Charlie Villanueva is the most terrifying player the Bucks have had in years. He can get hot from the outside, he has a feathery touch inside, he can handle the ball well for a man his size, he can monopolize rebounds, and he can be the emotional center of a team.

He can also be the guy who scores 0 points in 11 foul plagued minutes. Throughout his career he’s had a love affair with the three point line. His defense has been the only consistency he’s shown, and it’s been putrid. There are times when it honestly looks as if he doesn’t even care about the game he is playing.

But has the switch been flipped?

Villanueva has put together the most consistent stretch of his career in the month of January. His averages of 19.9 points and 7 rebounds are the highest he has ever had for a single month. His three point shooting has been one of the most obvious factors. A career 32% shooter from behind the arc, Villanueva has shot a staggering 43% in the month of January. And it’s not as if he’s shooting less, he’s shot twice as many threes than any other month of the season. It’s possible that he is becoming more comfortable with his role as a scorer since Andrew Bogut and Michael Redd have not been in the lineup together much this month. Comfort is not something Villanueva has been familiar with thus far in his time in the League.

As Villanueva was entering the league teams weren’t sure if he was a shooting four or a big three. No one questioned his offensive gifts, but their have been persistent questions about his defense and effort. The effort switch has been on full this season in Milwaukee, but the defense still lags behind. Similar to his first three years in the league Villanueva has seen extensive time coming in off the bench to provide a scoring punch. This seems to be an easy way for coaches to say that a player cannot play defense. Many thought Villanueva had no chance with Coach Skiles this year, given Skiles preference for gritty players who work hard on defense and take solid shots on offense. It appeared to be a match made in hell. When injuries once again decimated the Bucks Skiles hand was forced and Villanueva made his way back to the lineup to provide much needed scoring help. Now it appears the Bucks have found the power forward they have been looking for.

And it could not have come at a better time…for him or the Bucks.

Villanueva very well could help save the Bucks playoff chances and earn himself quite a payday in the process. Judging from the Raptors game, it looks like the Bucks are in full on chase the 8 spot mode. Skiles rode what he has apparently deemed his top eight all night and played Charlie V. an unheard of 41 minutes. Until two nights ago, Charlie V. hadn’t cracked 40 minutes all year, and now he has done it twice in one week. Coach Skiles has instilled his trust in Charlie V…much to Chuck’s delight I’m sure.

See this is where things get murky: it’s a contract year. Charlie V. is due for a raise next year…sort of. He’ll be a restricted free agent, meaning that the Bucks can match any offer he receives, but he’ll likely want a nice raise and extension if he carries the wobbly Bucks into the playoffs on the strength of his scoring. The Bucks will have to wonder if he is truly worth it. They don’t want to fall into their own trap again and overvalue their own players. It could be like that Simpsons episode where Sideshow Bob keeps stepping on the rakes. Is Charlie V. only now producing because he is only now receiving consistent minutes or is his effort now more focused due to the light at the end of the payroll tunnel?

I’d imagine there is almost no chance he will be traded considering how badly the Bucks want to make the playoffs, but how eager will they be at the end of the year to re-up with him will remain an intriguing issue to watch. This seems like a great situation for him. He has a coach who will keep on him to gain consistency at the defensive end and can slide in between Bogut, THE defensive epicenter of everything the Bucks wish to do, and Mbah a Moute, an all time effort and defense guy already in Milwaukee. The pieces are lining up right for Charlie V. So will he be terrorizing opponents for years to come in a Bucks uniform, frighten away fans with more lackadaisical efforts or show up one or two times a year wearing the uniform of a competitor and haunt us Milwaukeeans with what couldabeen.

Only time will tell.

Last Friday I felt like things were lining up for a terrific run for the Bucks. The schedule was softening, Redd was rounding into form and Bogut was due back any day. Yes, the clouds were parting and sunshine was visible. There would be something to look forward to here during this glum Milwaukee winter. Now . . . I’m not sure what is a more pressing feeling right now, the bad feeling I’m getting from the Bucks losing 6 of 9 and being without Redd the rest of the year, or the Bogut back injury possibly destroying the rest of the season. Honestly Bucks fans, the Bucks can survive the Redd injury, but tonight it was never more clear how much Andrew Bogut means to the Bucks.

TJ FORD HAD 34 POINTS!!

The same TJ Ford who left Milwaukee 3 years ago sans a jump shot still does not have one folks. Everything he was getting was the result of the gaping hole Andrew Bogut has left in the lane for the Bucks. Charlie V. is doing his best to keep the Bucks offense afloat, but when he is the crunch time center, it will almost always result in a loss. The question for seven games now has been the same; When will Andrew Bogut return? Well I’m not getting my hopes up for soon.

