Draft day begins with a bang for Milwaukee Bucks fans. All week we heard the Bucks were itching to make a move, but not necessarily just dump salary. So that’s how we got here. Milwaukee is bringing in the talented, but volatile, Stephen Jackson along with Shaun Livingston and Beno Udrih and the number 19 pick in today’s draft. Out the door head Corey Maggette and John Salmons (much to the delight of Bucks fans I’m sure).

The salary info:

Over the length of all of the deals involved, the Bucks will save $8,238,357 and the difference between the salaries of the 19 and 10 picks.

But this isn’t just a salary dump.

The Bucks appear to thrive with guards and forwards capable of handling the ball and making plays for others. Once upon a time, that’s how Salmons endeared himself so much to the franchise. After coming over from the Bulls, he drove and kicked right into the hearts and minds of Bucks fans. Not last year though. Last year he was more than a step slow and lacked any explosion whatsoever. A younger, cheaper Beno Udrih will attempt to slide into a fraction of that role he once played so well.

Udrih can spend time splitting between the one and the two — he’s a scoring point that should be able to move over in Milwaukee’s system, so long as he can keep his head above water defensively.

Livingston is, was and always will be as pure of a point guard as a point guard can be. His passing instincts are exceptional and his height gives him the ability to read defense like a quarterback. His length can help him with some point guards defensively, but his size can be exploited by the smaller quicker variety of point guard (think JJ Barea).

Milwaukee’s true success in this deal (unless you count escaping from the burdensome contract of Salmons as its true success), was swapping out Maggette for Stephen Jackson.

Yes, he’s crazy and yes, he was ejected within minutes of his last appearance at the Bradley Center, but Jackson can play ball. More importantly, he’s a much better fit on the court than the single-minded Maggette. Despite his reputation as a shoot first, last and always player, Jackson is actually a fairly accomplished passer. Last season he assisted on 18.4% of his possession, a monstrous number when compared to the 11.3% Maggette posted. He’s better in terms of creation of offense for the entire team and creating offense was a huge flaw for last season’s Bucks.

For now, this doesn’t appear much of a failure or success for the Bucks. They’ve acquired a couple players who seem like they may be better fits than the players they disposed of. Whether or not that will pan out, we’ll know when the ball drops next season. Milwaukee without question is saving some cash and appears to have improved on a personnel front. Whether the savings and the “right now” improvements will balance out moving down from 10 to 19 we won’t know for quite some time.

So now appears to be time to wait and see. It’s all we can do.

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

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Chad Ford with the apparently final information on a crazy deal:

Bucks get Beno, Stephen Jackson, Shaun Livingston & 19. Bobcats get pick 7 & Maggette. Kings get 10 & John Salmons.

Whoa … again.

***

Minutes after Gery Woelfel’s tweet on the Bucks and the Kings, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! tweeted the Bobcats would be involved in a three way deal. He’s now updated involving players:

Partial of deal: The Bucks get Stephen Jackson, Shaun Livingston, sources say. Charlotte gets the 7th pick and Corey Maggette.

Whoa.

***

First the Observer, and then this. Gery Woelfel has Tweeted a rather big piece of news:

Bucks appear to have deal with Sacamento for No. 7

No word yet on who is involved or the specifics.

***

Here’s an old one (and by old, I mean I added this and started this page roughly two minutes ago and it’s already irrelevant). This one’s from the Charlotte Observer:

There are definitely serious talks going on between the Charlotte Bobcats and Milwaukee Bucks. Don’t know all the particulars yet, but it sounds like the Bobcats could end with the 10th pick and maybe send No. 19 to Milwaukee.

The article goes on to mention the similarities in the contracts of Corey Maggette and Stephen Jackson. Do with that what you will.

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

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Now that I am done squinting my eyes trying to find something positive about the Bucks forward play this season, I can relax a little bit and let the players do most of the work for me. This is possible because to be frank, the forward play from the team in the 10-11 season was despicable.

John Hammond looked at the 09-10 team, saw they needed to get to the line more and could use a true power forward, and went out and got Corey Maggette and Drew Gooden. On paper, those were perfect moves. But, as the cliché goes, NBA games aren’t played on paper. Let’s take a look at everything the forwards did wrong last year.

• The chemistry killer

One of the main reasons the Bucks made it to the playoffs in 2010 was the team’s chemistry. Everybody seemed to like each other, or at least could play well together. Veterans like Kurt Thomas and Jerry Stackhouse brought wisdom from many years in the League. Players bought into what Scott Skiles was trying to do and played with fire.

So what happened this year?

