Milwaukee Bucks Blog - The Bob Boozer Jinx : Yi Jianlian

Bucks Weekend: Life without Michael Redd; Bucks are #1 in NBA defense

J.D. Mo — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 02:21:00 GMT

Bucks (1-2) @ Timberwolves (1-4), 7:00pm Fox-Wis. New York Knicks (1-5) @ Bucks, 7:30pm, no local TV Welcome to the inaugural 2009-10 Bob Boozer Jinx Bucks Weekend (say that three times fast). For the uninitiated, Bucks Weekends are two or three day blogs...(read more)

Bucks Weekend: Free to be Yi and Bobby... Joe vs. Brook Lopez... Bogut returns... Kevin McHale's T-Wolves

J.D. Mo — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 13:23:00 GMT

Bucks (18-20) @ Minnesota Timberwolves (10-25), 7pm, FSN Saturday

The T-Wolves are the Bucks third opponent this week that started off the season firing its coach. T-Wolves GM Kevin McHale took over for Randy Wittman after a 4-15 start and proceeded to lose eight straight games. Since then, however, McHale's Wolves are 6-2 and beginning to gain some confidence. They aren't beating good teams just yet, though they did win in Chicago last weekend before wins vs. Memphis and Oklahoma City this week.

T-Wolves big forward/center Al Jefferson (22.6 ppg, 10.5 rpg) will be a tough matchup for the Bucks, who could be without Andrew Bogut for the fifth straight game (back spasms). Bucks coach Scott Skiles has often played forward Charlie Villianueva's at center in Bogut's absence, but Jefferson's a handful. Guard Randy Foye is averaging 20.7 pts per game in the T-Wolves last ten.

The Wolves haven't played since Wednesday, which could make this one tough for the Bucks coming off an emotional, last-second 104-102 win against the Nets Friday. (What am I saying? Every game is tough for these Bucks, unless they're playing the Knicks.)

Luke Ridnour was the Net killer last night, saving the Bucks in the final minutes for the 4th time since Dec. 23 (the Jazz game), hitting a driving drop shot in the lane with .5 seconds left that began with a behind-the-back dribble move that floored Net Bobby Simmons. The Bucks had led by 7 after a Redd three with 3:11 to play, then sputtered ...

Bombs Away!!! Former Bucks Yi Jianlian and Simmons shot a combined 8-13 from 3-point-land for the Nets, something neither of them had the opportunity to do last season. New Jersey shot 26 three's in all. The Bucks responded by shooting 23 of their own, making ten. Yi had 16 in the 3rd quarter but then broke a pinkie. No, it wasn't from having the ball in his hands shooting so much more than he did last season.

The latest on Bogut is that Skiles is bringing him off the bench tonight. With the T-Wolves rested and the Bucks on a back-to-back, they could use his help on Jefferson. On the other hand, if he's not starting and Skiles is "keeping an eye on him" and being careful "to not overplay him," then why not leave Bogut in Milwaukee to get a couple more days of rehab for his back? The Bucks play the Wizards in Washington, D.C. Monday. ...

Bucks (17-20) vs. New Jersey Nets (18-18), 7:30pm @ Bradley Center

Yi Jianlian, Bobby Simmons, Wauwatosa East High's Devin Harris and the New Jersey Nets are in Brewtown for the first Bucks-Nets matchup since the summer trade of Yi and Bobby for Richard Jefferson. Post-trade interest aside, the Bucks are due for a win: they haven't beaten the Nets in over two years (they won Dec. 23, 2006) and have lost nine of 10 spanning three years.

Yi experienced four of those Bucks defeats in his rookie season, that miasma of sub-mediocrity that led to the firing of the GM who in 2007 drafted him against his will. And Simmons? Well, Bobby is Bobby and the Bucks lost 151 games the three years he was here. He watched many of them from the bench and the injured list, collecting about $8.6 million/yr thanks to the contract the same fired GM signed him to in 2005.

Meanwhile, the Nets are in 7th place in the Eastern Conference standings, 1.5 games ahead of the 8th place Bucks after the Bucks loss to Philly Wednesday. Given the standings, the big trade and other points of interest, such as the Bucks drafting of Joe Alexander over Brook Lopez last summer, there's plenty of rub between the Bucks and Nets to call this a budding rivalry.

That former Bucks GM shall remain nameless for the present because the Harris to be concerned about, hometown guy and Wisconsin Badger Devin, may not play tonight due to a hamstring injury. Harris, who's dribble-driving his way to an All-star season as Nets point guard, is listed as questionable. ... The bigger injury news, however, is that Bucks center Andrew Bogut will almost certainly miss his fourth game in a row due to recurring lower back problems. The Bucks are 1-5 this season without Bogut.