From JSonline:

“Who knows how long it’ll be?” said Bogut after Tuesday’s practice. “It’s day to day. Hopefully it’ll feel better tomorrow and maybe I can play Friday … The problem is that I still have a problem changing direction…sliding and that type of stuff. I don’t have a problem running. I can run in a straight line all day, I just can’t change direction too well. It starts tightening up when I do that.”

I’m not a professional player, but at every level of basketball I ever played, changing directions was instrumental to defense. In his absence the Netherlands have provided fans with some unsightly replacements in Dan Gadzuric and Francisco Elson. Gadzuric lacks the size to hold up to much and is often left hacking away at the man he is guarding in an effort to show that he does play defense. While Elson falls down like his shoes are permanently tied together. With no Bogut or Redd on offense the Bucks have been forced to rely on Richard Jefferson to “step his game up” and pick up the slack.

This has not happened.

At all.

Not even a little bit.

In the two games that have been played since Redd’s injury Jefferson has scored 29 points. Total. If my math is correct that averages out to 14.5 points per game. Which is almost 3 points lower than his season average. 13.2 million just doesn’t go as far as it used to. I hate to pick on RJ because he seems like a class act, but the comedy of errors that has left the Bucks in the position at which they are currently in has been frustrating to experience as a fan. How many times are we going to get this kind of performance out of Richard Jeffersons, or Anthony Masons, or Tim Thomases or Gary Paytons? How many pretend stars can one team go through?

It’s almost as if karma has descended upon this team to punish them for never taking the proper steps to rebuilding. Making foolish signings and overvaluing their own players perhaps seemed like shortcuts to the NBA gods. I don’t know, I’m just baffled that a franchise can appear this snake bit. If Bogut is unable to consistently be in the lineup the rest of the year that may just be a bit too much to take. I’d be just fine with a rebuilding project, but the trigger has never been completely pulled. I know that the team will think that injuries just got the best of them again this year and basically come back with the same squad next year. The big difference would likely be that it would be sans Charlie V. and/or Ramon Sessions due to the salary cap and luxury tax. Those are two of the three young assets the Bucks have. This is like reverse rebuilding.

Something needs to change between now and the trade deadline. I can already see those clouds circling back up, it’s looking like it’s going to get a little rough.

Every 2 weeks bloggers NBA wide send in rankings and comments with regard to the NBA MVP and ROY picture. I was lucky enough to have been included in the vote. Accidents happen I guess. Before they realized I shouldn’t have been involved I sent my votes and comments in. Two of them even were selected!

Check Redsarmy.com for results!

2 Notes before I get into the week ahead.

1. Francisco Elson
What got into this guy yesterday?? Elson played his finest game as a Buck yesterday. As a matter of fact I dug around a little and I’d say this was the 4th finest game of his career. (Dude had 21-10 against the Lakers once!) If he’s “The Zombie” then yesterday he was one of those I AM LEGEND zombies that ran around all over the place like Michael Johnson. How many inbound passes has Elson stole in his career? That had to have been his first one right? But for all you Bucks fans who insist he should be starting ahead of Gadz while Bogut is out…please. And I mean puhhhleeaaasse. Elson isn’t very good. This will be the high point of his season. He falls down more than Dwyane Wade, but takes 5x as long to get up. He is a capable third string center. Gadzuric is a crappy second string center. I’ll still take Gadz over him. They both seem to think they can hit turnaround jumpers though, which is confusing to say the least. Gadz is a much better energy guy though and just an all around better player. I’d say the only thing Elson does better than him is be large. Kudos to Francisco on that.

2. Ramon Sessions
I’ve given my two cents on the Michael Redd injury so I’ll refrain from dipping back into that pool but I forgot to mention how this will impact everyone’s favorite second string point guard. We all remember earlier in the year when he averaged nearly 16 and 6 with Redd out. I’d expect him to get the same opportunity now and have similar results. I know I’m excited to see him get additional burn. He looked real good last night and was noticeably more aggressive after Redd went down. For what it’s worth the Bucks are 7-4 in games where he reaches 7 assists this year, with the losses being close games to Toronto, Orlando, Atlanta and Cleveland.

January 26th vs. Minnesota (14-27)
Break up the T’Wolves! They have been on fire in the month of January. Who would have thought they would improve so much after dumping legendary coach Randy Wittman. McHale has guided them to a 10-12 record since taking over. He probably doesn’t get why everyone dislikes Kevin McHale the GM. If Bogut returns on Monday that will coincidentally be the second time this season that he makes a return from injury against the Wolves. That game was a three point shooting clinic put on by the Wolves as they finished 13-22 en route to a 2 point win. Rodney Carney of Memphis fame was especially productive that game going off for 22. He’s averaging 10 points a game this month, which equates to the best month of his career. For fun here’s a quote from Rashadmccants1.com about Rashad himself.

