I don’t have anything to add to what Jeremy wrote yesterday. We’re all sad. We’re all scared. This is going to be a weird summer. Here’s your recap of the past week.

Coverage

Jim Boylan is out so that means rumors are in. The leading candidates at the moment are Stan Van Gundy and Kelvin Sampson, according to sources. This report has been slightly rebuffed by Gery Woelfel, but we all know that’s probably just a bunch of scuttlebutt.

Over at BrewHoop, Steve von Horn wrote a great article about what either Van Gundy or Sampson would mean for the direction of the Bucks. The guys at Brew Hoop also posted a podcast about the coaching search. It’s great as always. Give both a read/listen.

More Brew Hoop! Frank Madden wrote an offseason preview on Wednesday and it does a good job of corralling the early rumors that have surfaced.

Fun idea! Jay Sorgi at WTMJ wrote about how the London Olympic arena could become the Bucks new arena. It’s currently being deconstructed and it could be purchased for millions less than it would cost to build a new arena. It seems sort of ridiculous, but if it’s feasible then I’d totes be down.

Zach Lowe at Grantland wrote about who are the next Shane Battier-style players in the league. None of them are on the Bucks, but Lowe does spend the majority of the introduction talking about Luc Richard Mbah a Moute. If he could shoot, woah boy.

Rob Mahoney at SI.com wrote about an offseason outlook for the Bucks. He says a lot of stuff which we already know, but it’s nice to read some national insight.

Tom Oates at the Wisconsin State Journal wrote about the Bucks need for a plan. He is correct. Very correct.

Truman Reed at Bucks.com wrote about the Bucks “quest” for the playoffs. #MissionAccomplished

And finally on an optimistic note, Alex Boeder at Bucks.com broke down the top-10 most memorable games of the Bucks season. That was a long/quick season. I’m exhausted.

That’s where I come in. I’m here to change the subject and find something more fun to think about besides Jennings not knowing how to shoot and Ish Smith receiving playing time. I’m going to answer the question of our generation: what would the Milwaukee Bucks and Miami Heat look like if they mated?

Here’s some necessary context:

I apologize in advance.

Brandon Jennings + LeBron James =

LeBrandon Jennings

This kid has swag literally oozing out of his ears. It’s gross. But also cool! He’s pretty good at basketball. Not as good as his dad, LeBron. But still pretty good.

Monta Ellis + Dwyane Wade = 

Montwayne Wadellis

This guy. This guy!  What a guy. Look into his eyes and tell me he doesn’t have it all. I dare you. It’s impossible. Try it. Come on.

LARRY SANDERS! + Chris Bosh =

LARRY Bosh!

LARRY Bosh! was named “Tiniest Nose” in high school and he hasn’t looked back since. His limited sense of smell helps him have hearing similar to a bat. It’s nuts. Say something. Right now. Anything. You say it? Ha. Well LARRY Bosh! just heard you. Kid’s got talent I say I say.

Mike Dunleavy + Chris Andersen =

BIRDLEAVY

A super cool thing about BIRDLEAVY (legal name Christopher Michael Andersen Leavy) is he was born with the same exact face as his father and the same exact love of art and mohawks as his other father. It’s incredible. Oh, and he can fly.

Ersan Ilyasova + Udonis Haslem =

Ersanis Haslova

Ersanis Haslova is the greatest basketball player of all time. You already know that. Let’s move on.

J.J. Redick + Mike Miller =

Tom Cruise

“Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (born July 3, 1962), widely known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and has won three Golden Globe Awards. He started his career at age 19 in the 1981 film Taps. His first leading role was in Risky Business, released in August 1983. Cruise became a full-fledged movie star after starring in Top Gun (1986). He is well known for his role as secret agent Ethan Hunt in the Mission: Impossible film series between 1996 and 2011. He also plays basketball.”

Marquis Daniels + Ray Allen =

Rayquis Dalleniels

Rayquis Dalleniels loves to smile. Smile smile smile. It’s all he does. It’s all he wants to do. It’s all he has to do. You’d smile too with hair like that. What style. Smile smile smile.

John Henson + Shane Battier =

Shane Henson, M.D.