Bogut on Thursday told Journal Sentinel's Tom Enlund that he does not expect to play against the Nets. And he's now wondering whether the severe back problems he's suffered this season may be connected to playing for Basketball Australia in the Olympics last summer. Here's Bogut:

"... it's probably from playing all summer. I’ve got some injuries that I’ve never had before and that might be part of it. Playing all year around is tough to do."

Bogut sprained each of his ankles playing in China this summer, and also rolled an ankle during Bucks preseason. Leg injuries can lead to lower back problems, certainly, because if the wheels aren't right, the body compensates by distributing weight and pressure differently than normal. A person can throw their entire rack out of whack if they're not careful. (My yoga guru, may she rest in peace, would be proud of me right about now.)

There's a little more to it than that with Bogut and Basketball Australia, which I detailed last August when I realized that the Aussie coaches' repeated references to ankle sprains as "3-4 day things" -- even the ligament damage suffered by a women's team star -- was a signal that Aussie toughness probably involved something more than grit.

In Bogut's case the issue isn't so much that he got hurt in international play (rolled ankles being the most common basketball injuries) as it is how the injury was treated. The Bucks should seriously consider sending a team trainer along the next time their $60 million center heads Down Under to play for his country.

Bogut continues to give fairly regular updates about his injury situation on his blog. He also told JS's Enlund that he might play Saturday in Minneapolis, but don't believe him. I wouldn't expect the Bucks to put Bogut on an airplane until next week when they fly to Sacramento, which means he would miss the the T-Wolves game Saturday and the Wiz game Monday in Washington. Hopefully, Bogues will be fully recovered next Wednesday at the BC for Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat. The Bucks need him.

Now, about those New Jersey Nets ...

Kiki and Yi: One factor in the R.J. trade many Bucks fans underestimate is Nets GM Kiki Vandeweghe's pursuit of Yi in the deal. The X factor that made the Bucks and Nets trading partners last summer was Vandeweghe's belief in Yi as a player -- notsomuch Yi as the road to marketing riches from China (not that the Nets can't use the dough with hopes to build a new arena in Brooklyn) or the need for 2010 salary cap space. Yes, the Nets also made the trade for future salary cap room but they could have found it with a number of teams not the Milwaukee Bucks.

Vandeweghe worked out with Yi in the summer of 2007 while an unemployed GM, ousted from Denver. Vandeweghe was so impressed with Yi's athleticism and shooting ability that he told Yi he would "try to get him" if he got another chance at a GM post.

True to his word, acquiring Yi was one of Vandeweghe's first moves as Nets GM; and Yi's development is very much a Vandeweghe project. When Yi missed the first six days of training camp due to an ankle sprain and fell behind the team, the GM became Yi's personal coach, working with him after practice on some of the finer points of scoring in the NBA. (Vandeweghe, a 6' 8" scoring machine in his playing days, averaged 29.4 ppg in 1983-84 and ended his 14-year career with just under 16,000 points).

Needless to say, the environment in New Jersey is a bit more fertile for the young Yi than the turmoil he experienced here. It's almost as if the Nets GM believes all that hype about Yi being the second coming of Dirk Nowitzki.

So how's Yi doing? He's started all 36 Nets games and is having a good week, with games of 20 and 22 points against soft competition in Memphis and Sacremento. After the Memphis game Wednesday, netsphobia gave this assessment of Yi at HOOPLAH.. NATION:

"Yi, for the first time this season showing some consistency that had been missing all the long, again in this game, no over-reliance on his jump shot but rather going in and out, playing in the post, and then coming back out for some pick and pops ..."

Sounds like the concerns Bucks fans had last season about Yi not mixing it up in the paint as well or as much as a 7-footer should. Don't expect a brand new Yi tonight. Still, in about the same amount of playing time, Yi's scoring and defensive rebounding are up compared to last season: 10.6 ppg, 6.7 overall rpg as a Net; his offensive rebounding is down a bit, probably a function of Yi playing farther away from the basket in New Jersey than he did here.

Further away from the basket? In New Jersey, Yi shoots the three. In Milwaukee, he shot from downtown about once every three games but now shoots the threeball nine times as often, 2.6 threes per game --and they're going in at a rate of 38%. That's the same percentage R.J. is shooting and higher than Michael Redd's 34%. It seems the Nets have a good handle on how to bring Yi along.

Yi's defense, btw, still needs a lot of work.

Since he's here, might as well mention the All-star flap over the possibility of Chinese voters vaulting Yi into a starting spot on the East squad over Kevin Garnett. C'mon folks, just because you can doesn't mean it's right. Who am I kidding? Why would Americans expect geo-political basketball to be any different from geo-political politics?