Thomas and Stackhouse were gone, that certainly played a role. But an even bigger chemistry killer arrived from the west coast. The man with the guns for arms and face like Xzibit arrived in a summer trade and was able to whittle away at any good feelings the Bucks may have had by January.

Maggette was brought to the Bucks for his scoring prowess and ability to get to the free throw line. Even if you just look at the numbers and don’t consider chemistry, Maggette’s addition was a failure. A team that finished last in free throws made in the 09-10 season made a measly move to 27th. Maggette failed to do what he usually did best. He made 460 of 551 free throws his last season in Golden State. While his percentage remained almost the same in Milwaukee, his attempts and makes plummeted. He converted only 271 of 325 attempts form the charity stripe.

Look closer and you will see the culprit. Maggette played 10 less minutes per game this season compared to last. And why did he not get on the court as much? He never truly grasped what Skiles was trying to do and could not gel with the rest of his Bucks teammates. While stories leaked out throughout the season about the toxic atmosphere found in the locker room, you only had to look at Maggette’s on court demeanor to understand what was going on. Whether it was lowering his shoulder to barrel through a defender instead of passing to a wide-open teammate or appearing aloof during crunch time, it seems clear that Maggette’s heart never arrived in Milwaukee with the rest of his body.

• Fragile as they come

While I am hesitant to call the Bucks the most injury riddled team in the NBA (the Portland Trail Blazers might have something to say about that), without a doubt the number of injuries incurred by the team over the course of the season played a role in the team’s win total.

Out of any position, it seemed like it was hardest to keep the forwards healthy this season. Let’s do a quick rundown of the injuries:

1. Delfino missed 33 total games. Thirty-two after his neck strain and the concussion like symptoms that accompanied it and one with a rib contusion.
2. Gooden missed 43 games with left foot plantar fasciitis.
3. Ilyasova missed 22 total games. Twenty-one during his mysterious disappearance at the end of the season after suffering a concussion and one from a right eye contusion.
4. Maggette was out seven games due to left ankle soreness, concussion-like symptoms, lower back pain and a sore right knee.
5. Mbah a Moute stayed relatively healthy, missing three games due to a right ankle injury and the flu.

As any math whiz reading this already figured out, that is 108 combined games missed due to injury at the forward position. It is hard for any team to be successful when players you expect to make major contributions miss that much time. To make matters worse, both Ilyasova and Gooden were out with injury at the same time for a significant portion of the second half of the season. Two players the Bucks counted on for minutes at the power forward position were down with injury from February 26 until March 20.

This undoubtedly gave Skiles quite the headache and made it hard for him to effectively play the match ups he desired.

• They are being paid how much?

And now that brings us to what I think is the biggest problem at forward, the money Milwaukee is paying these guys. To be accurate, only two forwards are actually signed to bad contracts, but my oh my, are they awful deals. Of course, I am talking about the money owed to Gooden and Maggette.

Let’s start with our man Maggette. His selfishness on the court and apparent divisiveness off of it gets worse when you realize the Bucks might have to put up with it for two more years. Maggette is owed $21 million over those final two seasons. Ouch. While it is hard to believe he will be back next year, Hammond is going to have a heck of a time unloading him with a contract like that.

Depending on who you ask, the four years and $26 million remaining on Gooden’s deal might be even worse. He may put up decent numbers and show flashes of superb talent, but is he really worth that much money? In the last year of his contract, Gooden will be 33 years old and you have to believe his production will decline as the time goes by. Even if his play doesn’t drop off, there is a reason he has been on nine teams over the course of his career.

To muddle the contract situation further, Moute’s cap-friendly deal expires after the 11-12 season. He will surely demand more than the $1.2 million he will be paid next year if his contract is extended.

Good luck Hammond!

Josh Hilgendorf writes for the Milwaukee Bucks blog Bucksketball.com. Follow him on Twitter. Become a fan on Facebook (right sidebar).

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- Jeremy Schmidt

It is hard to find many positives on a team that failed to meet almost a single person’s expectations in the 2010-11 season. It is even harder to find positives among a group of forwards that were constantly missing games due to injury. Even if healthy, there was not a lot of consistency to be found here.

For every great Luc Mbah a Moute stop, we had to watch Drew Gooden’s clueless attempt to rotate on defense. For every Carlos Delfino 3-pointer, we were forced to witness Corey Maggette’s head down, “I’m not going to pass the ball even if my life depended on it,” one-man wrecking crew attempt at getting to the rim.

However, no matter how bad a team is, if you look hard enough, you are bound to find something to get excited about.

