Tiny Gallon: A “Big” Get at 47 (You see what I did there?)
Friday, June 25th, 2010Brandon Jennings wanted him at number 15.
I’m sure he was just as happy with his friend Keith “Tiny” Gallon falling to the Bucks at number 47.
Don’t get caught up in the name though, Gallon is no more a “Tiny” than Glen Davis is a “Baby”. At 6-foot-9, 302 pounds, Gallon certainly meets the power part of the power forward requirement and then some. But that isn’t why Gallon may soon be a fan favorite in the Bradley Center. The colorful, backboard breaking 19-year-old could sweep Milwaukee off it’s feet. After all, who doesn’t love to see a giant shooting 3-pointers?
“You talk about him, you talk about imagination,” said John Hammond when asked to delve deeper into Gallon. “He’s a guy who likes to do all kinds of things on the floor. He thinks he can shoot an NBA three. And the problem is, he really can.”
Half the Bucks fans that read that last sentence probably got a little sick, but the other half probably got a little giddy. Having equal parts doubters and supporters has been par for the course for the big man with the word “Misunderstood” tatooed on himself. The “misunderstanding” of Tiny Gallon is what left him available for the Bucks at 47 and they wasted no time in scooping him up, but not before talking to his ex-high school teammate Brandon Jennings.
“We talked to Brandon as the pick was getting near,” said Coach Scott Skiles. “I talked to Brandon right after, they have a relationship and that’s great. Tiny can learn a lot from Brandon. Brandon’s in the gym every day, he’s serious about the game, he loves the game and he’s got a great approach. It’ll be good that there’s somebody here that Tiny can look to and good for Brandon to start to take on more of a leadership role.”
Hammond said that Gallon’s skills were too much to pass on as they came up to their 47th pick with him on the board.
“He’s capable of posting, he’s an excellent passer. As far as rating players, we had him rated so much higher than where we picked him. We had options at 47. Do we keep the pick? Do we move it for the future, something like that? But we thought, if he’s getting close to 47, there’s no way we can move it. He’s way way too talented.”
Gallon’s freshman season at Oklahoma was at times turbulent. The kind of turbulence a plane suffers minutes before it crashes and is never found again that is. Clashes with the coaching staff, a late season suspension and ultimately the tale of the money that suddenly appeared in his mother’s hands that was the John Hancock on his declaration to go pro all dogged him. But when Gallon was playing, his numbers actually weren’t all that bad.
He was 25th nationally in defensive rebound percentage, grabbing 25.2% of available defensive boards. In just 24 minutes per game, Gallon averaged 10.3 points on 54.7% shooting while grabbing 7.9 rebounds per game. As a freshman. The indication from his numbers is that he actually used his size fairly effectively, Hammond’s earlier comment about his love for the jump-shot not withstanding. As far as upside picks go, the Bucks could have done a lot worse at 47 than the “Misunderstood” Gallon. And hey, he’s trying to make nice already. So maybe drafting him will suffice just fine.
Oh, and when a team can make their star player happy at the same time, well, that’s just all the better.
Larry Sanders: The Bucks Injection of Length and Athleticism
Thursday, June 24th, 2010The Milwaukee Bucks were watching the NBA finals, this much I can assure you. After finding themselves on the short end of the length and athleticism stick in their own first round series, the Milwaukee Bucks watched the Los Angeles Lakers with their towering front line of Andrew Bynum, Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom win rebound battles and block shots. Perhaps it was earlier than that, or perhaps it was during the finals, one way or another the Bucks decided if they’re were going to take the next step they’d need to beef up their front line, add length and add athleticism on their front line to compete with the better teams in the NBA.
Enter Larry Sanders.
The 15th pick in the 2010 NBA draft needn’t be a savior for the Bucks franchise, but that doesn’t mean the Bucks think they got some ordinary run of the mill player on their hands.
“I would really classify him as something different than we have on our team right now,” said Bucks GM John Hammond Thursday night after the NBA draft concluded.
Milwaukee was impressed with the 6-foot-10-inch Sanders and his near 7-foot-6-inch wingspan. They envision him a help on the defensive end at power forward who should be able to contribute offensively in the future. Sanders made 53.4% of his shots last season and averaged 14.4 points and 9.1 rebounds. Many feel Sanders best days lie ahead of him, as he’s only been playing basketball for six years and played at a small college. Hammond acknowledged that Sanders is “still a little bit raw”, but didn’t want to label him a project by any means.
“This is coach’s call, but I do think you can put on the floor immediately just because of what he can do on the defensive end and how he can rebound. When you think about first round picks, for the most part, people will say, ‘is he a project, is he ready to play’ those sort of things,” Hammond said. “It all comes down to opportunity. If a guy gets an opportunity and performs, people don’t call him a project, they say he can play. The key is for a guy though is to deserve the right and earn the right to play. No gifts.”
As far as Sanders is concerned, he knows how he’ll handle things offensively on the next level, “definitely face up and attack the rim more,” said Sanders over the phone after his selection. But easy buckets may come for Sanders in transition. Hammond was very complimentary of the Bucks new power forward’s speed.