“Once you open it up and start to read it, you find out things that you’ve never really seen or heard before. And I think that really describes me.” – Rashad McCants, comparing himself to reading The Bible

January 28th @ Indiana (16-27)
Most of the season Indiana has been looked at as a hard luck team. They’ve had a BRUTAL schedule and lost a ton of close games this year, signs of a hard luck team. Well I’m just going to say they aren’t very good. I don’t care about all the excuses that are being made for them, they aren’t good. Every year Troy Murphy puts up numbers on bad teams, probably because he is bad. Same with Mike Dunleavy. At least before the Pacers could stay in the news when their players got arrested, now they are putting together a collection of school boys and losses both. They are no longer even the butt of a joke, just the butt of the league. Congratulations I guess. The moustache homage last week was funny though. This is the kind of road game the Bucks should win though.

January 30th @ Toronto (17-28)
Jermaine O’neal trade rumors and Jose Calderon’s free throw streak. That sums up what Raptors fans have to look forward to for the rest of this season. The Craptors aren’t likely to make a run at the playoffs. Not with the antics of Jamario Moon. I’ve been saying for over a year now that they need a real player at the 2 or the 3. Seriously, like anyone that can play basketball would do. Is this that hard to fill? There is no one in the D-League that is better than Moon or Joey Graham? They played Anthony Parker at the 1 last week while Calderon was out, it’s like training camp all over for them again. Another one of those bad team road games the Bucks need to win to get into the tourney.

January 31st vs. Atlanta (26-16)
As usual the Bucks will be shorthanded against Atlanta. Well they’ll be shorthanded against everyone for the rest of the year, but each game against the Hawks this year someone has been missing. What got into the Hawks bench the other night? Damn. It’s pretty unlikely they’ll match that effort, but the Hawks starters are still a handful. Al Horford will probably be back for Saturday, and he was lethal earlier this year when Bogut was out. Bogut-Horford should be an intriguing match up. Atlanta is definitely good enough to come into the Mil and take one, so the Bucks will need to bring their A, B, and C game and roll them up into one on Saturday.

I never like to wake up to a message like that. “Are you going to be ok?” was the message that awoke me today. The first thing that went through my mind was that Ramon Sessions had been traded. No that rumor has been dead for a week or two now. The second thing was that Larry Harris had been rehired. No no, this is not a nightmare, it’s real life. I asked why, but tossed my phone aside. I would have to look this up myself. It buzzed again but I was determined. I went to espn.com, nothing on the homepage though. That meant little possibility of a trade. Then I remembered last night’s game. JSonline will have my answers. And then there it was….

Redd out for the season?

Emotions are conflicting inside of me.

Michael Redd is the premier scorer on this Bucks team, like it or not. That fact was never more obvious than in the first month of the season when Redd was hurt. The team had little from behind the arc and didn’t have what I call an “offensive stopper”. Every team that is worth anything has someone who can get them a bucket when they need one. When momentum is shifting teams need a guy who can hit the “SHUT UP” shot. Redd was that guy for the Bucks. He’s the most viable threat from behind the arc they have. After him it’s probably Charlie Bell, but he is not someone you want in there for more than 20 minutes a game. This month Redd’s been filling it up to the tune of 24 a game on 45% shooting. He’s even rejecting shots like Mutombo (2 this month alone!). Redd is THE guy on the Bucks.

But what has that meant?

Redd has been THE guy for for the last 5 years. The Bucks have made the playoffs once in that time frame. They have had some of the worst seasons in Bucks history. This has not all been Michael Redd’s fault by any means. By now everyone knows Redd’s shortcomings, he’s not a great defender, he doesn’t do a lot of other things besides score, and he holds the ball a lot on offense. To put it simply, Redd is a star portraying a superstar.

I personally have been advocating a Redd or Richard Jefferson trade for some time, due largely to the cap relief it would provide and picks/prospects the Bucks could net in return. Obviously that will be rather difficult now that Redd is apparently going to miss a lot of time. But I do see this as a perfect opportunity to start over. If Redd is going out the same time that Andrew Bogut is returning to the lineup, it’s time to hand the keys to ‘Drew. He got the large contract this off season and he’s been the most important defensive player and rebounder on the team all year. And when I say he’s been the most important defensive player I mean that in the most vivid way. For this season’s Bucks playing defense without Bogut has been akin to trying to lock a door, only without the luxury of a lock. They have been trying to keep the door closed, but it’s hard to hold back opposing offenses with Dan Gadzuric manning that door. This is the chance for the Bucks to turn the team over to Bogut offensively and see what he can do.

Earlier this year when Redd was out, Bogut was not overly assertive. Scott Skiles even had a talk earlier this year with Bogut about being aggressive. This may be because Bogut still felt like this was Michael Redd’s team, and with him out it became Richard Jefferson’s team. The Bucks have been perimeter oriented since Kareem walked out that door Bucks fans. Someone needs to let Bogut know it is time for a change. If that message gets across to him and the big man gets fed…then I’ll be ok.