• Luc Mbah a Moute’s defense

Bucks fans have known since Moute’s rookie season that he could man up on the League’s premier offensive players. From the beginning he was guarding players of all shapes and sizes. Whether it was Chris Bosh, Paul Pierce or LeBron James, Moute secured playing time that first season because of his effort, and often success, on defense.

After bursting on the scene as a second round surprise, it seems like Moute got lost in the shuffle this season. However, those paying the closest attention saw him still guarding the team’s best player, whether that be a small forward, power forward or even center on occasion.

While his stats will probably never blow you away, Moute finished the season above the league average in almost all major defensive categories. He did have a few eye-opening games numbers wise, contributing five steals to the Bucks season high 16 against the Sixers in April and pulling down 19 rebounds against the Warriors in February. All told, according to 82games.com, the Bucks gave up two more points per 100 possessions when Moute was on the bench compared to when he was on the court. While this is down from the almost five more points the Bucks gave up without him during his rookie season, it still illustrates the importance Moute plays in the Bucks defensive game plan.

It is also worth mentioning that Moute played in the most games among the forwards this season. He saw action in 79 contests, with the next closest being Maggette with 67 games played.

• Delfino’s 3-point shooting

The Bucks were only slightly better at shooting 3-pointers than they were shooting in general, ranking 24th in 3-point shooting percentage (34 percent) and dead last in overall field goal percentage (43 percent). Nearly everyone on the Bucks shot below the league average for 3-point percentage except Earl Boykins, John Salmons and Delfino. Out of those three, Boykins only attempted 71 threes, while Salmons hoisted up 219. Delfino on the other hand shot 284 while playing in only 49 games due to injury. As you can see, on a team devoid of reliable outside shooters, Delfino was one of the few that could be counted on.

While shooting 37 percent from behind the arc isn’t going to win you an award anytime soon, Delfino was one of the only Bucks that defenses had to pay attention to from long range.

When looking at Delfino’s shooting numbers, you also have to keep in mind that the man missed 32 straight games due to a concussion suffered on November 6. Once back from injury, it understandably took several weeks for Delfino to find his legs again. You began to see how deadly the Argentinean lady killer could be toward the end of March. Against the Nets on March 18, Delfino went eight for 11 from three. From that game until the end of the season, he was hitting shots from behind the arc at a 45 percent clip. While Delfino’s contract is unguaranteed for next season, those are the kind of numbers you have to hope for if he is brought back.

• Flashes of Gooden

Don’t shoot me just yet. Yes, I know Gooden was a bonehead. Yes, I know (despite his best efforts) he was pretty lackluster on defense. But you know, sometimes the guy just played really well. He displayed a decent array of post moves, showed a surprising touch from midrange and made enough deft passes to be adequate. It would be easy to point to Gooden’s April 9 triple double against Cleveland as evidence of his ability, but he was more than a one game wonder.

In fact, other than Boykins and Andrew Bogut, Gooden’s PER of 15.91 was tops on the team. His 22.9 defensive rebound rate was second to Bogut and his 9.6 offensive rebound rate was behind only Jon Brockman and the Aussie. While saying Gooden had some of the best ratings on the Bucks might be like saying Vinny had the most intelligence on Jersey Shore, you can’t deny the guy has talent.

As long as he doesn’t bring back that tuft of hair on the back of his neck, Gooden at least deserves a chance next season.

Josh Hilgendorf writes for the Milwaukee Bucks blog Bucksketball.com. Follow him on Twitter. Become a fan on Facebook (right sidebar).

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Continued to scrap
One of the walking wounded
Lost his long ball touch

Every NBA player needs a card to play that makes him unique.  Ilyasova’s appeared to be his combination of scrappy play with a solid touch from three-point range.  After last season, Coach Scott Skiles talked of his hopes that Ilyasova would turn into a 37-38% shooter from three.  That didn’t pan out.  Ilyasova took a step back as a shooter, falling to sub-30% from deep.  Going forward, that’ll be where Ilyasova must straighten himself out.  He was among the team’s leaders in charges taken, but he’ll never be the defender Mbah a Moute is at the four, and his rebounding is no better than average.

Brandon Jennings

Question of import:
Did his development stall?
Most pressing issue

Watching Chris Paul terrorize the Lakers is frustrating as a Bucks fan.  Size wise, Paul is no bigger than Jennings.  Maybe he’s a bit thicker, but he seems to have a sense ingrained in him about what to do and when to do it.  Jennings may not have that, but he could still be an effective player.  Some are jumping ship on him already, others are giving him a bit more string.  But after his third year, we’ll probably have a fairly good idea about whether or not Jennings is the right guy at the point guard position for the Bucks.  This will be a huge off-season for him.