“He is easily I think, the fastest big in the draft and maybe one of the fastest players flat out in the draft,” said Hammond. “His speed from endline to endline is absolutely amazing for a guy his size. And he runs so easy.”
DraftExpress worries about what has happened to Sanders on the defensive end over his last few years in college.
His awareness and fundamentals leave something to be desired, as does his intensity level, as he isn’t always as physical as he needs to be, not really using his body very well and appearing to lack a degree of toughness in his play. His shot-blocking production has fallen off each season, from 7.4 per-40p to 4.2 to 3.7 this year as well.
For a guy with a wingspan like Sanders, it’s puzzling why his shot-blocking production has fallen off so significantly after each season. His block percentage as a freshman was 19%, an incredible Hassan Whitesideesque number, but it fell to just 9% last season. Still, that 9% left Sanders ranked 30th nationally in blocked shots percentage. For what it’s worth, the Bucks aren’t considered about the dip in shot blocking production.
“I think maybe as much as anything, players started to realize that, why drive the ball if you’re not going to get it to the basket,” said Hammond.
Sanders was asked what he felt was most ready for the NBA about his game.
“I think my energy, the way I run the court and use my athleticism,” said Sanders. “The way I defend, although I have to get stronger. Those are things I definitely think are NBA ready.”
He could be the running mate so many fans have desired for Brandon Jennings, who lost his last two lob partners in Hakim Warrick and Amir Johnson. Unlike those two, Sanders appears to be sticking around for a while. He won’t be relied upon for big minutes out of the gate, but he could fill a defensive role for 15-20 minutes a night alongside Ersan Ilyasova and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute at the power forward spot for Milwaukee. Sanders was excited about getting to play with Jennings.
“He’s an exciting player, a young player,” said Sanders. “Every time I get a chance to watch him I do, because he’s very entertaining to watch. He’s exciting, explosive, I’m very very very excited to play with him.”
Darington Hobson: A Well Traveled 37th Pick
Thursday, June 24th, 2010Darington Hobson wasn’t even sure he’d make it to college at mid-major New Mexico.
So imagine how he must be feeling after getting drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks in the second round Thursday night.
The junior small forward was deemed too talented and too versatile to pass up on by the Bucks when their first pick of the second round rolled around, despite what seemed to be more pressing needs elsewhere. Even if others may have been weary of his many stops along the way.
Hobson played at five different high schools and paperwork problems prevented him from enrolling in a division one school out of high school. After two years at Eastern Utah, Hobson enrolled at New Mexico last season and became the leader of the team from the get-go. And when I say leader, I mean he virtually led them in every important category.
Minutes, points, rebounds, assists and steals were all saw Hobson on top. The 6-foot-7, 210 pound swingman was Mr. Everything for the Lobo’s last season, and that made a believer out of John Hammond, who seemed to be struggling to hold in his delight when speaking of Hobson.
“The guy loves the game, a real gym rat,” said Hammond of Hobson. “A guy like Darington Hobson knows how to play. He’s a very unselfish player and he plays the game. A very good passer, has great vision.”
My immediate thoughts when looking over scouting reports and physical specs on Hobson is that he’s a bit similar to Carlos Delfino, at least in terms of versatility. Hobson probably won’t be looking at many minutes until Delfino’s contract expires or used in a trade. However, Hobson may be able to avoid the D-League by acting as the Bucks emergency third point guard if he’s able to prove himself in Summer League as a ball handler and defender.
Further intrigue surrounds Hobson.
He ranked 20th in John Hollinger’s draft rater out pacing first round picks like Larry Sanders, Ekpe Udoh and Ed Davis. Since John Hammond has taken over as Bucks GM, he’s picked up a number of players who fared well in statistical measures like Hollinger’s, including Joe Alexander and Darnell Jackson. Hobson’s stellar rebounding numbers, assist numbers and decent shooting percentage (44%) all likely contributed to his faring well in Hollinger’s rater.
When the subject of what position Hammond saw fit for Hobson, he did not hesitate to throw out some lofty possibilities for the Bucks new second round pick.
“He definitely is a combo guy,” said Hammond. “When people say a 6′6 guy can play point guard, most of the time you kind of roll your eyes and say, ‘yeah right’. But I think he can play a little point, because he has good enough feet defensively. The old theory is you can’t play it unless you can guard it. And I think that he might be able to guard the position.”
Hammond kept on about his thoughts on Hobson as a point guard and more.
“Basically that’s the way New Mexico played him, they basically played him as a point guard,” said Hammond. “He was a facilitator and he loved doing that. He’s big enough obviously to guard two guards and he can play some small forward. That’s a pretty tall order for a guy who’s never played the NBA game to say he can play three positions. Hopefully he can be successful at one.”
Thriving at three positions, as a second round pick? It sounds like the expectations for Hobson are high, but the man they call “Butta”, has overcome more.
