Milwaukee Bucks Blog - The Bob Boozer Jinx : Tyronn Lue

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.

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.

Andrew Bogut vs. Christmas ... and 10 gifts the Bucks should leave under fans' X-mas trees

J.D. Mo — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 00:38:00 GMT

Yes, they do have Christmas in Australia, but that doesn't mean Andrew Bogut has to like it. Bogut dispensed his views regarding Christmas on his blog Sunday, which happened to be the day of the Winter Soltice:

"I’m not big on Christmas, Birthdays or New Years really. I think Christmas isn’t celebrated for the right reasons, but mainly for a money driving machine. A lot of children probably wouldn’t know what Christmas is about besides receiving cool presents and getting what ‘I’ want. I mean I don’t dislike it don’t get me wrong, but the whole decorating for Christmas and putting up a tree doesn’t really give me a thrill. I think I left it behind when I was about 12 and realized the truth about Santa and his Reindeers."

Don't get him wrong? Just about everything Bogut wrote is manifesto for those who think the Christmas magic left when Rudolph got busted for vagrancy. Maybe Bogues was in the locker room when the Energee! dancers were doing their Santa routine at the Bucks-Clippers game Saturday ....

There's more on Bogut's blog, about friends and family being more important than gifts, and plenty of Aussie comedy videos and other stuff he finds for his fans back home. It's really one of the better NBA player blogs out there, and he has a new post up already in which he reports that his dad feels the same way he does about X-mas. He also says that a "present we didn't expect" may be in the works this week to help the Bucks. (This turned out to be the arrival of exiled long range gunner Damon Jones, which I confess never crossed my mind as anything that would be considered a gift.)

I empathize with Bogut's negative feelings about X-mas, I do, but I've been imbued with enough holiday spirit this week to wonder what the Bucks might leave under the Christmas trees or 'round Hanukkah menorahs and Kwanzaa kinaras of Bucks fans everywhere. (A kinara's a candleholder, much like a menorah, and you wouldn't want to put gifts under either of those burning things).

Never let it be said that one can't find culture here ... or fire safety tips. But enough of that ... Let's get to those gifts ...

1) How about a win against a quality, winning opponent that isn't missing a key player or two? The Bucks don't have one of these wins this season. I give you Ball Don't Lie's NBA power rankings this week in which the Bucks were ranked 17th: "You beat the Clippers by a ton, at home. I'm ... proud of you?" Oh, the truth hurts. ... So Tuesday night vs. the 17-12 Jazz was a great opportunity to beat a solid, winning team on the home court, right? Wrooong. The Jazz's hottest player, center Mehmet Okur, scratched with back spasms. Despite this fit of good fortune, the cold-shooting Bucks and Michael Redd nearly bricked their way out of the game until some solid Bucks D and point guard Luke Ridnour saved the day. After the game, Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said his team looked like they were playing "streetball."

A relatively healthy 15-11 Detroit team, with Antonio McDyess back in the fold, comes to the BC Saturday and the Bucks have three days off before the game. Allen Iverson is day-to-day with an injury suffered Tuesday against the Bulls but that's fine -- Iverson often plays better when he's hurt, as Bucks fans know too well (I'm supressing 2001 playoff flashbacks now). Detroit is 11-11, including a win vs. the Bucks in Detroit, since trading Chauncey Billups to Denver for the Answer. The AI record should be 12-11 after the Pistons play the OK City Thunder on Friday. Beating Detroit would qualify as the Bucks best win of the season.

2) A bottle of Andrew Bogut's "magic pain pills." Bogut goes into excruciating detail on his blog about his ailing back and the "magic pain pills" that have allowed him to play the last four games. Seems a couple of his vertabrae are "stuck" and causing severe pain. He says he needs a wheelchair in the morning and feels like he's "a hundred years old." Ouch. But these magic pills do wonders: since Bogut started taking them, his free throw shooting is better than ever at 69.1%, and the Bucks have won three or four.

3) Some magic pills for Charlie Bell. Charlie, who played hurt through the 14 games that Michael Redd missed during his sloooww recovery from a high ankle sprain -- and then missed six games himself -- went down again Tuesday vs. the Jazz. This time it's a sore knee, just when it was beginning to look like Charlie was returning to his 2007 form. The Bucks could use some good health in general, though nobody around the NBA is going to throw them a pity party. Malik Allen, who had been starting at power forward, has missed the last eight games with a rib injury.