Oh, and let's not forget Bobby Simmons: He's starting at small forward for the Nets, playing about 26 mins per game and shooting more than half of his shots from three-point land. He's hitting 42% of them to lead the Nets, and has climbed up to 16th on the active career 3-point shooters list that I like so much. Bobby Simmons can shoot a basketball and is paid $10.6 million this year to score 8 points per game. 'Nuff said.

With no Bogut in the paint for the Bucks, look for Nets rookie center Brook Lopez to be a factor tonight. Lopez is averaging 10 pts, 8 rebs and 2 blks since taking over the starting job from Josh Boone (who gives Bogut trouble) when Boone was injured in November. Boone's back but the starting job is Brook's. This surfer dude Cali kid was drafted 10th last summer behind Joe Alexander and three other guys who are playing less, nine (including Joe) who are winning less while only Derrick Rose in Chicago and O.J. Mayo in Memphis are being asked to do as much.

Did I mention Lopez is 7-feet tall? Ball Don't Lie called it before the draft. Brook Lopez seems now like he should have been a no-brainer pick for the Bucks.

The Bob Boozer Jinx has responded to this fit of hindsight by dispatching Bob Boozer Jinx Girl Meghan to get to the bottom of the Bucks draft day puzzle, wrapped as it is in an enigma, cocooned in questions and twisted like a Steely Dan lyric. I'm pleased to report that progress has been made, especially since Meghan has more time on her hands now that she's no longer dancing with Energee!. But for now, draftday regrets give Bucks fans another reason to pay attention to the Nets.

The Nets are the youngest team in the league, well-position for the 2010 free agent bonanza that includes Lebron.

Nets players think seeing Richard Jefferson in a Bucks uniform will be weird. R.J. happens to be the 2nd-leading scorer in Nets history, which I didn't realize until I read it on Yahoo. I'll bet you a New Jersey Nets trash can that you can't name the leading scorer in Nets history -- and no basketball-reference cheating. I guessed right the first time, and so can you.

Skiles vs. the Redd-ites: A strange phenomenon has been occurring. I write something after the Raptors game such as: "While it was great to get the win, wasn't this one eerily similar to the way the Bucks have played in the past few years? A lot of jumpshooting and not a heckuva lot of defense ..."

After the Philly loss, coach Scott Skiles said much the same thing:

"It's basically our fifth game in a row where we're lacking any sort of will to defend. We got away with it a couple games. This is reminiscent of the past couple years - Bucks basketball - go out and play no defense, don't give much of an effort and try to outscore people. We were fortunate the other night (against Toronto) we got away with it. Tonight we didn't."

Just thought I'd mention it. The Scott Skiles Bucks need to show up soon with some defense and ball movement. The Redd-ite approach doesn't produce wins, how quickly some forget, and it seems like it's starting to settle in like it did in seasons past. This, and not Bogut's injury, is the issue of the weekend for the Bucks.

Skiles went on to say that he thought the Bucks played a total of 37 minutes of solid defense in the last five games (most of it against Houston) and is hoping things will tighten up after a day of practice Thursday.

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Note: That's a real trash can, dear readers, available on the China trade network. Don't be so sure, however, about this alleged contest.

Maybe they can't help it: Olympic disappointments, Michael Redd and the Bucks; Luke video time

J.D. Mo — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 10:43:00 GMT

With the Olympics ending and the British proving the old axiom that if you have Led Zeppelin at your disposal, it's probably in your best interests to play some ... And now with the Democratic convention underway proving again one of its most tried and true party axioms -- that Ted Kennedy doesn't really resonate with the working class in Middle America, which won't stop the party from trying (he's not well and I'm sorry, but it's a strange feeling starting a week knowing precisely when and where and how many times you'd heard something before said in precisely the same way you just heard it said ...)

.. It's only fitting then that our Bucks, too, played out an axiom of their own in the 2008 Olympic games. Allow me to be the one to point it out, if only because someone should. (And because my notes got away and ended up published for a few hours yesterday) So ... here' goes:

Milwaukee Bucks players, when given an opportunity, will disappoint. They've done it for a few years now, to the point where it's become enough of a habit to pass into "axiom" stage. Changes in uniform, team, environment, venue and competition could not prevent our Bucks from disappointing in Beijing, almost as if the effects of the 2007-08 season were lingering like a bad hangover.

