to play defense. (The Bucks didn't do either and nearly blew a 15-point 4th quarter lead but held on to win 129-122 - scroll down for more).

And the Clippers? Marcus Camby's playing with half a team: Zach Randolph, Baron Davis, Chris Kaman and Milwaukee rookie Mike Taylor will miss the Bucks Saturday. Expect to see former Buck x 2 Brian Skinner logging forward PT in that one.

Michael Hunt weighs in on the trade scuttlebut that's dogged the Bucks all week and says DON'T. I agree. The luxury tax issues can be worked out over the summer, and if the Bucks are not willing to move the larger contracts (Michael Redd, Richard Jefferson) and are stuck with Dan Gadzuric, don't pretend that moving bench players by the Feb. 19 trade deadline is some sort of fix. The fans deserve a team and a real direction, not a bunch of half-truth salary cap whining. 'Nuff said for now because it's time for ...

BUCKS MIDWAY REPORT

The Bucks were one of first NBA teams to reach the halfway mark in the 2008-09 schedules; the others are Boston and ... Boston. The stumble the Celtics have been on since X-mas likely has something to do with this, as Paul Pierce in particular has looked weary and Ray Allen has cooled off, somewhat, after a red hot start.

What does this have to do with the Bucks? Well, the only two Bucks who've played in all 41 games are the defensive stalwarts: forwards Richard Jefferson and rookie Luc Richard Mbah a Moute. Jefferson has looked as tired as Pierce since X-Mas, and 22-year-old Mbah a Moute, who's never played such a compressed basketball schedule in his life, has aged before Bucks fans eyes. The strain of the schedule seems written on Luc's face.

The Bucks are 5-6 since X-mas and, after the loss to D-Wade, Daequan Cook (who?) and the Heat Wednesday, fell behind the 76ers in the Eastern Conference standings. While the Bucks are still on the fall-down, bounce-back pogo, the Sixers have picked up the pace, are running again and have won 5 straight -- remember last season? Look out for Philly, a team that's already handed the Bucks two of their 22 losses. The Bucks now head West for three games in four nights, beginning Friday in Sacramento.

Let's look now beyond the standings at where the Bucks stand after 41 games. (Sources: Basketball-reference.com and NBA.com)

Games played: R.J. and the Prince lead the league with 41, of course, tied for first with four Celtics: Pierce, Allen, Rondo and Powe. R.J. is 10th in minutes played, with the aforementioned Ray Allen and Paul Pierce just ahead of him in the top 5. (Seems Doc Rivers rides his stars even more than Skiles has ridden R.J.).

Top Ten in defense: The Bucks rank 8th in team defense (defensive effeciency it's called, or points allowed per 100 possessions). They've slipped somewhat of late, as they've fallen into the old, bad habit of trying to simply outscore the opposition, which, as we know, leads to sub-30 win seasons.

Opponent FG% - Bucks are 13th, allowing 45.2% opponent shooting.

Opponent 3-point shooting: Bucks are 15th, allowing 36.2%. This has been a problem of late, as the Sixers, Nets, T-Wolves, Wizards and Heat (Daequan Cook) have scorched the nets from the land of Reggie in the last week.

Opponent 3-point shooting in 27 games Redd has played: 39.8% (182-457). I isolated this stat after the T-Wolves game on Saturday, and it's gotten worse since. The Wiz and the Heat this week shot 50% (14-28) on 3's vs. the Bucks, who were lucky, perhaps, that the Wiz didn't shoot more of them. The games-Redd-played-% would be bad for 28th in the NBA in defending the 3-pointer, one percentage point away from dead last. I suppose Bucks fans could blame Charlie Bell -- he's missed 9 games since Redd came back Nov. 29.

Steals per game: Bucks rank 21st.

The Bucks are not stocked with great athletes and natural defenders, so one might wonder how they're a top 10 defensive team while falling to the bottom half of the league in these other areas. I'd say the answer is that Redd missed 14 games and the Bucks D earned a solid, active defensive presence in those games. I'd also defer the question to coach Scott Skiles, whose constant pressure D scheme has a way of evening things out, as they're among the league leaders in turnovers forced. I'd also point to the fact that the Bucks rebound the ball better than the vast majority of teams in the NBA ....

Rebounding: The Bucks are one of the top rebounding teams in the league and Andrew Bogut has everything to do with it. As a team, they rank 11th in rebounds per game, but the Bucks are 5th-best at outrebounding their opponents (nearly +3 per game), and that's the stat that matters. Guess who's ahead of them? The best teams in the NBA -- Cleveland, Boston and the Lakers -- along with Portland and its two-headed Oden-zilla center. Luc Richard Mbah a Moute and Charlie Villanueva contribute heavily on the glass, and their work has won some games for the Bucks this season.

