Talent? Check. Chemistry? To be determined.
Monday, August 23rd, 2010Regardless of who is discussing the moves the Bucks have made this past off-season, one thing they are sure to mention is the depth Milwaukee has added. At the conclusion of last season, the end of the Bucks bench featured an offensively challenged Royal Ivey, a coordinately challenged Primoz Brezec and Charlie Bell, who couldn’t even find a working alarm clock. While they were a group with some experience in the ways of the league, they certainly weren’t anyone’s idea of a great backup plan.
Now? The Bucks can look down to the end of the bench and see a mix of emerging talents and veterans. Keyon Dooling and Earl Boykins are steady, scoring point guards while Jon Brockman, Larry Sanders and Chris Douglas-Roberts are all looking to establish themselves in the league. And instead of one-year-contract retreads like Ivey and Brezec, Dooling and Brockman are sitting on multi-year deals with the Bucks. Even if they aren’t logging big minutes this season, they’re sure to at least collect a paycheck and have a home in the next couple years. At first glance, the backup situation is looking good in Milwaukee.
First glances have a way of deceiving though. They don’t quite tell the whole story. (more…)
Trader John has been on
Monday, August 2nd, 2010Since taking over as Milwaukee Bucks general manager on April 11, 2008, John Hammond has shown he’s not afraid to make a deal. I’d go as far as to say he’s probably talking about a trade right now. He’s made more trades in his tenure than I have in the last 10 dynasties I’ve done in NBA2K. In a little over two years at the helm, Hammond has made 12 trades. For perspective on that number, the Bucks last general manager, Larry Harris, made 11 trades in his entire term as general manager (July 2003- April 2008). But this shouldn’t be too surprising. Given the situation Hammond walked into when taking the Bucks job, trades were the only way out. Milwaukee was in salary cap hell with a roster full of under-performing, me first, offensive players.
Not every move has gone smoothly for Hammond. The initial acquisition of Richard Jefferson was a flashy way to start things off, but didn’t pan out. Had Michael Redd stayed healthy and Joe Alexander given the Bucks anything at all, maybe the story of Jefferson in Milwaukee plays out a little differently, but things ended as they did. Jefferson’s stock dropped so far so fast that only a year later, he was dealt for what looked like virtually nothing at the time.
Oddly enough though, it’s now possible to make a case that the Bucks won that deal. Kurt Thomas played a key role for Milwaukee down the stretch and Amir Johnson was a part of the deal that brought another starter, Carlos Delfino, to Milwaukee. Meanwhile, Jefferson is now looking at another $40 million plus coming his way and Johnson is locked in for $30 some million himself. Milwaukee arguably has the most productive player of those three in Delfino and is paying him by far the least. That looks like a win to me.
And that’s been a common theme in Hammond’s deals. Whether it’s a non-contributing Malik Allen going to Denver for Sonny Weems or a nearly worthless pick going to New Jersey for Chris Douglas-Roberts, Hammond has had a knack for buying low in the trade market. There are many reason’s why Milwaukee has turned things around so quickly, but Hammond’s aggressive moves in the trade market have played as significant a role as any. (more…)
Bucks sign Keyon Dooling
Monday, July 19th, 2010The Milwaukee Bucks have signed Keyon Dooling to a two-year-deal to backup Brandon Jennings.
After the departure of Luke Ridnour, backup point guard was the last hole on a roster that’s become incredibly deep this off-season. Heading into his 11th season, the 6-foot-3, 195 pound Dooling brings a different dimension to the point guard spot with size the Bucks did not have last season.
Despite the size advantage Dooling has over Ridnour, he’ll be stepping into some pretty big shoes. Ridnour surprised everyone with by far the best season of his career last year, posting a 17.7 PER while dropping jaws with a shooting percentage line of .478/.381/.909. Of course, that merely boosted Ridnour’s career numbers to .424/.347/.864, so it may be difficult for him to replicate last year’s stellar efforts. And without those shooting percentages, Ridnour becomes considerably less valuable. While he led the Bucks in assist percentage last season and generally showed tons of toughness, his size limits him to having success guarding point guards only.