How deep does this thing go? One of those players, Yi Jianlian, is no longer a Buck, yet even a trade with New Jersey couldn't stop our 2007 draft pick from disappointing. He had a terrible opener against Team USA; the proud debut for the host team. There was Yi on NBC live, going scoreless in the first half, eventually being yanked from the game in the 2nd quarter after an unsportsmanlike foul. Yi did come out in the second half after the game was over and score nine points in garbage time, but that didn't stop ESPN's Chris Sheridan from devoting an entire column to Yi's lousy play. Sheridan was brutal. Yi did have his moment: A key 18-foot jumper against Germany that helped send China into the quarterfinals. But he was a noshow in China's quarterfinal loss to Lithuania. The rookie wall, it seems, is made of granite. Disappointing.

Bucks center Andrew Bogut had the best Olympics of any Buck, but that ought to tell you how deeply ingrained in the Bucks this disappointment factor is. Bogut's Olympics was an ordeal -- marred by injury and a start in which he shot only three times as Australia looked like a rec league team unsure whether or not they were in the right gym. The Aussie coach fumbled about for a couple of games and finally found his rotation in game four to salvage the Australia tournament -- but in Australia's biggest game in eight years against Team Redeem in quarterfinals, Bogut found foul trouble, more playing time problems and a second ankle injury.

Bogut did defy the Bucks jinx and dominate against Russia and Lithuania to lead Australia to the Team USA matchup - which had to make you wonder what was going on with the Autralian team. The Australian professional league is dying from lack of interest. This national team was the last hurrah for a few veteran NBL players. The coach, Brian Goorjian has been a long time NBL coach. We may never know what was going on with the team -- but did you know that in six games Bogut played less than half the available minutes? He averaged 19.7 mins per game. Out of 40. Unbelievable. Disappointing..

Michael Redd? Can Bucks fans remember back on this: When was the last time Michael Redd was not disappointing? Were there a couple of games last year in which he led the Bucks to victory? He did beat Cleveland with a buzzer beater in February. That much I recall. It was his first walk-off gamewinner ever. Perhaps it was last summer when the USA Senior Men's team qualified for the Olympics by winning the Pan An games. Redd scored 14 pts a game in that tournament. Or maybe earlier this summer when the USA basketball cancelled its tryouts and Redd officially made the team. When the team got to Beijing, however, Redd's role on the team eventually whittled down to nothing.

It wasn't supposed to be this way. Redd was intended to be the team's designated three-point specialist, the gunner brought on to rain highlight film jump shots to bust teams out of zone defenses. Redd began the Olympics generally receiving stints in the second quarter and the fourth. His first run, however, came up empty. He entered the game and instantly began looking for his offense, drawing a foul, missing a shot, missing another one. Coach Mike Krzyzewski pulled him from the game after 2 mins, 42 seconds. Later on in the 4th quarter it was almost sad watching Redd and Yi trade baskets after the game was decided. Sad and futile and familiar. Redd would finish the game with nine points on 3-9 shooting, three garbage time three pointers, one with 29 seconds left.

Redd would hit seven more shots over the next five games, but miss 15 and close his Olympics 10-31 from the field, 5-18 on three-pointers (27.7% rate from behind a line more than three feet closer to the hoop than the NBA's). Bogut, believe it or not, tied Redd with five three-pointers for the Olympics, making 5/8. Who knew he could shoot from 21 feet?

But the shooting specialist, Redd, couldn't find his shot. By the medal games, Redd was reduced to fourth quarter minutes only. He played 5:40 against Argentina and the final 26 seconds of the gold medal game. Only Carlos Boozer played fewer minutes in the Olympics. Here's a typical Redd note from the games, this one from Aug. 16-17 after Team USA blew out Spain:

* Redd played 12 minutes in the second half, scoring 4 pts on 2-4 shooting (0-1 from downtown). He did not play in the first half, but didn't try to force any offense during his stint in the 2nd. With all the frenetic defense and fast-paced transition the Redeem Teamers play, they haven't had much of a role for him.

These things won't be written about in Bucks country as the gold medals are polished in the sports pages. Why ruin a golden moment when Redd's the Milwaukee connection to the Redeem Team? But when is Michael Redd going to be part of delivering winning moments on a basketball court? One key play is not a lot to ask, is it? Something, anything for Bucks fan to get excited about would do. Disappointing.

Realgm.com's fine Bucks forum moderator, PaulPressey25 made a great observation on opening day of Olympic basketball play. After spending Sunday morning watching Redd, Bogut and Yi, he wondered whether their struggles stemmed from playing last season in the losing environment of the Bucks or whether the source of the problem is that, as players, they really aren't all that good.

I'm sure many Bucks fans who saw those games had similar thoughts. The grace period on delivering excitement this coming season may be very short for the 2008-09 Milwaukee Bucks.

