John Hammond Announcement on the Bucks Twitter page:

Andrew returned to Milwaukee this morning to be evaluated by Bucks orthopaedic physician, and to undergo a MRI exam on his left ankle. The results of the MRI identified a left ankle fracture which will keep Bogut out indefinitely

Fracture’s are often a bigger nuisance than a clean break.

Ugh.

This season, the Bucks are 0-4 without Bogut.

Ugh.

Larry Sanders is going to be playing heavy minutes.

Ugh.

Jon Leuer will probably play more too.

Yeah!

Unless the Bucks keep shooting like they did against Houston, well I don’t think I have to explain what will happen. They don’t really have any big men who are truly comfortable in the post. Drew Gooden, Ersan Ilyasova and Leuer all play better when they’re out on the perimeter.

This isn’t the end though. Ilyasova has been rebounding fantastically as of late. And the Bucks have the third highest ranking in assisted field goals at the rim: they generally get a lot of backdoor cuts or dump-offs from penetration.

Oh who am I kidding, let’s just burn this mother down.

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The Bucks know how to do this stuff.

Their latest gimmick, Be Milwaukee, comes with a pretty slick video that earned rave reviews from fans in attendance last night.

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At this point, there are a lot of things up in the air before the Milwaukee Bucks take on the Charlotte Bobcats in the season opener for both teams.

It sounds like most Bucks players will be active. Scott Skiles told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Charles F. Gardner on Christmas Eve that he wasn’t sure whether or not Luc Mbah a Moute (knee tendinitis) would be ready to go for the opener and Tobias Harris seems a sure bet to miss on account of the dehydration issues he’s had over the past week. Carlos Delfino’s sprained right wrist may limit him early as well. Both Mbah a Moute and Delfino practiced on Saturday, but both were limited.

But everyone else, Andrew Bogut and Stephen Jackson included, practiced and seem set to go this evening, barring any abnormalities.

Mike Dunleavy Jr. was quite the hit throughout the pre-season and with Delfino nursing his wrist on his shooting hand, he’ll slide in at the three. Brandon Jennings, Bogut and Jackson are the unquestioned starters at the one, two and five, and according to the aforementioned Gardner, Ersan Ilyasova will be starting at the four. It seemed likely that Drew Gooden would man the forward spot next to Bogut, but the lack of a backup center appears to have made him an appealing option off the bench.

As far as the Bobcats go:

Watch These Guys, Not Other Guys

• Kemba Walker

One of Charlotte’s two first round picks this season, the electric Walker joins the ‘Cats after a stellar college career at Connecticut. While his credentials as a point guard aren’t spectacular, Walker’s already demonstrated that his athleticism and quickness are ready for the NBA. He may make a couple nice passes and display a bit of vision, but watching Walker score, or at least watch him learning how to score, will be enjoyable for the opposition all year. If no one else does, Walker gives fans all over a reason to keep an eye on the Bobcats.

• Bismack Biyombo

Charlotte’s other first round pick this past summer, Biyombo bought his way out of his contract with a Spanish club so he could spend this season in the NBA. He’s the prototypical raw, athletic, shot-blocking big man. His minutes may be limited, and he’ll probably look lost more than he won’t, but keep an eye on him when he’s on the court. He has special abilities and can be a game changer on defense when everything lines up correct.

The Rest

Everyone else on the Bobcats is fairly depressing. Corey Maggette is going to be relied upon heavily to do the scoring for Paul Silas’s group, so that paints a pretty vivid picture of Charlotte’s aspirations this season. Tyrus Thomas, Eduardo Najera and Reggie Williams are expected to miss the game with injuries.

The Bobcats are sort of young and largely without premium talent. They’ll likely turn the ball over a bit and very likely have trouble scoring with regularity. Of course, the Bucks have rarely been known to stress out a scorekeeper themselves. Milwaukee’s defense will keep them in this game, but we haven’t seen just what this year’s Bucks team is capable of offensively yet. There will likely be some early season growing pains, pains that shouldn’t keep them from beating a team like the Bobcats, but after last season, it’s hard to assume anything is a given for the Bucks.

It’s a new season though, a fresh start, with fresh players. If those players are the jumper cables the Bucks offense so badly needs, we’ll start to find out tonight.

Jeremy Schmidt writes the Milwaukee Bucks blog Bucksketball.com. Follow him on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

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Some of my sentences even go well together!

Jeremy Schmidt something something Bucksketball. Something something Twitter. Something something Facebook.