Despite missing 3 games with a mashed knee and 4 with a bad back, Bogut ranks 12th in NBA total rebounds.

Bogut is 10th in total offensive rebounds, injuries and all.

The Bucks center is 7th in the NBA with 10.4 rpg.
Bogut is 5th in the league in the % of available rebounds he grabs (19.3) and 5th in defensive rebounding % at 27%.

Among centers, Bogut the rebounder this season is looking up only at the best center on the planet, Dwight Howard of Orlando. Yes, Andris Biedrins is rebounding a bunch, but Biedrins plays on Nellie's Warriors, who shoot 1,000 shots a game. And don't get me started on Emeka Okafor -- the Bucks have played the Bobcats four times this season (won 3) and in one game, 'Cats coach Larry Brown started rookie behemoth Ajinca to keep Bogues offa Emeka. Marcus Camby in Los Angeles is an ageless wonder but in the Clips-Bucks games at the BC, big PF Zach Randolph was guarding Bogut, leaving Camby to roam free.

Bogut is making good strides in the Bob Boozer Jinx Center rankings so far and is clearly now a top ten NBA center (the rankings will be updated at the All-Star break). Let's hope he can overcome those back problems that have held him down since Dec. 17 in Philly.

Offensively, the Bucks rank 20th: This is the points-scored-per-100 possessions rating. The Bucks are not a good shooting team, and they don't get out and run as much as they should. They're moving the ball more than in years past, including Redd, which probably keeps them from ranking even lower in the offensive categories. But the main problem here is shooting, particularly from 3-point-land. Inside the arc, the Bucks aren't half bad, and Bogut is 5th in the league in FG% at 57.5%. How 'bout these Bucks get the ball to their center a little more?

3-point shooting: The Bucks are a woeful 23rd in the NBA at 34.1%. That means it's still worthwhile for the Bucks to shoot 3's but just barely.

Michael Redd: Fans will be surprised that this bad 3-ball shooting year Redd is having (with recent exceptions) is not much worse than what he shot 2003-05 and last year. Redd's shooting 34.6% from the land of Reggie, and, though it's close to what he shot 4 of the 6 seasons he's been a starter, it is the worst he's shot it in the NBA.

Richard Jefferson has been a more reliable 3-point shooter than Redd at 38.1% and Luke Ridnour really shouldn't be heaving it up there as often as he does (30.3%) -- although it's difficult to argue with the 4 or 5 games Crazy Luke and Lucky Luke have won for the Bucks draining from downtown in crunchtime.

Tyronn Lue is shooting 50% (16-32) from behind the arc, but doesn't play much.

Charlie Villanueva is coming alive in his contract year, having his best season since his rookie year in Toronto, with 13.1 ppg, 6.1 rpg in just 22 mpg. Play Charlie more? Or is Scott Skiles using him just right? Extrapolated to 36 minutes per game, Charlie would be scoring 20 pts per game, realizing of course that it doesn't always work out that way in the NBA.

My sore lower back says this was more of a midway rundown than I had planned, and I still haven't worked my way into the Ramon Sessions and Joe Alexander for Memphis point guard Mike Conley trade that never happened. Maybe that's because it still hasn't happened and I'm feeling pretty good right about now not wasting anybody's time with it. There is definitely a problem within the Bucks organization in regards to trade rumor leaks -- if you can even call them that -- and Bucks fans tend to get rolling on them whether the trade talk is real or not ... If GM John Hammond is working on silencing some of the ~~yickety yack~~ wickity wack from Bucks central, I'm all for it, though in this case some of it came out of Memphis (the reverse of the Carl Landry rumors, which resided here and were largely ignored in Houston). Here in Sconnie, a Bucks reporter from the lame-o Racine Journal Times peddles this stuff while the Bucks beat writers at the Journal Sentinel stay mum (red flag there) & their editor reminds to gloss up Michael Redd's star ...

At least Bucks fans can rest assured that they can always count on The Bob Boozer Jinx for semi-reliable & responsible bullshit.

Meanwhile, in Chicago last night ....