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Well that sure was a downer, wasn't it? But it had to be done. I will say that, having followed Bogut and the Australia Olympic team through the Olympics, things were not as they seemed in the Aussie camp. In the end, Basketball Australia got what they needed out of the Olympics -- they made the medal round and found their way to a high profile matchup with the Redeem Team. Bogut went from looking like an almost substandard center in Game 1 to all-world in Game 4 vs. Russia. Very strange stuff. Perhaps the Aussies were just to too much of a team still in transition toward its next generation to have it be any other way. I do hope the Bucks are working to get the clearest possible picture on the medical treatment Bogut received on his ankle (s) during the games.

Remember this guy? That's Patty Mills, the Aussie guard who dazzled (and turned 20) during the games. He'll be back at St. Mary's (Calif.) college this fall, playing Loyola Marymount, Pepperdine, Gonzaga et al. in the West Coast Conference (WCC). Definitely a player to watch in the NCAA this season and a hot topic all over the college and draft boards after Beijing. In fact, he's already been mock-drafted #14 in 2009 at Draft-Express.com! The draft junkies may may get the DTs over it, but why don't we play some basketball first before we have another draft?

Mills was one of a quite a few players who opened a few scouting windows during the Olympics, and some of them may be worth taking a look at, even in an immediate or short term context with the Bucks ... hypothetically. But there'll be time for that in a later post. Now, in the interest of ending this post on a positive, upbeat note, here's some more fun Luke Ridnour video.

No, Luke, no - too serious ...

And don't bother getting up, dude. Look for Luke at #4 on this Top 10 ...

Team USA defensive dunkfest awes China; Croats gun Aussies, Bogut onto their arses; killer Lauren Jackson

J.D. Mo — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 09:49:00 GMT

One word: DEFENSE If you've been following the Olympic roads of Team USA and Australia and Andrew Bogut, what you witnessed Sunday morning in the teams' opening games was a stunning contrast in how to play basketball defense and how not to play basketball defense.

Team Redeem, led by Jason Kidd, Kobe Bryant and center Dwight Howard, clamped one of the tightest defenses I've ever seen in an Olympics on an inspired, yet overmatched, Chinese team and won easily 101-70. The U.S. threw a full court man-to-man at China from the opening tip on, and didn't let up on or off the ball until the host team buckled about 15 minutes into it. China, led by Yao Ming, some plucky point guard play and good shooting, impressed the estimated 1 billion TV viewers (and the president in the stands) by weathering the U.S. intensity for as as long as they did. It was the most-watched basketball game in world history.

The Australia Boomers and Bucks center Bogut, unfortunately, had come out two hours earlier and slouched up a sagging man-to-man defense against Croatia that was nearly the opposite of Team USA's relentless D. The Aussies didn't stop the ball, overhelped on minor penetration and, as a result, left the deadly Croatian shooters wide open on the wings all game long. The Croats whipped the ball around at will and shot an unheard of 67 percent from the floor, hitting 12-16 three pointers and burying the Aussies 97-82 in a game that didn't seem that close.

Interbasket has the lowdown on all of yesterday's games including box scores.

Bogut didn't play well, and looked as though he didn't know where he was supposed to be on the court. He only shot three times (3-3) and finished with 10 pts and ONE rebound. He shot 4-6 from the line, turned the ball over four times and had two assists. Croat center Kresimer Loncar outplayed him with 10 pts, 10 rebs. To be fair, nobody on Australia played well. They looked like a drunk rec team with a passed out coach, while making the Croats look more like little Larry Birds than a bunch of guys who grew up idolizing Toni Kukoc (not such a bad role model, judging by this game). If the Aussies don't find some intensity and a better defensive plan, they might as well go home.

Not a good day for Bucks players: Michael Redd generally enters the game in the 2nd Quarter as part of Team USA's 3rd or 4th wave. The idea seems to be that once the relentless U.S. defense has worn out the opponent, Redd's job is to gun them down with threes. Against China Redd fell flat in his first run and was yanked after playing just 2:45. He didn't score until the rout was well on in in the second half and finished with 9 pts on 3-9 shooting (3-7 from behind the arc). The USA was again led by Dwyane Wade with 19 and Lebron James with 18 pts, 6 rebs, 3 assists -- and its defense. The Team Redeem shooters are not shooting well. Kobe shot 1-7 on threes as he, Redd and Carmelo Anthony shot a combined 4-17 behind the arc. C'mon guys, it's only 20' 9" from the basket. Next up is Angola on Tuesday.

