Milwaukee Bucks Blog - The Bob Boozer Jinx : Larry Brown

Bucks Weekend: Bogut out 2-4 weeks; Redd to return "soon" ... Monday? No. ... Maybe Wednesday ...

J.D. Mo — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 04:04:00 GMT

Bucks 95, Bobcats 88 Bucks 103, Grizzlies 98 The question going into this weekend wasn't "how" or "whether" Michael Redd would fit in once he came back from his latest dunking attempt injury (his third such injury in three years...(read more)

More Eastern C-Notes: Bucks-Warriors notes... Bobcats keep winning... Bulls in Florida

J.D. Mo — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 21:57:00 GMT

Bucks get 30th win: When two teams playing their 4th games in five nights meet anything can happen. It almost did when the Bucks and Nellie's Warriors met at the BC Saturday night, as once again the Bucks let an opposing 3-point shooter catch fire in the 4th quarter (shades of the loss to New Jersey and Jarvis Hayes and Keyon Dooling Tuesday).

But against the Warriors, when Jamal Crawford poured in 10 pts from downtown to push a 104-104 tie midway through the 4th, the Bucks found shooters of their own, forced some misses and held the Warriors off, 127-120.

"We can't sit there and give our fans cardiac arrest," said Charlie Bell.

Well, you could Charlie, though it would be polite not to do it sitting down. Interesting choice of words, though, because -- unlike in the loss to the Nets -- Charlie was not sitting down Saturday. This time, Skiles put his better defenders on the court in the game's final minutes and Charlie played out the 4th.

Crawford got hot against Luke Ridnour (including a 4-point play), but Skiles wasn't about to employ the Ramon Sessions-Ridnour backcourt down the stretch (unlike the Nets game). He subbed Sessions in for Ridnour after Crawford's 3rd straight three over Frodo, and went into the final six minutes with Charlie and Ramon on the floor with Richard Jefferson, Luc Mbah a Moute and Charlie Villanueva.

Against New Jersey (sorry to keep bringing that up), Skiles kept Bell and Mbah a Moute on the bench in the final five minutes as the Nets came back from 8 down to grab the lead. Against the Warriors, when Mbah a Moute fouled out with 3-1/2 minutes left, Skiles went with another defender, Keith Bogans, likewise on the bench during crunchtime of the New Jersey game.

The defenders were good enough when it mattered. With the game on the line, Crawford (15 pts, 3 assists in the 4th) missed a key three, the Bucks forced a turnover and took control of the game. Corey Maggette airballed the Warriors last gasp with 15 seconds to play. THEN Skiles went with Ridnour to shoot free throws - but subbed Bogans back in to play D when the Warriors had the ball.

In a game in which the Bucks desperately needed a win, RJ came up big with a good shooting night, leading the Bucks scoring with 34 pts. Bell played 38 minutes and scored 16 off the bench, more evidence that the Bucks need strong games from Bell to win, and usually win they get one. Here's the boxscore.

Now about that New Jersey game. ... (sorry again, coach).

Nets, Bulls and Sixers were idle - so the Bucks moved up to within 1/2 game of the 8th place Bulls, who play the Heat and Magic in Florida early next week.

Charlotte keeps winning: The Bobcats beat the Knicks in New York 114-105 for their 6th straight win, moving ahead of the Nets into 9th place -- just 1/2 game behind the Bucks. The 'Cats winning streak is the longest in franchise history, and this is the first playoff race in franchise history.

In Larry Brown's first year as head coach, new additions Raja Bell and Boris Diaw (acquired from Phoenix) have gelled with PG Raymond Felton, SF Gerald Wallace and center Emeka Okafor to form a solid, athletic starting 5. Wallace had 23 pts, 13 rebs vs. the Knicks.

Vladimir Radmanovic, a productive bomber on Ray Allen's Supersonics, was toiling away on the Lakers bench until last month when the 'Cats traded Gonzaga bust Adam Morrison and Shannon Brown for him. Radman leads a short 'Cats bench brigade that includes rookie PG D.J. Augustin and center DeSagana Diop. Diop was acquired from Dallas this season for shooter Matt Carroll. Whew, that's a lot of moving and shaking to keep straight, and there were a couple of other no names that I'm ommitting who were passed along in those deals, too.

How good would Bell and Diaw look in a Bucks uniforms? They arrived in Charlotte from Phoenix via an early December trade for expensive shooting guard Jason Richardson. Meanwhile, the Bucks' expensive shooting guard is now an injured expensive shooting guard. These potential opportunities to trade Michael Redd while he was healthy just kept passing GM John Hammond by. ...