Corey Maggette

On a losing team
Designated driver was
Pulled over as well

Brought in to even out the Bucks free throw numbers, Maggette largely did his thing.  Per 36 minutes, he attempted 8.4 free throws per game — in line with his 8.7 per game numbers per 36 for his career.  But he had trouble earning consistent minutes down the stretch, as Skiles went largely exclusively with John Salmons and Carlos Delfino at the wings.  Maggette had his moments before that — the game at Golden State comes to mind — but for whatever reason, he could never earn his coach’s trust.  Milwaukee may look to move him this summer, but it doesn’t appear that he’s pressed the issue just yet.  He was largely regarded as a positive teammate and got praise for just being a good guy.  In the NBA though, that’s not enough.

Luc Mbah a Moute

Offense of three years
Still a work in progress. But
Defense is fine tuned.

In his third year, his offensive numbers were eerily similar to those of his rookie season.  His playing time at the four was squeezed when the Bucks were at their healthiest and when Carlos Delfino was out, Mbah a Moute had to fill in at the three quite a bit.  This was fine defensively, but offensively, it was as bad a fit for him as ever.  He’ll be a restricted free agent whenever the off-season starts, we’ll see how much Milwaukee values his defensive contributions then.

Michael Redd

A touching comeback.
After so long, could move on.
A hopeful future.

Redd went out scoring 11 points in Oklahoma City.  He wasn’t able to lead the Bucks back from the depths they sunk to this season, only earning modest playing time until the team was officially eliminated.  His injuries have taken a lot out of him physically, but he still seems to have the same positive attitude that’s gotten him this far.  I don’t doubt that Redd can stick on a team’s rotation next season, but he’ll need to figure out his three-point shooting.  He made just four of 17 this season and struggled last season as well.

John Salmons

Oh my the struggles.
Crumbled under contract’s weight.
Needs to build back up.

When blame is being divvied out, Salmons has been more than willing to take his share.  And he’s more than deserving of that same share.  He spent most of the season with a sub-40% field goal percentage, a disastrous number from a player that was assumed to take on the biggest role offensively on the team.

Larry Sanders

Long with many tools.
Now, dangerous shot-blocker.
Leaves us wanting more.

Sanders minutes fluctuated, presumably with his attention to detail.  There were time when we’d see Sanders catch a tongue lashing while on the court from Coach Skiles and times in which he was pulled, instructed and re-inserted immediately.  It was a learning season for him.  But he seemed to be getting better all the time.  He’s always willing to taken an open 18-foot jump shot, the next steps for him are making those more often and building an attack move off of that.  If he can take those two steps in cohesion before next season, there may be a lot of minutes available for him.  He’s already a premier shot-blocker.

Brian Skinner

Always good soldier
Two games, no attempts.
Still, had a cool beard.

Skinner hung around Milwaukee and got a job when the team was a little thin up front.  He drives a huge Hummer and looked capable during the pre-season.  Seems unlikely he’ll ever have a regular NBA job again though.

Garrett Temple

Had chance, mixed results.
Bright guy, quick learner. Had flaws.
Errant shot. Could stick.

Temple seemed to get it while he was out there.  He just couldn’t get his shots to fall with much regularity while with the Bucks.  That was a problem for him wherever he was in the NBA this season.  He shot less than 30% on the year, that’s not going to cut it for a fringe player who looks like he’ll be makings his bones on defense.  That’s all well and good, but even the best defenders must be below average offensive players.  Not completely abysmal offensive players.

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

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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.

For 30 games last season, John Salmons was everything the Bucks could have ever wanted at the two guard.  He slashed, he finished, he made threes, he found teammates and he closed out games.  More than anyone else, Salmons was responsible for the team that earned the Fear The Deer moniker and had everyone talking about the Bucks.  This was the second season in a row that Salmons took off after a mid-February trade, so there was some reason to be skeptical regarding how productive he would be in the season following.  But he seemed such a natural fit for Scott Skiles wing reliant offense.  He could create and score, that’s an ideal Skiles two guard.

This season, the bottom has fallen out for Salmons.  He showed up to training camp and immediately suffered a knee injury.  He missed all of pre-season and still occasionally seems as though he hasn’t recovered.  Any explosion he had last season looks sapped and all of the difficult shots he so regularly made last season haven’t gone down this one.  After hitting 47% of his shots for the Bucks last season, Salmons has made just 40% this season.