Born out of wedlock to a father from Duke and a father from North Carolina, Shane Henson has yet to grow into his teeth. “It’ll take time,” his dad says. “It looks cool,” his other dad says. “Chomp chomp chomp,” his teeth say.

Jim Boylan + Erik Spoelstra =

Jimmy Erik Spoelstra

This one is too real. I’ve gone too far. I apologize. Jimmy Erik Spoelstra deserved better.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Recap

Bucks 85 vs. Bobcats 95 – Recap, Box Score, Highlights

Bucks 111 vs. Nuggets 112 – Recap, Box Score, Highlights

Bucks 95 vs. Thunder 89 – Recap, Box Score, Highlights

Coverage

The end of the regular season means awards season, as well. The only Bucks player in the running for awards is our pride and joy Larry Sanders. He’s up for Defensive Player and Most Improved Player of the Year. Over at Brew Hoop, Steve von Horn made an argument for and against Sanders for DPOY. And at Grantland, Zach Lowe named Sanders his MIP and at CBS Sports, Matt Moore made a small case for Sanders for DPOY. It seems like MIP is the most likely award for Sanders to win with Marc Gasol the likely winner for DPOY.

More from Zach Lowe at Grantland. On Wednesday he wrote a “mega” list of things he likes and doesn’t like in the NBA and in the list he discussed Ersan Ilyasova’s reemergence and Mike Dunleavy’s hook shot. On Ilyasova:

“He can do a little bit of everything, and as long as he shoots like this from 3-point range, Ilyasova will be a very valuable offensive player. His defense ranges from very shaky to basically acceptable, but he brings enough value on the other end to compensate. A fun, fun player.”

At SB Nation, Mike Prada wrote a great play-analysis article on Ilyasova and how the Bucks use him in a make-shift pick-and-roll to get him open threes. Everyone should read it and learn things.

Back to Brew Hoop, on Tuesday Dan Sinclair wrote an article about how many players on the Bucks performed the opposite of how we predicted they would at the beginning of the season. The best example is obviously Sanders’ incredible emergence, but Sinclair also makes cases for Samuel Dalembert, J.J. Redick, Ekpe Udoh, Brandon Jennings and Monta Ellis. It’s a very good read.

At Behind the Buck Pass, KL Chouinard wrote an interesting article about Ellis’ ability to effectively play point guard. Even if he can, I’ll be really super sad if he opts in to his player option or the Bucks resign him this summer. “Down with Swag” is my motto for this summer.

Finally, The Business Journal reported on Wednesday that the Bucks increased their attendance 2.2 percent over last year. Woooohoooo! Pop the bubbly, baby!

Inhale. Tobias Harris is no longer on the Milwaukee Bucks. Exhale. This is something that we all (myself included) have to accept at some point in order to disconnect his success from our misery. He’ll probably be a good player in this league. He may make an all-star team. He may even be a factor in the Orlando Magic winning a playoff series. However, it seems obvious that most of his success will need to come at the power forward position.

And as John Henson proved on Wednesday night, the Bucks have a pretty impressive young player at that position already. And yes. I know. The Bucks didn’t need to choose between the two players so soon. But they did. And I think they chose right with Henson. So while the sky is quite literally falling outside (SO MUCH RAIN), Henson and Larry Sanders are doing their best to hold the Bucks’ sky up. Here’s your recap of the past week.

Recap

Bucks 83 vs. Knicks 101 – Recap, Box Score, Highlights

Bucks 100 vs. Raptors 83 – Recap, Box Score, Highlights

Bucks 83 vs. Heat 94 – Recap, Box Score, Highlights

Bucks 103 vs. Magic 113 – Recap, Box Score, Highlights

Coverage

Let’s start with the optimism that is John Henson. On Thursday, Andrew Gruman at FS-Wisconsin wrote about a conversation that Henson had with Jim Boylan a few weeks ago. There are some great quotes in the article from Henson and Boylan, so definitely go read it. I’m so excited for a Henson/Sanders frontcourt in the coming years. Optimism!

More optimism, I guess? Earlier this week, Alex Boeder at Bucks.com wrote about the Bucks’ playoff seeding history. The most common seeding position for the Bucks is the two-seed, thanks in large part to the 1980s. Boeder also broke down how the Bucks faired in each playoff season. It’s history. It’s interesting.