Not a good day for a former Buck: Yi Jianlian couldn't get a shot to fall in the first half (0-6) and ended his growing frustration with an "unsportsmanlike" foul before being sent to the bench with about three minutes to play in the half. Although his shot was not falling, I didn't think he was playing poorly. Physically, he was holding his own, and getting himself some good looks against a tough defense. The shots just wouldn't fall for him until the 2nd half. ESPN's Chris Sheridan didn't see it that way, however, and devoted his post game column to Yi looking worse than one of Beijing's "smog-filled panoramas." Ouch. Yi finished with 9 pts on 4-13 shooting.

Sheridan added this tidbit from Michael Redd (also yanked in the first half, remember) on Yi and the New Jersey trade:

"You know, what I did see from him in the fourth quarter was resilience. He struggled, but he was still being aggressive. And as a young player you like to see that out of him. He has a lot of growing to do, but he's going to be terrific," Michael Redd said afterward of his former Bucks teammate, who he described as a nice, Americanized kid already well-versed in U.S. street lingo.

To which I responded, "Well, you guys got the better of that trade."

To which Redd quickly responded: "We did, oh we did, we did, we did, we did. We're happy, no question." (I played the tape back five times to make sure I had an accurate count of "we dids.")

And are probably not done, oh not done, not done, not done, not done ... Watching Bogut, Yi and Redd start their Olympics on the wrong foot was an unexpected reminder of the 2007-08 Bucks and their woes, oh their woes, their woes, their woes, their woes. I was hoping not to think about those during the Olympics.

Bogut ankle injury update: Bogut moved around fairly well against Croatia, but Aussie media is reporting that their center was slowed by the ankle injury sustained against Angola July 31. This has been a funny injury. Supposedly it swelled the day after the Angola game against Argentina, and was described as a "minor" ankle injury. Four days later, Aussie coach Goorjian was still resting Bogut but saying then that "he rolled it pretty good." Bogut may be hurt worse than the team initially let on, in which case the Aussie trainers had no business playing him in the meaningless game against Argentina.

Bogut practiced in the days leading up to Croatia, so I don't think it's the ankle that's bothering him. The Aussies seem to be having problems integrating Bogut into the team mix, and that ankle's becoming a bit of a crutch for this larger problem. ... Next up for Bogut is Argentina and Manu Ginobili and Luis Scola. Australia built a 19-point lead 3rd quarter lead in the tuneup game Aug. 1 before collapsing in a 95-91 loss.

USA players rave about the Aussies: It's certainly possible that Croatia was the nightmare matchup for Australia. If Team USA players are any judge of their competition thus far in China, the Aussies chances of winning their first Olympic basketball medal were looking up until Sunday.

After beating the Aussie's 87-76 in a friendly game Aug. 5, members of Team Redeem deemed the Aussies tougher than European champ Russia and Lithuania -- two of the four teams Australia has upcoming in Group A play. Pistons forward Tayshaun Prince:

"I think out of all those teams that we played Australia was the team that had the complete package. They had shooters, they had agressive drivers, big guys who can shoot outside, great ball-handlers who can shoot and drive. All the other teams we played they had shooters but not drivers or drivers but not shooters. With Australia, everybody was able to do something and I think that's why they were able to stick around throughout the game."

Bogut didn't play in that game, and much of the praise centered on Australia's 20-year-old guard Patty Mills. The backup point guard, who will be a sophomore at Division 1 St. Mary's (CA) this fall, impressed with his speed and quickness, and had Chris Paul, Deron Williams and Jason Kidd chasing on D. They declared Mills an NBA prospect. "If he continues to work hard he definitely has a future in the NBA," Kidd said.

Wha' eh? No game foto from our sheela's romp against Belarus? Just give the blokes Lauren Jackson's ***! You gotta love the Aussie approach to media. The world champion Australia Opals "mauled" Belarus 83-64 to open the women's Olympic tournament late Friday (as reported by FIBA). Aussie basketball's official website commemorated the strong start by putting its best chest forward, accompanying the game story with the magazine cover-like shot to your left of Jackson's jersey-wrapped bazoomas. She had 18 in the game. Did I mention this was done on the official Basketball Australia website?

Give the art director a raise.

Now Jackson's talking about killing people and broken bones and broken noses. The Aussie and USA women, the favorites to meet in the gold medal game, are having a trash talk war.

Here's the video (can't get it embedded).

And here's what she does when she's not trashtalking Lisa Leslie:

Ten things you should know about Olympic basketball

J.D. Mo — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 13:26:00 GMT

Olympic basketball kicks off this weekend, the men's tournament Sunday morning, Aug. 10. The USA "Redeem Team" and Michael Redd begin Group B play against Yao Ming, Yi Jianlian and China. Andrew Bogut and his Australia Boomers open against Croatia in Group A.