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Gilliam joined the Bucks in August of 1996 as the team searched for a front court mate to pair with blossoming prospect Vin Baker. Coming off a season during which he emerged from the shadow of Derrick Coleman in New Jersey and averaged better than 18 points and nine rebounds, Gilliam appeared a perfect fit.

But Gilliam struggled to earn consistent playing time under Coach Chris Ford. “The Hammer”, as he was known, bounced in and out of the starting lineup and his minutes fluctuated from game to game. He averaged just 8.6 points and 6.2 rebounds in his first season as a Buck as the team struggled to a 33-49 record.

After two more seasons as a role player in Milwaukee, Gilliam played one more season for the Utah Jazz before retiring from the NBA.

Gilliam finished his career with averages of 13.7 points and 6.9 rebounds per game.

Jeremy Schmidt writes the Milwaukee Bucks blog Bucksketball.com. Follow him on Twitter.

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E’Twaun Moore was the elder statesman of the bunch. He’s only the third Big Ten player to accumulate 2,000 points, 500 rebounds and 400 assists for his career. His senior year, he averaged 18 points on 44.7 percent shooting. His prolific college career may have been a thorn in the side of many Wisconsin Badger fans, but Moore is a proven producer. One problem Moore may have is finding his position in the NBA.  He’s been touted as a point guard for most of his career, but his play may be much closer to that of a two. It was Moore’s job at the workouts to cover Alec Burks. McKinney felt that Moore was underrated defensively and challenged Burks well.

Forward Markieff Morris is slightly different from his brother Marcus Morris. Markieff is less versatile than Marcus. On Wednesday, McKinney felt Marcus could play both forward spots, while Markieff is a traditional power forward. Markieff displays a little less offensive skill than his brother, but is a better defender with the ability to hit some mid-range jumpers and provide support on the boards.

Tristan Thompson is certainly a very good player. “Just absolutely love Tristan Thompson the way he plays, the way he approaches the game. He always plays like he’s a pit bull that hasn’t been fed in about a year and that you’ve got pork chops in your pockets and that’s the basketball,” said McKinney. That’s very strong language. But the problem is that the Bucks already have a lot of bodies in the frontcourt. Thompson is aware of the Bucks frontcourt situation and was very positive in his answer about it. He said he’d be honored to be just “another tool in the toolbox.” Defensively, Thompson is as good as they come out of college. He does need a lot more work to polish his offensive game. The Bucks offense can’t afford another player like that and their defense can do without.

Cory Joseph and Chris Wright battled in the other guard position. Wright boasts a much more impressive college career. Joseph is a more enticing physical specimen who oozes that natural point guard gene everyone loves.

***Alec Burks***

Burks is the frontrunner to go to the Bucks in several mock drafts. So it’s good to hear him say he thinks he can fit well with the team and likes the city didn’t say too much in his interview. It doesn’t amount to much, but it’s good to hear.

On his strengths, both Burks and McKinney talked about the ability to draw contact and get to the free throw line. McKinney also talked about Burks ability to create his own shot. “He’s kind of a slashing-type player, really smooth the way he handles the ball, but has a knack of being able to initiate contact, get into the paint and get to the foul line, which is a good thing. He’s a really good athlete and one of the things that we asked him, when he does finish, typically, he finishes not always over people as you see some of the more explosive guards do, but that doesn’t mean he’s not an explosive player.”

It’s great that Burks doesn’t expose himself in the paint. A lot of brutal things can happen down low. But sometimes, I need my highlights. The only important thing is that Burks finishes and creates. He showed great finishing ability in the workout, but gauging someone’s passing ability is a tricky business in a three-on-three game.

Ian Segovia writes for the Milwaukee Bucks blog Bucksketball.com. Follow him on Twitter.

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With that in mind, I’m making a fairly big announcement concerning the future of Bucksketball.  We’re hiring.  Yup, after two years, I’ve decided it is time to expand and lighten my heavy load just a bit.  I’m still going to be doing the majority of writing here at this little blog, but I think for the good of the site (and in turn, myself), I need to bring on some help.

So here’s what I’d like, in e-mail form, from anyone, anywhere who is foolish enough to consider working with me and writing about Milwaukee’s fledgling basketball franchise:

Contact information (Name, number, e-mail)
Writing Experience
Writing Sample
Any relevant education
What qualifies you
Why you’re interested and what you’re interested in making out of this

And that’s it.  I don’t care how old you are, or where you’re from.  All I’m looking for is a talented writer or two that is willing to write a few times a week and interested in quality analysis of NBA basketball.  I want people to apply who have open minds.  People who are willing to do their best to be unbiased writing and people that care about writing and basketball.