The most frustrating moments with Salmons come on nights like Saturday.  In a meaningless game, Salmons drops in 19 points and eight assists, but ends up with two turnovers and a missed shot in the final 5:33.  The Bucks have needed him to step up all season, and occasionally have gotten terrific overall lines that indicate he’s moving the ball and playing well, but haven’t gotten the same fourth quarter production out of him.  But that hasn’t changed much about Salmons role.

He’s still relied on nearly heavily as he was last season, as evidenced by only a slight drop in his usage with the Bucks last season to this one (22.7 to 20.8).  And his minutes haven’t much been impacted either.  After averaging 37.6 minutes per game with the Bucks for the final 30 last year, he’s notched 35 minutes per game this season, despite being significantly less productive.

So that begs the question: What would Salmons have to do to land in Maggette’s predicament?  Walk off the court?  Gain possession and roll the ball out of bounds continuously?  Last season’s stretch run seems to have bought Salmons an incredible amount of faith, as much as any other player on the Bucks.  40, 50 and 60 game samples this season have largely resulted in an unproductive set of data regarding Salmons, but he’s continued to receive big minutes for a team that hasn’t been performing.

This probably speaks to how desperate things have been for the Bucks and how little other shooting guards on the team have stepped up.  The opportunity has been there for Chris Douglas-Roberts, but he apparently hasn’t done enough to earn his coach’s trust.  And I’m not speaking solely in terms of what’s going on on the court.  Something that John Salmons is doing each and every day is keeping him on the court for big minutes.  Coach Skiles and players on the team have spoken about this group not being prepared on a number of occasions this season.  Perhaps Salmons is taking those steps while the Bucks reserves haven’t quite figured out how to keep themselves as ready mentally and physically as their coach would prefer.

Whatever the case may be, Milwaukee’s suffered badly at the shooting guard this season as Salmons has struggled.  For now, it’s easy to look back on that 30 game sample and curse the good fortune that came with it.  But perhaps there is a silver lining.  After seeing what hasn’t worked this season, maybe the Bucks will address their depth issues and find a more productive backup guard, ready to push Salmons if he slumps again next season.  Maybe the Bucks will luck out in the lottery and find a swingman equally as capable of the scoring and distributing duties Salmons once took to so easily.  If that’s the case, this season will be the aberration.

But however you want to look at it, there’s been no comparing this season’s Bucks to last season’s.  And that starts with John Salmons.

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

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Just like that, the Bucks can now head quietly into the night.  A night filled with meaningless basketball for a half month.

Everyone has spent a great deal of time focusing on Milwaukee’s questionable final 30 seconds of their 89-88 loss to the Indiana Pacers Friday night.  First, Coach Scott Skiles opting not to foul with the Bucks down one with 26.7 seconds left and second, Milwaukee’s final shot, a desperation Drew Gooden three as the buzzer sounded.  If you’ve watched these Bucks under Skiles for some time though, the decision not to foul shouldn’t be a surprise.  So long as there is time to get off a shot, he’s rarely fouled in situations like these during his Bucks career.  That didn’t leave time for anything more than a quick shot, regardless of who was going to take it, but it really isn’t even worth debating.  That’s just how things will be here.

But there were far more damning aspects of Friday evening’s game.

Take the entire second quarter for example.  After an okay start combined with an abysmal one from the Pacers, Milwaukee had an incredible opportunity coming into the second quarter.  An eight point lead and the chance to tack some more on to try and blow this thing open before halftime.  But the Bucks came out bumbling once again, making just six of 25 shots in the quarter while playing ineffective defense.  They dropped the second quarter 32-17 and faced a seven point deficit going into halftime.

After the starters gave up six quick points in the third quarter, Coach Skiles went desperate, bringing in Corey Maggette, Earl Boykins and Gooden to attempt to spark a lifeless club.  Regardless of how you feel about the minutes Maggette has received over the past couple weeks and your general feelings on Boykins, this was a terrible sign.  In a game the Bucks absolutely had to have, Milwaukee resorted to the end of their bench minutes into the third quarter because its starters were so outplayed by an average Pacer team.

In the most important game of the year.

The game the Bucks had been talking up the past few days and had really been on everyone’s mind all week, was apparently no cause for improved play among the Bucks starting five.  The group that had regularly been seeing 40 minutes a game, lost their coaches confidence minutes into the third quarter of this game.

As much as anything, THAT sums up this season.  Not that last unfortunate, erratic Gooden shot or Skiles stubborn decision making with the game on the line.  It was the Bucks never failing ability this season to be inexplicably incapable offensively at any and all times, be it the second game of the year against the T-Wolves or the last important one against the Pacers.