Here's the game schedule. Click here for NBC's broadcast schedule. NBC will have a few of the US games live, including Sunday's opener, but you know how NBC is, jumping in and out of the action. If it's not on the toob (NBC or USA Network), it can be viewed live online, a great opportunity for American hoops fans to see for ourselves how the rest of the world is doing. It's creative loafing time.

Team USA with Kobe and Lebron is a heavy favorite to bring the gold home after finishing 3rd in Athens 2004, no matter how cynical the press row has been. But let's not get cocky. This is arguably the strongest field in Olympic basketball history. Spain, Greece, Argentina, Russia and Lithuania are expected to be in the medal running. Watch out for Bogut and Australia, and Germany. Croatia's a sleeper. China, Iran and Angola are the also-rans.

That's the conventional media wisdom, which might be half right. (Count how many times you hear an announcer apply the "arguably best player in the world not in the NBA" tag to different players.) I haven't seen most of these teams play yet, so prognostications will have to wait. Instead, let's examine the weirdness that is international basketball with a trusty ten-point Olympic primer.

1) The time shift will take some getting used to: Beijing is on the other side of the world, 13 hours ahead of Milwaukee. Group play begins at 9AM [I've corrected this] each morning in China, seen live in Milwaukee at 8PM and continues through the night until about 11AM the next morning -- six men's or women's games daily Aug. 9-18. All of the U.S. men's games, however, are prime time and night cap games in China, which means 7AM and 9:15AM tip-offs here for Team Redeem (can we come up with a better nickname?). Hoops with early ayem coffee instead of beer, plenty of time to get caught up with work in the afternoon.

Here's NBC's basketball broadcast schedule again, online games included. Bogut's first game Sunday 7AM vs. Croatia can be viewed online. USA-China tips off Sunday at 9:15AM, live on NBC.

2) The Olympic tournament features 12 teams divided into two groups of six, A and B. After a five-game round-robin within the groups, four teams from each advance to the quarter finals Aug. 20, where the stakes are do or die, one game elimination. The team finishing 1st in its group plays the 4th place team from the other group; the 2nd place team plays the 3rd place team from the other group and so on. For example, If Australia and Bogut finish 4th in Group A, the Aussies would likely play Group B U.S. in the quarterfinals and be sent Down Under without a medal -- although it would be a good game if the refs let the rough stuff go, which they won't (see #10). The semifinals are Aug. 22, the medal games cap the Olympics Sunday, Aug. 24.

GROUP A: Argentina (full line-up of NBA experience led by the Suprs All-NBA guard Manu Ginobili, and forwards Luis Scola of the Rockets and the Bulls' Andres Nocioni), Australia (Bogut), Russia (Jazz forward Andrei Kirilenko), Lithuania (no Cavs center Zydrunas Ilgauskas this time), Croatia and Iran.

GROUP B: Spain (Lakers all-star Pau Gasol and brother Marc of the Grizzlies; shooting guard Juan Carlos Navarro, Wizards draftee), Germany (Mavs All-NBAer Dirk Nowitzki, Clippers center Chris Kaman), Greece (a few guys who didn't stick in the NBA), China (Yao and Yi), Angola and Team USA.

3) No matter how much it appears to be smaller, the international (FIBA) ball is, in fact, the same size as the NBA ball (size 7, 22 inches diameter). It is not, however, the same ball. The NBA ball - "the one ball" - is a Spalding. The international ball can be made by any manufacturer that pays the licensing fees and certifies the rigorously zany process that the offical FIBA ball must undergo, including refrigeration and other laboratory processes, and a goofy paint job.

4) The international three-point line looks to be about the same as the college three-point line but is 9.1 inches further out at 20' 6.1" (6.25 meters) from the hoop. The NBA arc is three feet-plus further out (23' 9" - except at the baseline where the line tapers to 22 feet). There was really no excuse for the U.S. shooting 3-18 behind the arc the other day in its tuneup game against the Aussies -- though the reason may be that NBA players don't shoot as well as players a generation ago. In 2010, FIBA will move its arc back about a foot-and-a-half. Apparently, the rest of the world still thinks the NBA three line is too far away from the hole.

5) The lane, that trapezoidal lane, wider near the hoop. It looks just as weird as it always has, and there's no good reason for it. What's the purpose? To keep big men away from the basket and make post play more difficult, of course, and to equalize height advantage. That's not a good reason. I've also suspected the trapezoid was designed "just to be different" from the American game, less squarish and not unlike the goofy paint job on the ball. But not for long. The trapezoids will be peeled off the world's hardwood in 2010 as FIBA has come to its senses and will paint the standard American lane, which you already know if you hit the link in #3.