Mo loses his running mate: As it was, the East-leading Lebrons went into Chicago playing without their starting big men, Zydrunas Ilgauskas (ankle) and Big Ben Wallace (flu). By the end of the OT loss to the newly healthy Bulls (Hinricn and Deng are back), they had also lost Delonte West. The Cavs starting guard fractured his shooting wrist and a gashed an eye after a nasty collision with Bulls rookie Derrick Rose. Looks like the Lebrons will be without two starters for some time (Big Z and West), which will put the onus on point guard Mo Williams and the Cavs bench to make up West's scoring (12.3 ppg). Where they'll really miss him is on D: West is Cleveland's top backcourt defender, and, well, Bucks fans are well aware of Mo's liabilities on D. West was 2nd on the Cavs in minutes played behind Lebron.

The Bucks don't play the Cavs again until Feb. 20, when Z is almost certainly to be back. West will be out for an indeterminate while.

Not to be missed in Chicago: The Bulls are healthy again. Kirk Hinrich is back, mangled hand recovered, and Luol Deng also returned last week after missing 8 games with an ankle sprain. The 17-22 Bulls beat the Cavs 102-93 Thursday in Chicago to finish 1-3 against the Lebrons for the season. They're a game behind the Bucks in the East standings but a game ahead in the loss column, which means they're basically tied with the Bucks for 9th in the East behind Philly and New Jersey, if that makes any sense.

KD Dwyer's Behind the Box Score featured this story, and made this reference to Scott Skiles' Baby Bulls:

[The Bulls] got back to playing defense, running, and generally making life one big aberration for their opponents. A throwback to the Scott Skiles days, the early days, of forcing teams into giving up when things aren't going their way.

Point being: The Bucks road to the playoffs is not an easy road. Shame on Bucks fans over the last couple of weeks who started talking playoffs d*** near every time the Bucks won a game. Enough of that Redd-ite thinking. The East is tougher this year than it's been since the 2002-03 season. And it's time for the Bucks to start playing like the Scott Skiles Bucks.

It's BUCKS WEEKEND ... more to come.

As awe-inspiring as that photo is, Chris Kaman is not ... but he's funny. Unfortunately, Bucks fans will robbed this season of the classic Kaman-Bogut showdown, as Kaman will miss Saturday's Bucks game in LA, still nursing a stressed arch in his right foot. Or maybe it's the left one.

Mo Williams trade brewing (and stalling) with Cleveland and Oklahoma City

J.D. Mo — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 12:21:00 GMT

The Cleveland Cavaliers' quest for backcourt help for Lebron James continues ... With Michael Redd apparently unavailable for the time being, Cavs GM Danny Ferry has set his sights on Bucks point guard Mo Williams, first reported Sunday in the News-Herald of Northern Ohio, a Cleveland area daily.

The Cavs want scoring, and that's our Mo. He was one of the top shooters in the NBA last season, 2nd only to Utah's Kyle Korver in 2-point jumpshooting with a .508 percentage (Korver, Mo and 2-time MVP Steve Nash were the only players in the NBA above 50%). Mo led the Bucks in three-point shooting (38.5%) and free throw shooting (85.6%), averaging 17.2 pts, 6.3 asts per game.

Yet while Mo was the Bucks best shooter last season, he leaves a lot to be desired as a floor general and playmaker -- and he's terrible defender with a five-year, $43M contract. This doesn't make him coach Scott Skiles' kind of point guard. And Cleveland has been knocking.

News-Herald writer Bob Finnan speculated that trade talks may have begun with Cavs point guard Delonte West and two Cavs 2009 expiring contracts -- former Bucks Joe Smith and Damon Jones. West, a restricted free agent, is in a contract dispute with Cavs GM Danny Ferry, and has been offered a "take it or leave it" minimum offer -- $2.8 million for one year. A sign and trade deal sending West to the Bucks with a higher salary would break the impasse.

I watched a lot of Cleveland Cavs playoff basketball. West was acquired from Seattle in the three-team Ben Wallace-Larry Hughes trade and had been on the team only two months -- yet he had stepped in and was doing yeoman work running the offense with Lebron, playing scrappy defense and hitting key shots. He started all 13 playoff games as the Cavs ousted the Wizards and pushed Pierce, Garnett and Allen to the final minute of game seven. Mo Williams for Delonte West and Smith, the crafty 33-year-old forward-center with a soft shooting touch, works for me.

But apparently Bucks GM John Hammond and Skiles are not interested in West. Too much like Mo, probably. Enter Oklahoma City (the team that left its name in Seattle), one of the teams that have reportedly been involved in talks with the Cavs r.e. forward-center Anderson Varejao. (The Bucks have also been one of those teams). OK City, as luck would have it, has a corral of point guards that Scott Skiles could like -- draft pick Russell Westbrook, last year's starter Earl Watson and Luke Ridnour, the point guard during the Ray Allen years in Seattle.