Over at Grantland, Zach Lowe continued being the best in the biz as he wrote about how the NBA game is adjusting to the new defensive strategy of “packing the paint.” Jim Boylan has some quotes in the article and it’s an all-around great read.

Dan Sinclair at Brew Hoop did a great job of revisiting the Redick-Harris deal. Read it and be free from the shackles that are Tobes’ success.

Good news! It looks like Larry Sanders will have an article by Lee Jenkins in an upcoming issue of Sports Illustrated. Here’s a preview! Our little guy has grown up so fast. We should bake him a cake or something.

ARENA STUFF. On Monday, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and the Marquette Law School hosted a forum focused on a new Milwaukee arena. It was obviously interesting and Jake McCormick at BrewHoop wrote a good recap of the event. Related, Don Walker at the Journal Sentinel wrote about the possibility of funding a new arena. I believe that any discussion about a new arena is a good discussion about a new arena and it’s great to see that powerful people in Milwaukee know that something needs to happen soon.

Finally, the Bucks PR team is doing a great job in their attempt to promote Larry Sanders for the Most Improved and Defensive Player of the Year awards. Their #LarryBlocks campaign is everything I want in anything and I need those blocks. If this video doesn’t win him any awards, then I’m just not sure what to think anymore.

Buck Hits

Bucks 99 vs. Thunder 109 – Recap, Box Score, Highlights

Bucks 131 vs. Bobcats 102 – Recap, Box Score, Highlights

Bucks 98 vs. Timberwolves 107 – Recap, Box Score, Highlights

Coverage

To break up the doom and gloom of my intro, here’s a great two-part interview of Larry Sanders for TrueHoop TV. Not matter how depressing the Bucks become, at least we still have Larry.

Well that was fun. Back to the regularly scheduled doom and gloom. Preston Schmitt at Behind the Buck Pass wrote a great article about the 2005-06 Bucks and the organization’s continued attempt to achieve relevancy through meaningless playoff berths. It’s definitely worth your time.

Steve von Horn at Brew Hoop approached the situation in a similar manner by looking at the struggles of eighth-seeds in the East for the past fifteen years. It’s as depressing as it sounds.

Alex Boeder at Bucks.com was more upbeat as he analyzed the resurgence of Ersan Ilyasova. It’s unfortunate that Ilyasova’s incredible second-half of the season has been overshadowed by the hoopla over the backcourt struggles, coaching changes and trade deadline rumors. He’s lived up to the contract he received this summer and looks like he may still be a piece to build around.

Andrew Gruman at FS Wisconsin wrote a nice feature on J.J. Redick and his work ethic, drive, and ability to be “his own harshest critic.” He seems to have all of his ducks (DUKES HAHAHA) in a row.

More from Steve von Horn. On Wednesday he rebooted his lineup pyramid series by analyzing the 20 games since the J.J. Redick acquisition. While we may have been able to guess that Brandon Jennings has been exceptionally bad and Monta Ellis has been exceptionally good, it’s incredible to see it represented numerically. Since the trade, Jennings has been Dalembert-bad. Dalembad? Badembert? Baduel Badembert? Yes. That’s the one. Good to have that settled.

Recap

Bucks 99 vs. Hawks 104 – Recap, Box Score, Highlights

Bucks 92 vs. Sixers 100 – Recap, Box Score, Highlights

Bucks 113 vs. Lakers 103 – Recap, Box Score, Highlights

Coverage

From the Elias Sports Bureau:

“Larry Sanders scored 21 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and blocked two shots to help the Bucks top the Lakers. Sanders is the first NBA center ever to reach those statistical minimums in a game that he started against Dwight Howard in the pivot. Sanders was the first starting center with that many points, rebounds and blocked shots in a game against the Lakers since Howard did it for the Magic in March 2011.”

Alex Boeder at Bucks.com wrote an article on how the Bucks three leading scorers, Brandon Jennings, Monta Ellis and Ersan Ilyasova, didn’t go to college. It’s a good read and worth the looking at just for the Photoshops alone.

Steve von Horn at Brew Hoop wrote some words about Sanders and technical fouls. There’s also a podcast on the topic. I’m confident that Sanders will eventually be able to control his emotions because I will always believe in Larry to what’s right.

