I’ll have all kinds of good stuff come Monday when the Milwaukee Bucks Media Day rolls around, but until then, here’s some stuff of interest.
Perhaps you saw the Andrew Bogut/Bethlehem Shoals (Nathaniel Friedman)/Tom Ziller Twitter war. It boiled down to Bogut not liking a few of the things that Fanhouse wrote about him lately and coming out firing at Shoals, inadvertently. He later correctly attributed his beef to Ziller and went on about his business. Bogut made a valid point, if we can criticize him, why can’t he do the same to us? Ziller had a good counter. It all means very little in the grand scheme of things, but still made for an interesting Monday night.
1. It will be up. The city’s history indicates that any time a team is worth supporting, the fans will come out in large numbers to do so. Maybe they didn’t do that last year, but the Bucks really didn’t prove they were who they ended up being until late February or March. The fans didn’t have enough time to prepare themselves to follow a successful team. This year, the Bucks should be good from day one to days end and the fans will be ready.
2. It will matter. While some teams draw big crowds and struggle to produce victories, that shouldn’t be the case in Milwaukee. After all, the Bradley Center once held the Guinness Book of Records record for loudest sports arena (Damn you Arco Arena!). Not only will Milwaukee fans come out to support, they’ll do it in the right fashion.
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Rob Mahoney from ProBasketballTalk previews the Bucks season. This is as good of a Bucks preview as you will read on a non-Bucks website this year. Hits a lot of the points about the team on the head. Specifically the fact that Michael Redd is not apart of the plan.
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Charles F. Gardner reports that Andrew Bogut is ready to go but Corey Maggette is not. Maggette is still rehabbing a sore ankle that he had surgery on in the off-season.
Jeremy Schmidt writes the Milwaukee Bucks blog Bucksketball.com
I’ll assume you’ve seen Almost Famous. Surely you remember the bus ride scene in which they all sing Tiny Dancer. What a fun moment that was (here’s a link), albeit incredibly unlikely. The Allman Brothers (or whatever other band this band is based on) breaking out into an Elton John song on a bus ride after a long night of partying probably didn’t happen too often. I’ve never taken LSD or rode on a bus with a bunch of musicians who may still be tripping though, so maybe I just don’t know enough about this sort of thing. Regardless, the song is a touch delightful with a lot of catchy. Dave Grohl did an enjoyable version of it on Craig Kilborn’s show once too (and if you have time, check out the Grohl and Will Ferrell “Leather and Lace” duet on the right of the video). At this point, I’m sure you’re wondering why any of this matters anyway (though the title of the post may have tipped you off).
Since the moment the Bucks selected Tiny Gallon in the second round, I’ve often found myself with this song stuck in my head. Except it’d go, “Hold me closer Tiny Gallon.” That didn’t feel right though; I’ve never actually wanted, and surely will never want, Tiny Gallon to hold me.
So I decided to rewrite the lyrics in a way that fits Mr. Gallon a little bit better since we haven’t quite gotten to media day and much real news yet. So without further ado, here we go. Read more…
We’ve all at one time or another picked out a role player that appealed to us for one reason or another and made him “our guy.” Perhaps we like the sweet stroke of a three-point specialist. Often times it’s that flashy, athletic dunker who can’t get more than 20 minutes-per-game, but certainly packs a lot of punch in them. And don’t forget those hard working, undersized big men. The tough guys who remind us of all that is good in the basketball world. They aren’t usually very popular, but they have their cult followings and big fans of the team typically take notice of them.
Well Jon Brockman has shattered the mold of the fan favorite, undersized power player. After being a darling in Seattle during his college days his NBA love started in Sacramento and like so many other things in the NBA these days, it started with the stat geeks. Brockman’s college rebounding numbers earned his selection ever so muted praise from Tom Ziller when many others griped about passing on DeJuan Blair and Patty Mills.
From there, Brockman’s fame exploded on Twitter in conjunction with his hustle play, likable nature, good looks (he’s listed on OnMilwaukee.com’s Hot 100 list) and Youtube exploits. Sacramento Kings announcer Jerry Reynolds dubbed him “The Brockness Monster” and got some of Brockman’s fame crawling, but Shaquille O’Neal’s tweet to his millions of followers got it running. Brockman, a guy who may be inactive at times this season given the right circumstances has 324,711 followers on Twitter this very second. Compare that to his fellow sophomore, the third place runner-up in last year’s Rookie of the Year voting, the owner of a 55-point game and the Bucks starting point guard Brandon Jennings. Jennings has 59,603 followers. How in the world is that possible? Read more…
Curious, but easily justifiable. That’s how I’d classify Team USA not inviting Brandon Jennings to stop by Vegas in mid-July for a tryout. His struggles shooting the ball for the majority of last season and a point guard position packed with players larger, better at finishing and more athletic left few people batting their eyes when fellow rookies Tyreke Evans and Stephen Curry were asked while he sat at home waiting for a call that would never come.
In late August however, Jennings began to contend that there may have been ulterior motives at work. In a back and forth on Twitter with ESPN’s Mark Jones, Jennings hinted that his sponsorship with Under Armour was the real reasoning behind his snub. Now, Jennings has done away with any hinting or mystery and come right out and told Yahoo!‘s Marc Spears that Nike kept him away.
Nike is kind of running a lot of things right now. To have a guy like myself on the USA team that’s flashy and really outgoing, you don’t want Under Armour to get all that [publicity].
So what’s the best way for a young player to get better over the summer? It sure sounds like a good idea for a player to work on individual skills. During the NBA season there is hardly enough times for teams to get a lot of practice in, let alone time for individual skill development. If a player works hard enough over the summer, they may be able to add a little something to their game in the off season, but if a guy thinks he can go about developing a three-point shot or post game from October through June, he’s probably sorely mistaken. Summer gives the unique opportunity of allowing specific training that can transfer into the regular season.
Of course, if there is an opportunity for a player to play in some important games in the off-season, they head into NBA action with more experience and poise. Younger players are often scape-goated if teams struggle in the playoffs. Their experience and clutch skills are called into question. The only way to get better in important, pressure packed situations is to play in them. Training situations like the World Championships give players those clutch minutes they need to develop, even if it comes at the cost of their individual skill development.
The Bucks will be a case study in what’s the best way for young players, and specifically young power forwards, to develop. Read more…