After days of speculation centering on Watson and the possibilities for a larger trade involving power forwards Varejao, OKC's Chris Wilcox and Charlie Villanueva, who do the Bucks reportedly want for Mo Williams? Luke Ridnour, the third stringer, fallen on hard times since the departures of coach Brian Hill and Ray Allen. With the Sonics last season, West played more minutes per game than Ridnour prior to being traded. The Mo trade would reportedly send Mo to Cleveland, Joe Smith to OK City and Ridnour to Milwaukee. Setting aside for a moment whether or not this deal works within NBA rules ...

Luke Ridnour???

That had to hurt. I can understand how Skiles sees a little bit of himself in 27-year-old Ridnour, but

... Luke Ridnour???

And people say Mo is a bad defender ... But hold on. This trade is now stalled. Apparently, ESPN league sources say, Cavs GM Ferry is "balking at taking on Williams' contract. OKC and Milwaukee are ready to do the deal. The trade is not dead, but I'm told as of right now it has stalled."

At least someone came to their senses. I don't think, however, that this was ever "the trade." The salaries don't match. ~~The salary amount going out from a team in a trade has to be within 15 percent of the amount coming in. Trading Mo's~~ ~~$8.35 million salary~~ ~~requires that the Bucks take in at least $7.1M but not more than $9.6M.~~ ~~Ridnour's salary is $6.5M~~ ~~- $600,000 short. OK City is not taking in enough with~~ ~~Smith, whose salary is $4.8M~~ ~~-also about $600,000 short. OK City is under~~ ~~the salary cap~~ ~~and can take over 15 percent of a salary, but they can't undercut.~~ Cleveland and Milwaukee are both over the cap, and the Cavs are over the luxury tax threshold.

The Cavs need to find at least $2.3M to send out in order to take on Mo's contract. This trade could work if the Cavs sawed Delonte West or Damon Jones in two (I'm assuming they would choose Jones) and sent half a player and contract to Milwaukee and half to OK City. Barring that, they could send 1st round draft pick J.J. Hickson, a 6' 9" forward to either team, and fill in the other team's gap with Tarence Kinsey, an athletic 6' 6" guard built to play D whom the Cavs signed this month. After all that, the Cavs would still be $200,000 short of being within 15 percent of Mo's salary. Going deeper to the Cavs bench, guard Billy Thomas or center Lance Allred would cover it.

By now, Danny Ferry is no doubt cursing Larry Harris for paying Mo too much last summer. The Cavs have an $85.5 million payroll, some $13M over the luxury tax limit. Because Cleveland is over limit, the Cavs would have to send a dollar-for-dollar tax to the league based on how much additional payroll Mo's contract adds. As this deal lays now, the Cavs would pay Mo his salary plus about $1 M to the NBA -- a total of $9.3 million. For this privelege, they would give up Smith, a key role player in their front court rotation, and possibly three players including the 1st round draft pick -- after pinching pennies with Delonte West.

No wonder Ferry's balking and the deal is stalled. The price is high. Keep in mind that the Cavs can stand pat and still know that they are a contender for the title. The only team in the East that has proven it can beat Lebron in a playoff series is the Boston Celtics. Would Mo make the difference? Or would a healthy Boobie Gibson serve just as well? Cleveland and Ferry may have picked up the phone to get the ball rolling on this trade, but they're good enough as a team to risk nothing by waiting to see how the season unfolds.

And Luke Ridnour? Here he is in better times, the 2005 playoffs against Sacramento. This must be the guy that Hammond and Skiles are hoping to acquire:

Playoff Props - What's up Doc?

J.D. Mo — Mon, 12 May 2008 00:19:00 GMT

After another surpisingly out-of-synch playoff performance on the road by the Boston Celtics, Celtics coach Doc Rivers finds his team in a difficult situation with its starting point guard, 21-year-old Rajon Rondo. Rondo finished with zero assists in Game 3 against the Cavaliers on Sunday and was thoroughly outplayed by the Cavs' Delonte West.

Rondo's not ready to help the Celtics win it all; that was all too clear Saturday night. On Doc's bench is the answer: the clown prince of NBA guards, Sam "I Am" Cassell, offensive genius. Yet Rivers has been slow to pull Rondo when things are going badly.