At Behind the Buck Pass, K L Chouinard broke down three different shooting splits for Jennings. Chouinard finds that Jennings suffers when the game is close, when it’s the fourth quarter, and he shoots only 42.8 percent in the paint. That’s gross.

Back to Brew Hoop, Frank Madden looked at Jennings and his lack of accountability. Like pretty everything Madden writes, it’s great and well worth your time.

Finally, watch this and get ready for tomorrow’s halftime show.

Recap

Bucks 103 vs. Warriors 93 – Recap, Box Score, Highlights

Bucks 115 vs. Kings 113 – Recap, Box Score, Highlights

Bucks 108 vs. Mavericks 115 – Recap, Box Score, Highlights

Bucks 93 vs. Wizards 106 – Recap, Box Score, Highlights

Coverage

Yesterday, Andrew Gruman at Fox Sports Wisconsin wrote a great article about how Monta Ellis spent the all-star break adjusting his game. This is what Ellis had to say:

“That’s one thing I did evaluate when I went back home for the (All-Star) break,” Ellis said of his shot selection. “I was taking too many jump shots, I was settling. I wasn’t driving like I used to. I’m just trying to get back in to it and like I said, picking my spots and take the drive and dishing off to the big guys. Larry and those guys, when they are dunking and making shots down there, you are either going to get me or you are going to stay on him.”

On Monday, Lori Nickel at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel wrote a solid article about Ersan Ilyasova and how he handled his transition to the United States in 2005. (That was so long ago! I couldn’t watch TV-14!) Apparently Andrew Bogut was a real meanie to Ilyasova and called him Borat. Sounds like a nice thing to do to someone.

The guys over at Brew Hoop are now doing postgame podcasts and Wednesday night, Steve von Horn and Dan Sinclair talked about the Bucks ugly loss in Washington. It’s a good listen.

From the Elias Sports Bureau:

“The Mavericks defeated the Bucks in Milwaukee on Tuesday, 115-108. It was Dallas’ second-largest win (of their seven total wins) in 31 games in Milwaukee, behind a 14-point win (113-99) on Dec. 13, 1987.”

Alex Boeder at Bucks.com investigated the impact of back-to-back games on the Bucks and in the NBA in general. Like everything he writes, it’s worth your time.

Here’s video of the Bucks going bowling. Maybe that’s why the team is so tired?????

And finally, this GIF of Larry Sanders happened. Then Jim Owczarski of OnMilwaukee.com drew attention to this amazing website and now it’s my new homepage. I. Love. Larry.

Recap

Bucks 122 vs. Raptors 114 – Recap, Box Score, Highlights

Bucks 109 vs. Jazz 108 – Recap, Box Score, Highlights

Bucks 101 vs. Clippers 117 – Recap, Box Score, Highlights

Coverage

Lots of links this week so let’s start at Grantland. Yesterday in The Triangle, Bill Simmons talked about Mike Dunleavy, Zach Lowe had some notes about the Clippers-Bucks game, and Brett Koremenos wrote about how the Spurs are using what he calls the “Milwaukee” set.

Also from Grantland and also from Brett Koremenos, on Wednesday he wrote an amazing article about the Bucks and what they need to do to be successful. Read it and become smarter.

On Tuesday, Chris Ryan at Grantland wrote about how much he likes the new-look Bucks, saying:

“I know that lineups made up of Monta Ellis, Brandon Jennings, J.J. Redick, Ersan Ilyasova, and LARRY SANDERS! are not the stuff that Larry O’Brien Trophies are made of. All I’m saying is that I really, really like that lineup. I really like this team. So does the crowd at the Bradley Center, based on their reactions to the action last night. And if these guys want to do the Cardiac Kids/Fear the Deer 2.0 thing for the rest of March, you’ll hear no objections from me.”

That’s enough from Grantland. Over at Bucks.com, Alex Boeder wrote a great piece about the Bucks knack for coming back. More like the Milwaukee ComeBucks amiright?? HAHAHA.

At Yahoo!, Adrian Wojnarowski wrote about Redick and how he’s excited to compete for the playoffs in Milwaukee. Nice quotes from Redick in there, like:

“To be wanted here – to be wanted anywhere in the league – is something I’ll never take for granted,” Redick says.