Dooling likely won’t be able to match what Ridnour did offensively last season, but it stands to reason that he can give the Bucks nearly exactly what Ridnour would give them in a typical Luke Ridnour season. Dooling has a career true shooting percentage of .516 and a career effective field goal percentage of .464. Nearly identical are Ridnour’s career numbers of .512 and .463 respectively.
Essentially, the only area in which one could expect Ridnour to easily outshine Dooling next season is free-throw shooting. Ridnour’s career percentage from the line is .864, while Dooling lags slightly behind at .798. Ridnour helped seal a number of games down the line last season, but with a season of work under Jennings belt and the full season additions of John Salmons and Corey Maggette, it seems safe to say Ridnour wouldn’t be needed at the end of games as much. (more…)
It’s all love for Chris Douglas-Roberts
Friday, July 16th, 2010When I spoke with him after Thursday’s summer league game, Chris Douglas-Roberts made it very clear why he had some struggles by the time the season rolled around last year.
“I’m extremely competitive, extremely,” CDR said.
And I’ve seen that side of him before. Within seconds of hearing about the Chris Douglas-Roberts to Milwaukee rumors, I thought of the Nets trip to Milwaukee last November 18th.
Things weren’t pretty. The Nets were in the process of blowing yet another lead and Douglas-Roberts was none to pleased about it. He was openly shouting at teammates and his coaches, but in a way that struck me as different. This wasn’t someone simply being a jerk and blaming his teammates, he seemed to just so badly want to avoid another loss that he had a hard time keeping it together when the game was slipping away. I caught up with CDR after last night’s summer league game.
“Yeah, I remember that game. We hadn’t won a game. And we were up, up like 12,” said Douglas-Roberts. “It was the beginning of the second half and we were letting a lead slip. (Assistant coach) Doug Overton was saying, just play, don’t worry about the calls, just play. But I just didn’t want to lose that game. Especially when we were up 12.”
I wish I could in print put as much emphasis on the sentence “but I just didn’t want to lose that game” in writing as Douglas-Roberts did when he said it. The monkey on the back of New Jersey at that point was getting bigger and bigger and with the injuries they were facing, it was CDR that was feeling a lot of the pressure. Despite his best efforts, they did lose the lead, and the game. CDR finished with 31 points and was as interested in the game as any Net.
Actually, he was interested in more than the game. (more…)
Filling Out the Bucks Summer Roster
Saturday, June 26th, 2010UPDATE: Chris Douglas-Roberts tweets to Frank Madden of Brewhoop he won’t be playing in summer league.
The dust has settled and the first stage of the off season is complete. With that, the Bucks summer league roster begins to take shape.
SG: Alando Tucker
Tucker was confirmed some time ago.
SF: Darington Hobson
The Bucks first pick of the second round should be in attendance.
PF: Tiny Gallon
The Bucks second pick of the second round should be in attendance.
PF: Larry Sanders
Summer league presents a great opportunity for first round picks like Sanders to make a good impression on coaching staffs and fan bases en route to a successful season. Sanders athleticism should do him well come mid-July.
PF: Darnell Jackson
Jackson has the leg up on every other member of the squad in terms of experience with the Bucks, but will have his hands full in vying for one of the final bench spots come training camp. A productive summer league stint would be helpful for him.
After those six, nothing is official at the moment yet for Milwaukee. I’d expect to see Trevon Hughes be added to the roster eventually, but that has yet to be confirmed. So who else might Milwaukee be looking to take along to Vegas? Here’s a list of players Milwaukee brought in for workouts that went undrafted and as of now, remain unsigned. This isn’t the complete list, but what I feel represents the more talented members of the group or players that have worked out twice (Ricky Franklin and Jerry Smith).
PF – Charles Garcia
C – A.J. Ogilvy
SF – Anthony Mason Jr.
SG – Aubrey Coleman
PG – Nic Wise
SG – Jerry Smith
SG – Ricky Franklin
Of that particular group, I’d say Smith, Garcia and Coleman probably are the most likely to at least get an invitation to try out for the team. Milwaukee may fill a couple slots with some journeymen looking to stick or players coming back over from Europe for the summer. More on this when updates become available.