I can’t make any promises about what will happen if you’re selected, but I think you’ll enjoy it, and I think some cool things will happen.

Applications due Saturday.  So drop me a line: Jeremy@Bucksketball.com.

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This Keith Van Horn basketball would have been great for the Bucks fan in your life

Van Horn averaged 12.5 points over 58 games spread over two half seasons for the Bucks between 2004 and 2005.  Now, his autographed basketball is sold out memorabilia on the Bucks page at Fathead.com.  It’s been a great decade.

Jeremy Schmidt writes the Milwaukee Bucks blog Bucksketball.com.  Follow him on Twitter.  Then become a fan on Facebook (in the sidebar).

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That’s kind of where the Bucks offense is heading right now.

Finding offense hasn’t been easy for the Bucks this season.  They’ve looked and looked.  At various points of the season a much more Andrew Bogut-centric offensive game plan seemed like an answer, but that seems silly now.  Injuries sapped some of his effectiveness earlier in the season, and just when he appeared to be getting past those, he was felled with a mystery virus about a month ago that’s still plaguing him today.  Bogut said he’ll be getting more tests done to figure out just what’s wrong with him Thursday, but it doesn’t sound like he’s on his way out of the woods just yet.

The way his offense has suffered in the wake of coming down with whatever he’s come down with has made it natural for the Bucks to move elsewhere in their season long search for consistency.  John Salmons has given Milwaukee flashes of positive play and has been very accurate with his 3-point shot for the better part of two months.  But he missed Milwaukee’s game Wednesday against the Wizards with some hip soreness that has apparently been nagging at him for a while.  Aside from that, while he’s been shooting the three well, it’s still been a battle for him everywhere else and, last season removed, he doesn’t have a strong track record of being able to hoist an offense up on to his shoulders.

So it makes sense that Milwaukee may have found their most reliable offensive performer in the guy they brought in this summer to be a reliable offensive performer.  It’s your time to shine Corey Maggette.

Realistically, the Bucks as currently constructed are probably going to be around at least through the end of this season.  Everyone loves big, elaborate trades, but Milwaukee’s pieces aren’t going to be easy to move this year.  They have to be ready to ride it out and make the best of a less than ideal situation.  With Brandon Jennings and Carlos Delfino returning, they might be the right compliments to Maggette’s certain brand of basketball.

Removing the Heat game in which he played just seven minutes, Maggette has averaged 18.7 points per game on 53% shooting over his past six games.  I’ve been quick to write off Maggette’s scoring as something of a problem this season, noting that often when he scores 20 points, the Bucks lose.  But going forward, I see hope here, because it’s not all on Maggette.  If Maggette is scoring well and his teammates continue to shoot horribly, that’s not entirely his fault.  While some would argue that Maggette’s style of play alienates teammates on the court, all of that is forgotten if they are hitting shots.

Against the Wizards, the Bucks did just that.  Keyon Dooling and Earl Boykins combined to shoot 14 for 21 and five of six from 3-point territory.  It’s hard to expect they can continue to put up performances like that, but when Jennings, Salmons and Delfino are the other guards on the court with Maggette, suddenly his supporting cast could be making shots when he’s not driving to the hoop.

The shooters may never be a constant this season, but going forward, perhaps Maggette’s 20 points on 50% shooting will be.  With increased minutes lately, Maggette’s been much more productive.  One of the things limiting Maggette so much earlier this season was the actual limiting of his minutes.  Coach Scott Skiles said earlier this season he wanted to be smart with Maggette’s minutes, coming off off-season ankle surgery, and make sure he was fresh down the stretch.  As we head down the stretch, Maggette seems fresh, comfortable and, like the old Corey Maggette.

It’s not always roses and sunshine for Maggette on offense, that much has been proven this season.  He’s still only shooting 42% on the season and in his past six games, the ones when he shot well, he’s averaged 2.8 turnovers per.  Maggette’s always going to be a high usage, high turnover guy.  But, if he’s shooting well, those are vices that the Bucks can live with.  Given the few other players on the Bucks who have proven they can be relied upon throughout their career, it just may be time to ride his broad shoulders and hope for the best.

Jeremy Schmidt writes the Milwaukee Bucks blog Bucksketball.com.  Follow him on Twitter.  Then become a fan on Facebook (in the sidebar).

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