On to Brandon Jennings news. At ESPN Insider, Amin Elhassan wrote about five players looking to play there way into a big contract this summer. Jennings is of course on the list, along with Tyreke Evans, Gerald Henderson, and Jeff Teague. Regarding Jennings, Elhassan says:

“One month into his NBA career, Jennings was declared the steal of the 2009 draft. Fast forward to last summer, and several of his point guard draft classmates (Curry, Holiday and Lawson) received lucrative extensions; he did not. Despite shooting a career-high 37.9 from 3-point range this season, Jennings is still a low-efficiency player (lowest effective field goal percentage and true shooting percentage of all 2009 point guards), and despite his quickness and dribble penetration skills, his size and slight frame prevent him from being effective at the rim.”

At Brew Hoop, Dan Sinclair broke down all of those assists that Jennings has been getting during the past three games. It’s incredibly interesting.

Also from Brew Hoop, on Tuesday, their four writers recorded a podcast about the playoffs, horrible new slogans, and why Behind the Buck Pass had to change its name. If you like the Bucks, then you should probably listen to it.

On to LARRY SANDERS! news. We all read Kirk Goldsberry and Eris Weiss’ essay about how Sanders is great at defense. If you haven’t, do it. And if you don’t like reading (or don’t know how), here are one and two videos of Kirk Goldsberry explaining his essay.

Then at Hoop Chalk, Jack Winter looked in depth at a few plays by Sanders to analyze why he’s so good and to show how Sanders affects the game even when he doesn’t record a block.

And finally at ESPN, Justin Verrier wrote about how Sanders is swatting his way to stardom. Isn’t it nice knowing that the Bucks have a really, really good, young player that everyone loves? I think it’s nice.

Okay. We’re done with Sanders. On to new arena discussion. Yesterday, Marquette Law School announced that they would be having a conference on April 8 to, “explore key issues in the debate over a new, multipurpose arena.” Lots of interesting people will be there including County Executive Chris Abele, the owner of the Minnesota Wild and representatives from Seattle and Oklahoma City. The event will be free and open to the public.

On to Ekpe Udoh being a wonderful human being. Sunday night, he was super cool and joined a Google Hangout with fans and bloggers from “basketball Twitter.” Then on Wednesday, he accomplished his life-long goal of meeting Betty White. And finally, thanks to Jim Paschke, we know that the Bucks went bowling on Thursday and apparently Udoh is the best bowler because of course he is. Here are pictures to prove it!

Credit to Jim Paschke for the photos.

For even more fun, the Bucks are only five games behind the Atlanta Hawks for the fourth seed. If the Bucks can get hot down the stretch similar to the Fear the Deer run of 2010 (16-7 in March and April), then a high seed and maybe even home court could be possible. But first, Brandon Jennings should remember how to play basketball. Here’s your recap of the past week.

Recap

Bucks 102 vs. Hawks 103 – Recap, Box Score, Highlights

Bucks 95 vs. Mavericks 90 – Recap, Box Score, Highlights

Bucks 110 vs. Rockets 107 – Recap, Box Score, Highlights

Coverage

Matt Moore of CBS Sports wrote an incredible feature story on our lovely LARRY SANDERS! You shouldn’t need anymore information from me to make you read the article. Go do it. For Larry.

Yesterday, Steve von Horn of Brew Hoop wrote a great piece about  Jennings and if he will be able to accept sacrificing minutes for wins with the addition of Redick and emergence of Monta Ellis. It’s a great read.

On Monday, Zach Lowe of Grantland labeled Ellis, as well as all of the Bucks backcourt and wings, as players to watch post-trade deadline because of course they are. Here’s his blurb on Ellis:

“But Ellis is the guy to watch. He has an $11 million player option for next season, and the league is assuming he’ll opt out to secure a long-term deal in the four-year/$32 million range. If he does, the Bucks can work their way to serious cap room — Josh Smith–level cap room — by using the amnesty provision on Drew Gooden. It’s unclear if they’ll pay Gooden to go away, but bottom line: Ellis has to prove he still can actually help teams win over the long haul, and he has stiffer competition now in doing so.”