Official Bucksketball.com Draft Predictions
Thursday, June 24th, 2010The time for talk will soon be over. Draft day is finally here. The workouts have been worked out, the DVD’s have been viewed and the interviews have been meticulously poured over. Milwaukee has all the information they could possibly want about their next potential players and they will soon take a leap with two to four lucky fellows depending on just how many draft picks are kept. I’ll work under the assumption that Milwaukee won’t be leaving draft day with four rookies on their roster and just list the three I suspect will wear green and red come summer league.
Everyone has their preferences and theories about how things will go down later this evening, and I’m no different. Personally, I think Milwaukee will finish the day with three draft picks and net Patrick Patterson, Lance Stephenson and Tiny Gallon. If that’ how things went down, it’d be tough to complain about the Bucks haul. Balancing the needs of a team, the fit of players available and overall talent of players available isn’t an easy task, but if Milwaukee acquired these three I think they’d be succeeding in those areas. The biggest question with my wish list is whether or not Patterson will fall to 15. Various mocks have Patterson landing anywhere from 12 to 14, so it may just take one bizarre pick to drop Patterson into the laps of the Bucks. Is that so difficult to rule out?
Patterson can stretch the floor a little the way Kurt Thomas did when he played center. Having a power forward with Thomas’ skills offensively would be a coup for the Bucks. Defensively Patterson probably isn’t quite ready for the big show, but if he’s willing to work at it, and all indications are that he is, he could be in a position to thrive as someone whose main focus is defense next to Andrew Bogut.
Stephenson and Gallon were both highly touted high school players who struggled to various degrees with their transition to college basketball, but remain promising prospects. Stephenson would probably be further away from contributing to the team, if only because of the log jam at the wing positions thanks to the recent trade spree Milwaukee embarked on. Gallon though, could be in line to earn up to 10 minutes nightly if he shows the ability to use his immense size productively when rebounding and can finish around the hoop. One thing the Bucks really lack in their power forwards is, well, power. Few players in this draft are more powerful than Gallon.
So Bucks fans, who do you want to see end up in a Milwaukee uniform when things are all said and done Thursday night? Leave some comments with your best case scenarios.
More Wheeling, More Dealing: Chris Douglas Roberts to Milwaukee?
Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010UPDATE: ESPN reports the pick is a 2012 second round pick.
Travel back in time seven months and four days to November 18th, 2009. The Bucks are waxing the New Jersey Nets and I can’t take my off Chris Douglas Roberts.
The second half was so bad, I thought CDR was going to snap. He appeared to have gotten in a bit of a shouting match with assistant coach Doug Overton about what was going on on the court. I couldn’t hear Overton, but my colleague Alex from BrewHoop suggested it had something to do with a stretch where CDR got blocked, turned it over, got it back and missed a lay-up. CDR shouted at his bench, “we’re losing, what am I supposed to do?!”
I felt for CDR. He was working hard, he was trying to make plays and he was saddled with some teammates who’ve been injured and/or unable to get the job done to get this team a win. The whole team had that, “here we go again” look as soon as things started going South in the third quarter. CDR seemed like he didn’t want to let it happen again.
Later, CDR was seen exchanging words with Brandon Jennings while he was at the free throw line finishing the game off.
Bucksketball: I saw CDR barking at you at the line. Was that him talking trash to try and get in your head?
Jennings: Oh yeah, just a little trash talk. On that play where I got fouled, I got fouled pretty hard, so you know, some words exchanged. It is what it is.
Bucksketball: You just brushing it off?
Jennings: Yeah, just brushing it off. They’re the one’s 0-12 not us.
Fast forward back to today and this Chad Ford report (below) coupled with some curious tweets from CDR and a report from Yahoo! that future considerations will go to the Nets for Douglas-Roberts.
Finally, it looks like the Bucks aren’t done dealing. This afternoon they traded Dan Gadzuric and Charlie Bell to the Warriors for Corey Maggette. Now sources say that the Bucks and Nets are in serious negotiations on a deal that would send Chris Douglas-Roberts to the Bucks for a second round pick. With the addition of Maggette and Douglas-Roberts, you have to wonder if the Bucks may look at something other than a wing with the No. 15 pick in the draft.
I’ll say this, CDR seemed like a competitor and someone who was dying to win that night in November. I’m not sure what happened with CDR after that, I’ve heard he dealt with a benching and balked at getting the ball inside to Yi Jianlian and Brook Lopez, but wouldn’t you balk at getting the ball to Yi too? Milwaukee just generally balked at everything having to do with Yi in his time here, so this city will likely be sympathetic to that feeling. When you’re a passionate player, one has to imagine losing takes more of a toll. CDR was coming from a winning program in Memphis then spent one mediocre year in New Jersey before everything caved in last year in his sophomore season.
CDR’s numbers aren’t among the best in the league or anything like that, but he seems more than capable of filling the role previously occupied by the Jerry Stackhouse, Charlie Bell duo. I’ll have more on CDR once the trade officially goes through, assuming it does.