4) This is where I post the Sports Illustrated photo at left of Richard Jefferson and his Trinidadian supermodel wife, Teresa Lourenco, in hopes that you read this Bob Boozer Jinx post from last week (no, this is not a shallow attempt to spice up this post with a pic of a hot supermodel). R.J. has become somewhat of a forgotten man in Bucksland, except when fans notice that his box score line doesn't always look as good as some think it should (the warped analysis of a certain ESPN stat guy comes to mind). Stats are not R.J.'s game -- the intangibles are, and those are part and parcel to the attitude R.J. brought to the Bucks via the trade with the Nets last summer. There's no question coach Scott Skiles appreciates his forward -- he keeps R.J. on the floor more than any other Buck. As of this writing R.J. is 3rd in the NBA in minutes played and the Bucks chemistry on the floor looks better than it has in years. Plus, R.J.'s hitting the three.

5) More about Teresa Lourenco? It's the least I could do. But is there no style page in this town to take these burdensome supermodel responsibilities from the Bob Boozer Jinx? Maybe now that Packers season is winding down, our local culture vultures can get on the Lourenco beat, if she's around at all. A little gemutlichkeit has never killed a supermodel from Trinidad, has it?

6) A "rookie curb" for Luc Richard Mbah a Moute to hop instead of a "rookie wall" like the one Yi Jianlian hit last February. Early on this season, Journal Sentinel's Michael Hunt wrote that the defense played by the Bucks' Cameroonian prince was remniscent of the D Sidney Moncrief played in his rookie season (1979-80). That's colossal praise when you consider the NBA more or less invented the Defensive Player of the Year award for Moncrief. After an impressive start, the #37 pick in the draft became a fan favorite, then seemed worn down for a couple of weeks before last week picking it up against the Knicks, Clippers and Jazz. Mbah a Moute can guard three positions but has played most at power forward; he's contributing a solid 8.5 pts, 6.5 rebs per game ... All-Rookie honor roll so far.

7) Bucks first round pick at #8, Joe Alexander, remains a mystery. Joe's got some ups and can knock a shot down, but he looks lost on the court -- night and day compared to Mbah a Moute, who is so often in the right place at the right time. The Dalai Lama, who I found on my pilgrimage to Tibet, wasn't able to tell me why the Bucks drafted Joe, other than to say "maybe he's a good Joe" and went on to ask a lot of questions about Brett Favre. Maybe Santa knows, and some insight into why Bucks GM John Hammond drafted Joe will emerge over the holidays.

Joe and the Bucks this week did crank up a campaign to vote Joe into the All-Star Game dunk contest. Joe says you gotta vote Joe and that he's going to beat the champ, Dwight Howard. That's not the draft explaination I was looking for from Santa, but here's Joe delivering his dunk contest hype:

I don't see an Emmy in the kid's future, but the Mandarin Chinese bit should sway the far East electorate.

8) More Tyronn Lue from 3-point land!!! Lue is shooting 65% from downtown this season and is easily the Bucks best shooter. Lue is now 15th on the active NBA career 3-point percentage rankings, and its great to see rainbow jumpers by a Buck hitting nothing but net. (Unfortunately, the Lakers have noticed too). With Luke Ridnour and Ramon Sessions getting most of the Bucks point guard minutes, however, PT has been hard to come by. It'd be a nice gift if Skiles can find some creative ways to get more shots for Tyronn.

9) Ramon Sessions was more or less benched last week in Philly and NY, and the point guard responsibilities have rested on the shoulders of Luke "Frodo" Ridnour (who, in addition to point guard burdens, has more nicknames than any Bucks player). Here's hoping Sessions and coach Skiles stay on the same page and that Ramon finds his way back to the major role he played while Redd was out. Frodo won't get very far without Sam.

10) I had hoped to write an item here about Michael Redd continuing his recent passing and ball-sharing ways after the holidays -- but it was not meant to be. If anything was obvious to fans who watched the Bucks nearly hand a home game Tuesday to the depleted Utah Jazz, it was that Redd is not the guy who'll deliver the team from the land of NBA mediocrity. Oh, those 27 pts he scored looked good in the boxscore but if you watched the game (or were there) you know that Redd nearly shot the Bucks into a loss in the 4th quarter. But this isn't about one game; it's about an end to an era; an end to a selfish, no-defense style of play that Bucks fans have seen far too much of these last five-plus years.

This era is ending under coach Scott Skiles but as Tuesday showed, it's not ending soon enough -- though the Bucks did win the game, thanks to some solid defense and team play in crunch time, a very encouraging sign. In many ways, the Utah game was a microcosm for the transition that the Bucks are making this season: the better qualities of the new era have begun to overcome the deficiencies of the old.

Oh but it's Christmas, after all, no time for brooding contemplation and the weight of future (gotta leave something for the new year). The Bucks and most of the NBA are merrily into a holiday break, and that's where I'm headed, alright ...

The Celtics and Lakers play Christmas day,

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.