Bogut hopeful to probably play vs. Bulls Wednesday; game is a must win

J.D. Mo — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 02:27:00 GMT

Lance Allen of News4 WTMJ-TV reported tonight on the 5:00 pm broadcast that Andrew Bogut was hopeful, if not probable, to play Wednesday night at the Bradley Center against the Chicago Bulls. Bogut ran everything but contact drills in practice Tuesday and told Allen he felt good, an upgrade from the 50-50 prognosis Monday.

"If I wake up tomorrow and there's a lot of pain and it's really tight, I probably won't play. But if I wake up and it's only a little tight, which is normal, than we'll get it loose and I'll play."

The Bulls game is a must win for the 7-12 Bucks and is their most important so far this season. The Bucks have made it through the roughest part of this season's schedule; they are rested and as close to full strength as they've been since the season opened; they have been able to hold full practices twice this week, which should help them regroup; and they're playing in front of the home fans. This last point seals the game as a must-win: the fans need to see some success or they won't be so inclined to come out in the cold Friday against Charlotte or for the rest of the December home schedule (four games).

Seven of the Bucks next ten games are against teams that did not make the playoffs last season, a welcome relief from the first 19 games, 13 of which were against 2008 playoff teams. These two games at home Wednesday and Friday are the only two games the Bucks play this week, and let's face it, the Bucks can ill afford another lousy week early in the season. The fans need some good news, starting with a win against the Bulls to open this stretch of ten games.

Tipoff is 7:00pm Wednesday night at the BC. Most upper level seats are just $10. Thankfully, the Bucks have worn those new red alternate red road jerseys at home for the last time. They donned the red unis Saturday against the Cavs as part of a promotion to sell red merchandise; the plan to wear them 15 more times on the road, according to a team press release. Please don't. There's nothing wrong with the green road uniforms, in fact we like our Bucks in green. Bango's sweater is green. Watching the highlights, I didn't even recognize the Bucks. They looked like the Bulls who are supposed to be wearing red, who always wear red at the BC. It was just unnatural. The Bucks were 0-2 wearing red at home, losing the home opener to the Raptors and Saturday to the Cavs.

The Bulls are 8-9 but they held their own on a recent 7-game road trip, winning games in Golden State, Utah and Philly. Derrick Rose was named Rookie of the Month for December. Ben Gordon leads the team in scoring w/ 20.4, Drew Gooden is holding his own in the post, averaging 14 pts, 9 rebs. Kirk Hinrich won't play due to a torn ligament in his thumb. ... The game against the Bucks will the be the second night of back-to-backs for the Bulls, who play Philly tonight in Chicago. It's also former Buck Vinny Del Negro's first visit to the BC as Bulls head coach. Del Negro came off George Karl's bench 1998-2000.

Michael Redd, who missed 14 games during his slow recovery from a high ankle sprain suffered Nov. 2 was feeling fine after playing Saturday against the Cleveland Cavs. Redd even dunked in practice Tuesday, prompting a slew of wisecracks from his teammates, Charlie Bell the ringleader:

"We haven’t seen Mike play in like two or three weeks and it’s like when we left (on last week’s trip) he was just sitting there on the sideline," Bell joked. "We leave for a few days and come back and he’s dunking. So you tell me, something ain’t right with that, you know?”

Careful Mike, don't hurt yourself. Last season Redd missed six games in late January-early February after straining his knee dunking in warmups. The previous year, he came down awkwardly after a meaningless late game dunk and missed 4-6 weeks.

Prior to the draft last summer, Bucks Diary campaigned long and hard for the Bucks to draft Alabama big forward Richard Hendrix, whom he considered the most underrated player in the draft. The Golden State Warriors took Hendrix in the 2nd round. Bucks Diary is on the Hendrix campaign trail again this week now that the Warriors have sent Hendrix down to the D-League after hardly playing him at all in the early going. Diary says the Bucks should look into acquiring the big forward to strengthen their frontcourt: "He's just an incredibly productive, efficient player who could be an outstanding backup at either the 4 or 5 position, something the Bucks need desperately."

The results of this season's 2nd Blogger MVP and Rookie of the Year rankings are in, complete with music vids and hosted by upsideandmotor.com. Lebron gets the nod over Kobe for MVP with Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard a strong 3rd. In the rookie Rankings, Derrick Rose and O.J. Mayo lead.

Milwaukee Bucks Blog - The Bob Boozer Jinx : Vinny Del Negro

Bogut hopeful to probably play vs. Bulls Wednesday; game is a must win