Offense

Kudos to Maggette for being ready though.  As painful as it is to watch him hurl his body into defenders, the veteran saddled with as many DNP-CD’s lately as he’s probably had in his whole career was ready when called on Friday night.  Maggette logged 22 minutes, made four of six shots, one three on one attempt, four of six free throws and scored 13 points, all coming in the second half.  As much as ever, Maggette did his thing Friday.  And as usual, the Bucks lost while he did it.  Of course, he has been on the bench and the Bucks have been losing as much as ever recently anyway, so it’s probably not fair to blame Maggette.

• Andrew Bogut spent part of the day with an IV in his arm getting fluids thanks to a flu bug that was bothering him.  But he responded to the challenge in front of him Friday night, scoring 16 points on seven of 11 shooting before fouling out in the fourth quarter.  With Bogut sitting the majority of the second quarter, Milwaukee’s defense fell apart and its offense did the usual awful things it does at least once a game.  When Bogut entered with 5:48 to play in the quarter, the Bucks sat down one after having established an eight point lead.

• Brandon Jennings made just four of 12 shots in the first half, but it seemed like he was playing a better game than that.  After a benching in the third quarter for what seemed to be poor effort defensively, he returned and balanced the numbers to match his play.  Jennings finished eight of 18 from the field, with 20 points, seven rebounds and three assists.

Defense

Gooden takes a lot of heat.  It may be because in 30 minutes a game, his flaws are on display as often as his strengths are.  But as a 20 minute or so player, there is certainly some strong upside to Gooden.  As usual, Gooden was very active on the glass Friday night, grabbing a team high eight defensive rebounds and 10 overall.  Yes, he shot three for 11 as that smooth jumper he displayed Wednesday abandoned him Friday, but Friday was more an example that there probably is a spot on this roster for Gooden.  Just not the one his pay may indicate.

Final Thoughts

Playoff talk can now officially stop.  Mathematically, no, the Bucks aren’t eliminated.  But practically, they are.

So let the debate reign about whether it was injuries or the group itself that torpedoed the Bucks chemistry this season and stopped their season before it ever got started.

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

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But until they do, those questions are not of much concern to Scott Skiles.  At least publicly.  While his team battled through injures all season, Skiles has repeatedly refused to speculate on how he would divy up minutes upon the return of various players, from Chris Douglas-Roberts and Carlos Delfino earlier in the year to Redd and Gooden now.  Skiles words to the Journal-Sentinel Tuesday afternoon were in line with the comments he’s made throughout the season: “We’ll see what we do tomorrow night. We’ll see who’s healthy and who can go, and go from there.”

Milwaukee is not taking health for granted and is not looking ahead.  Skiles especially.  Milwaukee’s coach doesn’t seem to be worried about bruised egos or ominous acronyms.  If a player is left with nothing but a DNP-CD next to his name at the end of a game, it isn’t necessarily because that player hasn’t landed in a dog house or did something wrong, especially this season.  Having spent an entire season searching for groups that play well together, Skiles isn’t likely to break up any on court chemistry the Bucks are able to muster up at this point simply to get someone minutes every night.

So while Redd and Gooden would surely love to jump back in and pour in 30 productive minutes for the Bucks every night, don’t expect such a dramatic overhaul to happen over night.  Simply look at the case of Corey Maggette.

At times this season, Maggette has appeared to be the Bucks most efficient offensive option.  On this Bucks squad, with players across the roster struggling to make even the most open of shots, that hasn’t been some monumental feat, but it’s happened.  So it strikes many as odd that Maggette has now found himself having not played by coaches’ decision in five of the Bucks last game.  But what happened earlier this year seems to have little bearing on the decisions being made now as the Bucks try and stay alive in the race for the final playoff spot in the East.

It’s not a personal thing and it isn’t a case of Maggette’s negatives outweighing his positives.  It just may be a case of his teammates playing too well for him to get in.

In each of the five games Maggette has not played, Milwaukee, with four of the wins having come by a double digit margin.  The logic here isn’t that not playing Maggette allows the Bucks to win by 10, but it seems to be that when the Bucks starting unit and bench players that are playing of late are playing well, Coach Skiles doesn’t want to break those groups up just to get Maggette minutes.  He’s looking to keep players that are playing well on the floor.

What does that mean for Maggette, Redd, Gooden and even Ersan Ilyasova?  That remains to be seen. If Milwaukee’s core group continues to play well, there won’t be many minutes available, especially on the wings.  The recent play of John Salmons and Delfino indicates they may be finding their strides that made them so dangerous last year.  If they keep that up, each is a sure bet to grab 35 minutes of playing time every night down the stretch.