'Cats head to Texas to play San Antonio Tuesday, then head home for a Friday game vs. Houston. Brown has tightened up his rotation, and today sent rookies Sean Singletary and center Alexis Ajinca to the D-League.

The Bulls are in Florida this week to play the Heat and the Magic, then travel to Philly. They're in a grueling stretch, and they have not played the rest of the league as well as they've played the Bucks and their old coach, Scott Skiles. Of course, I'm referring to Bucks killers Ben Gordon and Kirk Hinrich. Following their 3-game road trip this week, the Bulls play the Hornets, Celtics and Lakers.

Reclaiming 8th place: Given the Bulls and Bobcats schedules this week, the Bucks chances of reclaiming 8th place in the East with a victory against the Knicks Tuesday are good. The Knicks game is the 2nd of a six-game home stand for the Bucks, and the first game of a stretch in which they play only six games in 18 days.

Scott Skiles and the Larry Brown Syndrome?

J.D. Mo — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 03:40:00 GMT

What happened to new Bucks coach Scott Skiles and the Bulls last season? Not an easy question to answer. Chicago Trib writers such as Sam Smith, Jordan's biographer, are still writing things like "we'll never know for sure."

Way back in October, Smith had written that the Bulls seemed a "joyless" team, "bothered by some unseen, heavy burden."

After Smith published that, Skiles called him and, instead of chewing him out for the downer article, agreed with it. Skiles couldn't put his finger on it. He sensed fear, media pressure, uncertainty about contracts, signed and unsigned.

Turns out forward Luol Deng and Ben Gordon did not sign the five-year $50-plus million deals they were offered, opting to wait a couple of years and go for Michael Redd-type contracts in unrestricted free agency. Kirk Hinrich did sign his. Suddenly some Baby Bulls were more equal than others. And nearly all of their names had surfaced in the Kobe trade talk before the season, causing a chill in the Bull pen.

Smith again, after Skiles was fired last Christmas eve. He wrote that Skiles became "disenchanted" with his team, dubbing it "the Larry Brown Syndrome" ... "something of the opposite of the Stockholm Syndrome when the captives became enamored with their captors. In the Brown Syndrome, the coach rejects his captives and changes jobs."

And here comes Kelly Dwyer for Yahoo Sports, picking up the Larry Brown Syndrome talk and predicting Skiles will be in Milwaukee four or five years before "flaming out and moving on" like he did in Phoenix and Chicago. Citing caustic public comments about players, Dwyer writes that even a "graying leopard can't change his spots."

I think Smith and Dwyer are being a little overdramatic here. It's a bit too early in Skiles' career to tag him with the Larry Brown Syndrome (Milwaukee is only his third job) or to bring leopards into the discussion. Dwyer gets a Bob Boozer Jinx whistle for use of a hopelessly tired cliche.

Besides, doesn't four or five years sound great for Bucks fans? That's how long George Karl lasted before he too rejected the team he had by trading it. Skiles will be our fifth coach in seven seasons. This current Bucks roster would disenchant any coach in less than than a year. It already has.

By the time Skiles gets a team he can live with and has it playing tight defense and team offense, we should be into 2010 or 2011. Let's just win some basketball games in Milwaukee. And on the road, too. Then, and maybe then, we can begin to worry about the existential urges of Scott Skiles and the so-called Larry Brown Syndrome -- as smart as all that sounds in a column on the sports pages.

Vecsey tabs Terry Porter on head coaches list

J.D. Mo — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 22:22:00 GMT

How short is the list of great coaching candidates in the NBA today? Very short. Maybe even shorter than the shelf life of a Larry Brown commitment.

After the five big names mentioned by every team in the coaching market - Jeff Van Gundy, Larry Brown, Rick Carlisle, Scott Skiles and Mike Fratello - the first name tossed into the "available" ring by New York Post columnist Peter Vecsey is none other than former Bucks coach Terry Porter.

Seems that Vecsey, like many Bucks fans, thinks Porter was unfairly fired by Kohl back in 2005, and deserves a second chance. In retrospect, maybe Porter doesn't lose his job at all it had occured to the senator and GM Larry Harris to find out if the coach they wanted, Flip Saunders, would actually come to work for them.

Find the replacement first, then fire the coach. That's the Detroit way. Joe Dumars and John Hammond had Larry Brown all lined up when they fired Rick Carlisle in 2003. And they had Flip Saunders ready to go shortly after ridding themselves of Brown two years later. I'd be very surprised if Hammond does things differently in Milwaukee, firing Krystkowiak before he's found his replacement.

However Hammond proceeds, Vecsey offered up Porter's name as his top suggestion to coach the Memphis Grizzlies, based on speculation that the Grizzlies might not land Larry Brown, whom they've been considering as GM/coach. Vecsey figures Brown will seek greener pastures than Memphis and that the other top candidates, Carlisle and Skiles, will be headed for other teams.

