Goin’ alphabetical this season.  First half today, second half tomorrow.  Enjoy.

Earl Barron

Once finished a play
Coming out of timeout. Sad.
Clear role, in swamp O.

He was only in Milwaukee briefly, playing in seven March games, but he did well what he does.  He crashed the offensive glass and made mid-range jumpers.  He made seven of 16 shots from 16-23 feet and half of his 14 attempts at the rim.  On the Bucks, those qualified as stunning offensive numbers.  And it was a small sample size, but his 16% offensive rebound rate led the team.

Andrew Bogut

Kept on keeping on,
Through sickness and injury.
Offensive struggles.

So that was the season after the injury.  He struggled through the first few months, wore a bulky elbow pad and had us looking away as he missed free throw after free throw.  But he kept trotting out there every night, anchoring a terrific defense and occasionally contributing something offensively.  Next season will be an important one for Bogut.  It’s probably going to be the season where we all find out if he’s ever going to be an All-Star or not.  He’s had another surgery, it’s supposedly gone well and he should have most of the summer to work on his game.  Hopefully we’ll be able to tell in November.

Earl Boykins

Scores like a rabbit
Couldn’t be reliable.
Could be electric.

He won the Laker game.  And he did the same against the Kings.  And he did it a few more times, because that’s kind of what Earl Boykins does.  That’s why Boykins is such a quality third point guard.  He doesn’t need to play every night and won’t make much of a stink if he doesn’t.  But when he’s called on, Earl is ready.  That’s commendable.  On more than one occasion, Scott Skiles referred to Boykins as the best shooter on the team.  Unfortunately, it’s nearly impossible for him to get his shot off without a little bit of trickery or ball-handling involved.  And therein lies the reason Boykins is what he is: fun.
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As far as cliched buzzwords go, “doghouse” ranks with any as most commonly used during an NBA season.  A guy isn’t playing much and we can’t figure out why?  He’s in the doghouse.  His coach must have some sort of deep seated problem with him and that’s especially the case if a team is struggling and a guy isn’t playing.

But sometimes there’s more to it than that.  It’s simpler.  Or it’s more complicated. It depends how you want to frame it.  Whatever the case is, it seems like a good idea to go back through both the coach’s history and the player’s history to add some context to the situation.

That’s why I never really understood why people were often so adamant that Chris Douglas-Roberts should have been playing more minutes in Milwaukee as last season wound down.  Maybe it had something to do with his enthusiasm last summer about coming to Milwaukee.  As a city, we’re not the prettiest girl at the dance, so we generally get pretty excited when anyone is talking about us to their friends, even if it’s that guy who just had a nasty break-up with his ex and trashed her on the way out.

But the team seemed ready to move on from CD-R by late January.  Some thought that was crazy, others seemed to understand it.  Our initial feelings aside, there’s so much happening with a team that we’re not seeing.

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Let’s do some comparing and contrasting.

Player A averaged 18.3 points two years ago, but has never been within two points of that total for any other entire season of his career.  He came into the league as a point guard but quickly moved over to the wing in his rookie season.  His career assist percentage is 15.5, so he’s seen as a guy who keeps the ball moving on offense.  Solid is the word that most often describes his defense.  He’s not a bad guy to have around and he can occasionally carry a team.

Player B is a serious scoring threat.  Per 36 minutes, he’s averaged 20 points for his career.  A stat-geek’s best friend, his true shooting percentage and PER are always better than league average.  Though he’s traditionally not a strong outside shooter, he’s made better than 36% of his threes this season.  With each new stop, his defensive reputation precedes him and he’s seen as selfish offensively, despite a sterling locker room reputation.

Player A has played at least 30 minutes in all but six games he’s played in this season, while Player B has managed only 13 such games this season, his most recent coming February 11.

By now, you know I’m referring to John Salmons and Corey Maggette. At least you probably know, and you probably knew immediately.  But you’re probably wondering why I’d be comparing these two.  Salmons has spent the majority of his season at the two, while Maggette is more a three.  Whenever Carlos Delfino has been healthy this season, he’s been Maggette’s main competitor for minutes, not Salmons.  But this isn’t about competition.  It’s actually about last season and how sample size affected the Bucks.

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Once again, the good folks at Stubhub.com have been generous enough to provide Bucksketball.com with some Bucks tickets to giveaway to our readers.

In the comments section of this post, leave your prediction for tonight’s Bucks-Nets game.  Final score and both team’s top scorers.  The winner will receive FOUR tickets to Sunday’s Bucks-Knicks game in section 111, row GGG.

Don’t feel any pressure to pick Milwaukee either.  If you think they’ll lose, then you think they’ll lose.  I’m looking for the closest pick, not the homeriest pick (yes, I made that word up).

Onto a few quick notes about tonight’s game.
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There are a lot of players not playing in the NBA.  A lot of guys come to the arena night in and night out, prepare themselves, go through warm-ups, toss on a jersey and find themselves glued to the end of the bench all night long.  They do this night after night.  They’ll play here or there — blow outs are usually a strong opportunity for them — but they typically can safely assume they won’t be getting any run.

Not all these players are created equal though.  Some are veterans, some are rookies.  Some are big men, some are guards.  Some lack enough skills to earn regular minutes, while some have virtually no skill at all.

Often they earn the hearts of their team’s fans by not playing.  That’s right, these guys become fan favorites, not for what they are doing, but for what they aren’t doing.  They become the underdog, the guy who is denied an opportunity.  For a team like the Bucks (read: a team that has numerous players under-performing night in and night out), these players catch on even quicker.

The logic isn’t difficult to follow: “If John Salmons keeps playing this bad every night, why isn’t Chris Douglas-Roberts getting more of an opportunity?”  This isn’t crazy.  CD-R was a very good scorer in college, showed flashes last season and has had a couple 30-point games this season.  He suddenly dropped out of the rotation as January was ending just five games after his last 30-point effort.  Since his benching, he’s become something of a cult figure among Bucks fans.

But I think there’s a science to picking and choosing which players that have been relegated to the bench should be most adored.  It’s worthwhile to hope your favorite team starts playing some guys, while other guys are more or less a lost cause.

And I don’t mean to write CD-R off as an NBA player.  I just mean to write him off as a meaningful member of the Milwaukee Bucks.  But I don’t blame him.  It’s more them than him.

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