6) Zone defense is allowed, anything goes, no defensive three seconds for guarding no one. A team can clog the lane all it wants on D, which gets back to the questions in #4 about the trapezoidal weirdness. The zones will impact Team Redeem. NBA players are used to clear-out, one-on-one basketball and post offense against man-to-man D, and generally run two root plays -- pick-and-roll and give-and-go. The off-the-ball cuts that free shooters against zones are not ingrained in their offensive styles, and Lebron and Kobe never played a second of college ball where zones are allowed. Neither did center Dwight Howard. If anything is the premium in international ball, it's zone-beating outside shooting. Many teams (Spain, Argentina, Lithuania, Greece) are stacked with great shooters, while Team USA came to China with one fewer than it probably should have. The Olympics would be a bad time for Michael Redd to start forcing offense and fall into one of his bad streaks, those slumps that for the Milwaukee Bucks have often come at the worst possible times.

7) The court is 2' 2" shorter and nearly a foot narrower at an even 28 meters by 15 meters, something that only the great, idiosyncratic shooters of the era, Ray Allen and Reggie Miller, probably ever paid any attention to. The three point line is already much shorter, so trimming five inches left and right along the baseline is negligible for most players. I do foresee Redd finding his heels on the out-of-bounds line a time or two if he's running the baseline and setting up for corner threes.

8) Forty minute games just like in college, 5 fouls to foul out. Unlike college, however, there are four periods, with a two-minute break at the end of the first and third quarters (the NBA break is only 90 seconds). Much like the trapezoidal lane, there seems no good reason that this should be different from both the NBA and NCAA, other than being different for the sake of being different. This one, though, heavily favors NBA stars used to playing a grueling 36-40 minutes a game. Imagine the never-tiring Lebron James, Kobe Bryant and Chris Paul.

9) Fewer timeouts. In the NBA, teams get six plus a 20-second timeout. In FIBA ball, it's one time out per period until the 4th quarter, when teams get two -- five altogether plus the longer quarter breaks. No 20-second timeout. This shouldn't matter, right? Watch various Redeem Team players try to save possession by calling 20-second timeouts when falling out of bounds or scrambling for the ball. Ahh, it's the little things in life, good for shits and giggles.

10) International refs are tehrrr-rrible (that's Bill Waltonese) a-trohh-shuss even, always a source of frustration -- worse than college refs and far less respectful of game flow than NBA refs. This, along with the zone D, will cause some trouble for Team Redeem. The refs don't like tough, physical defense; they don't do make up calls (one of the most equitably sane things about NBA refs); they don't let big men play; there are only two of them -- not the NBA three; and ref nationalism brings a paranoia factor into the mix (the 1972 travesty vs. the Soviets was only the most blatant refereeing debacle). As much as the Chinese fans love them, much of the rest of basketball world is rooting against the Redeem Team. (Ed. note - FIBA's decided to go with three refs. Nope, they don't all have to have a common language.)

In the "friendly" games over the last ten days, the refs made it clear that they'll be whistle-happy on Australia and its hammerlock defense. Lebron, who plays a similar style under Mike Brown in Cleveland, fouled out of a tuneup game. US center Howard, a Stan Van Gundy player in Orlando, has had a difficult time in general. Carlos Boozer, from the Jerry Sloan school of defense in Utah, has yet to find a role or playing time. In a way it's a good thing for the U.S. that there are no Celtics, Spurs or 76ers on Team Redeem, and only one Detroit Piston, Tayshaun Prince. Clawing NBA defense is expressly illegal by international refereeing standards. (Mo Williams would love Beijing.)

Also note that many international refs seem to have a man-crush on Argentina's shooting guard, a phenomenon heretofore known as "the Manu Ginobili factor" (Manoo factor for short).

Links: A comprehensive preview of Team USA from Inside Hoops. From a Russian basketball junkie, a "general questions about international ball" page at ballineurope.com. Here's the rules comparison sheet again from USA basketball.

An official FIBA preview. Dirk Nowitzki (Germany), Manu Ginobili (Argentina), Andrei Kirilenko (Russia), Sarunas Jasikevicius (Lithuania) and Yao Ming for host China were the flagbearers for their countriesin the opening ceremony -- a pretty good indication of how important Olympic basketball is around the world. Heavy gravitas for the basketball stars in Beijing.

Draft Express.com has some conventional power rankings that should be read with skepticism. Celtics blogger Green Bandwagon has better insight. Chris Sheridan's China archive at ESPN is an excellent resource. NBA.com is also on the beat. I'll be keeping track of Aussie basketball and Bogut here and here. You won't have to look hard for the Lauren Jackson photos on those Aussie sites.

Here are those broadcast listings from NBC, one more time.

Let the games begin!