Also on Monday, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett emphatically stated during his State of the City that keeping the Bucks in Milwaukee should be a priority of the city. This is good news, but it will take a lot more than support from Milwaukee to receive funding for a new arena. Neighboring counties and the state will need to back the investment as well. But baby-steps are clearly being made and that’s about all we can hope for at this point.

Steve von Horn of Brew Hoop just won’t quit at being great. Today he looked at the recent numbers of Tobias Harris and decided that his performance in Orlando has been less impressive than his box scores show.

More interesting stuff from Brew Hoop. Yesterday Frank Madden wrote about Redick and how he differs from Ellis and Jennings. My first guess is names. They have different names. Did I win? What did I win?

BREAKING: Beno Udrih did not enjoy his time in Milwaukee.

And finally, on Wednesday the Bucks posted this video of the players visiting a camp for Special Olympians. It’s enjoyable.

Recap

Bucks 111 vs. Nets 113 – Recap, Box Score, Highlights

Bucks 94 vs. Nets 97 – Recap, Box Score, Highlights

Coverage

Before we get into the Redick links (Redlinks? Redinks? RedLinkedIns?), here’s a great research paper about interior defense by Kirk Goldsberry and Eric Weiss for the SLOAN Sports Analytics Conference in Boston. They label LARRY SANDERS! as the best interior defender in the NBA and they provide us with this incredible graphic. It’s amazing. Read it.

Now on to Redick. Here are some grades of the trade from the ESPN TrueHoop Network.

And here’s Bill Simmons and Zach Lowe’s instant analysis of the trade (halfway down the page).

Then Kevin Pelton of ESPN offered some more detailed grades of the trade, giving the Bucks a C+. He isn’t quite sure what the Bucks are doing.

Finally from ESPN, Tom Haberstroh wrote about how he believes Redick and Monta Ellis should fit together. He of course thinks that Ellis should come off the bench and that Redick should be the Bucks’ future shooting guard. He also plays this fun game:

“Let’s play a little game. Here are two players’ stat lines this season on a per-36 minute basis.

Player A: 17.8 points, 5.4 assists, 2.9 turnovers on 16.8 field goal attempts.
Player B: 17.3 points, 5.0 assists, 2.4 turnovers on 13.3 field goal attempts.

Player A is Monta Ellis. Player B is J.J. Redick. Surprised? You shouldn’t be. If the Bucks truly want to boost their firepower, handing Redick 35 minutes a night — and not Ellis — would do wonders for their 25th ranking in offensive efficiency. Redick scores just about as well as Ellis on a per-minute basis, but he does it in about 3.5 fewer shots. Behold, the power of efficiency! Redick owns a .592 true shooting percentage which is a full 120 percentage points higher than Ellis’ .472 rate.”

Interesting analysis of the trade was offered by Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel. He, too, believes that the best thing for the Bucks to do is to keep Redick. It seems like Orlando really loved them some J.J.

Ben Golliver of Sports Illustrated listed the winners and losers from the deadline and guess who’s a loser?! J.J. Redick! Here’s why!

“Redick’s reward for suffering through months of rumors and being one of the most coveted trade deadline targets could very well be a four-game sweep in the first round at the hands of the Heat before he undergoes the madness and uncertainty of free agency. He will surely take it all in stride, but you can’t help but feel sympathy for him.”

Doron Lamb seems okay with the trade, climate-wise.

Nomore Snow

— Doron Lamb (@DLamb20) February 23, 2013

Over at Grantland, Spike Friedman wrote a nice little poem about Redick and the trade deadline (it’s towards the end of the post).

And staying at Grantland, Brett Koremenos wrote about how the Bucks should have traded Ellis to Siberia (also at the end of the post).

Here’s trade reaction from Jim Boylan, John Hammond and Jim Paschke. And also from the Bucks, here’s the press conferences for Redick, Gustavo Ayon and Ish Smith.

Now to Brew Hoop, Steve von Horn wrote a huge article about the trade offering grades, reasoning and analysis. It’s well done.

And then Dan Sinclair gave us a much better look at Ayon and Smith. I’m excited about Ayon.

On to Behind the Buck Pass, K L Chouinard asked Magic blogger Adam Papageorgiou for more insight into Redick, Ayon, and Smith. We learn that Ayon’s nickname is “Goose” and that is the most important thing I’ve learned all day.

And finally, this video happened.