Up front there is at least the uncertainly of the night to night performance of Jon Brockman and Larry Sanders, two players much less proven and more prone to being pulled.  Minutes could open up for Gooden and Ilyasova up front as they return to action.

As Redd’s return becomes closer and closer to a reality, it seems safe to at the very least, expect a cursory appearance, simply as a reward for all of the hard work he’s done to get back, but Redd may not want to get too comfortable on the floor just yet.  Like Corey Maggette, he may soon find his role upon return from the injured list won’t be all that unfamiliar.

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

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Over the years, the NBA trade deadline has been blamed for a lot of bad basketball.  A great example of this phenomenon came roughly a year ago, right here in Milwaukee.

At that point, the Bucks hadn’t started that second half surge that birthed the Fear the Dear mantra.  They wouldn’t acquire John Salmons until later that night.  It was actually his rumored deal that seemed to have some players on edge. With rumors swirling about, Milwaukee had one of their worst performances of the season when they lost to the Houston Rockets 127-99.  After the game the talk was of the possible Salmons trade — who would be heading out, which draft picks would exchange hands — not the loss that seemed out of place after a strong run of games by the Bucks.

NBA players are human beings, susceptible to the same lapses in focus that any of us are.  That was the explanation on trade deadline eve last season, and it seemed more than reasonable.  Especially after the Bucks played so well for the remainder of the season.

Fast forward a year (and five days).  With very little trade talk surrounding the team, there was no indication that any key players for the Bucks were too concerned about being shipped out, though you wouldn’t know that from the Bucks performance.  The same problem that has plagued the team like a bad virus all season followed the Bucks back to Milwaukee after the All-Star break.  This time it invaded during a win though, so face was largely saved.  But for the 24 time this season, Milwaukee failed to shoot better than 40% in a 94-88 win over the T-Wolves Tuesday night.

This is more than likely the team that will be in Milwaukee the rest of the season, bar a minor move.  Honestly, the plan appears to be to hope that problems this same team has dealt with all season take care of themselves.  For the last few weeks the lines in the locker room have been the same: “we need to make a run”, “it’s time to turn it on”, “now is our opportunity to gain some ground”, all that good stuff.  Coach Scott Skiles said them again before Tuesday’s game:

“We’ve got a chance to go out and start playing well and prove that we’re the team that people thought we were going to be in the beginning of the season.”

The chance has always been there, but the Bucks have yet to seize it.  It was business as usual Tuesday night, a lackadaisical win over an opponent that walked on the court with a 13-43 record.  But the Bucks entered the fourth quarter tied.  That’s hardly the statement about the kind of team they are that Skiles was looking for.   At this point a win may be a win, and surely the Bucks need every one of them they can get if they intend to stay in the race for the final playoff spot, but this team that played Tuesday night won’t be one that scares anybody in the league come April.

The Bucks are betting that this team isn’t the one that will show up in April.  Same faces, sure, but different performance.  Right now, the odds aren’t looking good on that bet.

Offense

A game that matched two hapless offenses was apparently exactly the kind of stage Brandon Jennings needed.  Milwaukee’s erratic point guard had one of his finer games of the season Tuesday night.  Despite being stuck dribbling near the end of a few possessions and finding himself forced to long long jump-shots, he hovered around 50% shooting for the majority of the game, a stellar accomplishment when weighed against his typical outing.  Jennings tallied 27 points on seven of 17 shooting and handed out seven assists against just one turnover.

Of course, because this is how things have gone for Jennings, this game also featured a floater of his that floated right on over the hoop he was shooting at.  Sigh.  But still, way more good than bad with Jennings.

• The substitution patterns of Coach Skiles often come under fire and many were mystified again Tuesday  night when Corey Maggette failed to enter the game until just over a minute remained in the first quarter.  Maggette would not disappoint when he finally was on the court though.  He proved again to be one of Milwaukee’s only reliable scorers, finishing with 20 points on seven of 17 shooting.  The free throw line, as it always is, was his friend again: he made six of seven from the stripe.

• As one of Milwaukee’s most athletic players, he always provides the possibility of a highlight, though he rarely produces one.  Tuesday night he did.  Maggette drove baseline and corkscrewed around to the front of the rim where he cocked back for a thunderous two handed dunk.  For a lot of teams, this was just another play.  For the Bucks?  This may have been their dunk of the year.

Defense

Luke Ridnour is the type of point guard Jennings was born to defend.  Not overwhelmingly quick and more reliant on change of pace than pure speed, Ridnour was unable to free himself of Jennings for much more than a few finishes in the paint.  Jennings is probably underrated as a defender.