At one point in the 3rd Quarter of Saturday night's game, the ABC cameras found West on defense, playing one of the saggiest one-man zones I've seen in the NBA. He wasn't even guarding Rondo, clogging the paint instead to make life difficult for KG and Paul Pierce. As the minutes passed, the Celtics struggled to cut the lead to 15, then watched it fall back to 20. No team in the NBA would dare to not guard Sam Cassell. Yet Sam sat. Rivers finally went to Cassell at the start of the fourth quarter and the Celtics pulled to within 12, but could get no closer.

With Rondo in the game, Paul Pierce fought for shots and Ray Allen scarcely shot at all, turning playmaker when he did get the ball. Unselfish play by Ray, but that's what Rondo should have been doing, instead of driving the ball at Big Ben Wallace, Z-Ilgauskus and Lebron James. Is Rivers worried about deflating Rondo's confidence in the playoffs? Or is it a team chemistry thing because Sam is the new guy? Whatever the case, Rivers has been far too much of a players' coach where Rondo is concerned, and it's part of the reason the Atlanta series went to seven games.

It doesn't seem to matter when the Celtics are playing in the Garden, but on the road, Rivers has to be quicker to go to Sam when the offense is struggling. If Sam, at 38, wears down, go back to Rondo, but don't give Rondo the reins in the 3rd Quarter on the road -- unless Doc is willing to sacrifice a championship for an "experience" playoffs for Rondo. If the Celtics fall short of the NBA Finals (they're by no means a shoe-in for conference finals) Rivers failure to make game adjustments will be the first thing called into question.

Trust in Sam, Doc. You won't be sorry.

Steady rollin' Joe The Celtics-Cavs series is THE one for Bucks fans. There are future Bucks to watch in Cleveland's Danny Gibson and Wally Szczerbiak ( I finally spelled it right - I think) -- How you doing on that Michael Redd, trade, Lebron? And there are ex-Bucks to watch in Ray and Sam "I Am", and, coming off the Cleveland bench, Joe Smith (Damon Jones is on that bench too, but rarely leaves it).

Joe had a steady-rollin' game Saturday - 24 minutes, 17 points on 7/8 shooting, 6 rebounds, 4 fouls. Smith made a couple of more shots than he normally would, but as Bucks fans know, his game was not that different than it ever was. Smith doesn't force anything, takes good shots, rebounds, plays D and gives his team a chance to win, though he won't be "the guy" winning it.

Smith, 32, came to the Bucks from the T-Wolves in the 2003 trade for Sam Cassell and Ervin Johnson. It was Ernie Grunfeld's last trade as GM, which coincided with the drafting of point guard T.J. Ford. Two weeks later, the woeful era of GM Larry Harris began. Smith started at power forward for two years, averaging 11 pts., 8 boards per game (which makes him one of the more productive power forwards in Bucks history). The following year, Smith came off the bench behind Jamal Magliore and Andrew Bogut, but was hobbled with injuries for much of the year - no doubt the effects of the Bob Boozer Jinx at work again at the Bucks PF position.

"Slickless" Larry eventually traded Smith to Denver for forward Ruben Patterson in Aug., 2006, trade #5 in a series of six dubious Larry trades that left Charlie Villanueva as the only player resource standing. Apparently Harris, never known for his patience, didn't feel like waiting for Smith to fully rehab his knee. The Bucks let Patterson go to the LA Clippers as a free agent in 1997.

In other words, in true Slickless style, the Bucks got nothing for Joe Smith. By the transitive property of the tradelines, this also means the Bucks got nothing for Sam Cassell, who, when he was traded for Smith in 2003 was under contract with the Bucks for another three seasons (at about $6 million per year) -- and should not have been traded at all.

What if the Bucks kept Sam? Instead of drafting T.J., the Bucks draft a forward in 2003 (say, David West). Terry Porter, in his first year as coach, has a leader on the floor in Sam (who was 2nd Team All-NBA 2003-04), and a developing big forward instead of injury prone Smith. Michael Redd's development as a scorer is more natural and team-oriented, and Redd never becomes the black hole or the $51 million, three-year contract problem that he is now. Sam controls the offense; Redd's contract extension doesn't get insane. Tim Thomas is happier (for a while anyway), the Bucks win more and there's less for Slickless Larry to foul up in 2005. Terry Porter keeps his job. Let's stop there, as it's beginning to look like this topic would be better as a post of its own.

In the meantime, Sam "I Am" fans have the Celtics-Cavs series, and Joe Smith and Ray Allen too.

And there's this, which I found whilst surfing around today. It's samcassellonline.org, the unofficial Sam Cassell website, created by a few of the LA Clippers faithful. Now that's good stuff.