How Coach Krystkowiak could keep his job

J.D. Mo — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 21:27:00 GMT

No, I'm not a contrarian, I'm not. But even as basketball geniuses writing everywhere have begun chiseling epitaphs for Bucks Coach Larry Krystkowiak, there is one characteristic of the NBA today that works in Kristykowiak's favor. In fact it's this very same factor that helped Krystkowiak land in the Milwaukee head coach's chair this season:

The list of great coaches available to take the Bucks job is short. The list of decent, if not good coaches, isn't too long either. New Bucks GM John Hammond doesn't have much to choose from, and neither do the Knicks, Bulls or Grizzlies.

Peter Vecsey pointed out yesterday in his New York Post column that the teams in the market for head coaches all have the same names on their short lists: Larry Brown, Scott Skiles, Rick Carlisle, Jeff Van Gundy and Mike Fratello. (Props to BrewHoop for posting the link).

The guy just about every team wants, including his old team, the Houston Rockets, is Jeff Van Gundy. He's also the toughest to hire - he doesn't like the travel and has a cush job with ESPN. If Hammond can get Van Gundy, he's even better at this GM thing than people say he is.

Next up, Larry Brown. A Hall of Fame coach, one of the best there is. But Larry Brown just can't seem to settle down. Brown's six years with Iverson in Philly is the longest commitment he's kept in his coaching career, going all the way back to his ABA days. Hammond's been through the Brown routine already in Detroit.

Pistons GM Joe Dumars showed Larry the door when Brown began talking to Cleveland about GM moves DURING THE 2006 PLAYOFFS.!!! No way Hammond hires Brown, not if he's serious about building the Bucks long term. Besides, Brown has expressed interest in the Bulls coaching job, and other recent speculation has him dabbling in Atlanta's coaching/GM drama. Doesn't Brown work for the Sixers?

Mike Fratello? Not the defensive-minded coach Hammond and the Bucks need, but an interesting idea. He coached the Grizzlies to the playoffs twice and was summarily canned by Jerry West the following season when, due to injuries, the team started slowly.

Fratello's not on Hammond's short list according to any report I've seen, but is a more experienced coach than the two who reportedly are on the list: Carlisle and Skiles.

Rick Carlisle is a demanding, by most accounts unpleasant coach who had a rough time in Indiana with a team that couldn't control its nastiness, after being fired by Dumars and Hammond in Detroit. If a young coach in Indiana can communicate at all with a goon like Ron Artest and get him to help you win 71 games including playoffs (which Carlisle did in 2004), he's better than a good coach. That's the rub working against Hammond with Carlisle - he's in demand. Chicago definitely wants him; Carlisle's on New York's short list too; a couple of other jobs could be Carlisle's for the taking as the dregs of the NBA head into the offseason.

"Should Carlisle get hired by the Bulls that almost certainly would mean Skiles would wind up with Milwaukee," writes Vecsey. That's a strong statement. Somehow I don't see Skiles moving up I-94 to coach in Milwaukee.

Why? Scott Skiles began this season with high expectations and a Chicago Bulls team loaded with talent. By early season he begged off the job because he didn't feel that he was getting through to his players. Kirk Hinrich and Big Ben Wallace have never struck me as guys who are unresponsive to coaching, so one has to wonder what really happened in Chicago? Milwaukee players - four of them in particular - don't respond to their coach either. Is Skiles really a better option than Krystkowiak? Probably not.

There is one other factor working in Krystkowiak's favor: Larry Krystkowiak.

Hammond does not strike me as someone who makes a move without all of his ducks in a row. In this case, that means he's not likely to fire Krystkowiak until he's got an in-depth account of what happened in the Bucks locker room this season, which players balked at the team plan and why, and has a replacement lined up. If Hammond can't work something out with Carlisle, and Krystkowiak makes a strong case to Hammond, the new GM might give him one more year and begin moving some players.

It could happen. I'm not saying it will happen, but, given Krystkowiak's integrity and willingness to accept responsibility, to admit mistakes and perhaps learn from them, he's a guy you want to keep around moreso than some of his players.

Don Nelson didn't become a great coach overnight. He became great in Milwaukee because owner Jim Fitzgerald stuck with him despite a five-year drought between playoff series wins. Alright, alright, we had first round byes three of those years, but, still, we couldn't get to the conference finals until 1983, Nellie's sixth year.

Krystkowiak may yet grow to become the great coach Hammond and Bucks fans want. Stranger things have happened at Milwaukee Bucks Inc.

Take for example, Michael Redd's contract, which this season pays Redd more than Lebron James.