He’s more than capable and does a good job of putting pressure on ball handlers who aren’t as quick as he.  Milwaukee’s former backup and the apple of the eye of many fans Ridnour finished the game having made just five of 14 shots, while committing four turnovers and handing out three assists to go with 12 points.  That’s certainly not the Ridnour many remember and Jennings had a little something to do with that.

• Twice this season Milwaukee has been thrashed on the boards by the T-Wolves.  Minnesota only won the battle 50-46 Tuesday, but grabbed 18 offensive rebounds.  Coach Skiles noted after the game that two of his primary power forwards, Luc Mbah a Moute and Ersan Ilyasova, combined for just one defensive rebound.

Final Thoughts

After heading into the All-Star break losing eight of their final 10 games, Milwaukee needed a win against the T-Wolves.  They got their win, despite not playing all that well.  At this point in the season, when it comes to making the playoffs, each win becomes especially important and the team’s overall play takes a backseat.  Because there is always another day for better play.  That seems to be the theory this group operates with, though probably not by choice.  Time is running out for the Bucks to put together a stretch of strong play that results in wins though.  Tuesday night was the start of stretch during which the Bucks play seven of nine games at home.  So far Milwaukee is 1-0, though that one isn’t a lot to feel good about.

If this is a playoff team, we’ll know at the end of this stretch.

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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For the Bucks to score consistently and be a good offensive team in general, someone different has to step up every game.  That was the line on the Bucks earlier this season.  Since then, things have kind of went awry and rather than having someone step up every night, more often than not, no one has.

That’s the drawback to the Bucks model.  Players that aren’t stars won’t be as consistent about getting it done every night.  But with so many options, the theory went, everyone wouldn’t be off every night and that would balance out the inconsistencies.  But there has been no balance.  Just a lot of missed shots all season.

But Wednesday night?  Wednesday night was a little bit more like the Bucks expected this season.  It seemed to be the exception to a season long funk.  But then reality set in.  At about the same time it always does for the Bucks.  Late in the fourth quarter.

With 4:22 remaining, Milwaukee scored points 85 and 86 on a John Salmons jumper.  That would be their final field goal.  Only one Andrew Bogut free throw down the stretch prevented the Bucks from going scoreless, as they blew a lead that was as large as five points in the fourth quarter in a 94-87 loss to the Denver Nuggets Wednesday night.

Milwaukee missed its final 10 shots as the Nuggets slowly pulled away.  The Bucks saw their shooting percentage plummet from 44.3% to their final total of 38.8%.  It was a scene all too familiar to Bucks fans, even though the rest of the game seemed to be a revolution.

Brandon Jennings and Bogut were unable to find their form early, at halftime, late or ever, but players around them rose to the challenge.  Salmons in particular seemed to seize the ESPN spotlight before Milwaukee melted down. Salmons finished with his highest scoring total as a member of the Bucks, 33 points.

At about the same time he seems to do so annually, Salmons has begun to look like the guy the Bucks traded for last February.  Against the Nuggets, all those shots that had been rimming out earlier this season found the bottom of the net.  The more they did, the more confident Salmons looked.  There was no hesitation by the fourth quarter.  He attacked the hoop not worrying about anyone on the Nuggets impeding his progress and, most importantly, he finished.  At least until the finish.

Like his teammates, Salmons couldn’t find the touch down the stretch.  He finished his strong game by missing his final four shots in the last four minutes.  Prior to that, Salmons combined solid defense on one end with correct basketball plays on the other.

And when the correct play was to pass it off, the ball often found its way into the hands of Corey Maggette.  As it so often does.  And as he always does, Maggette knew what to do with it.  The Bucks forward scored 16 points off the bench in his return from a back strain that held him out of Milwaukee’s victory over the Clippers.

Thanks to the heavy lifting from Salmons and Maggette, Milwaukee was able to stay close and hold a lead for a large part of the game, even though their two stars didn’t shine.  Ultimately though, Milwaukee will only go as far as Bogut and Jennings take them.  The building blocks combined to shoot just two for 18 from the field, scoring seven points and turning the ball over four times.  All season the Bucks have been waiting for players to step up, and on a night when two did, the two guys the Bucks most rely on took a step back.

That about sums this season up.

Offense

Once again, the ball freely moved throughout the Bucks offense.  So often this season, the Bucks offense has been bogged down with too much dribbling and not enough movement.  But the Bucks crisply passed the ball from strong side to weak side, corner to corner, all over the court on Wednesday.  And as they did against the Clippers, the made shots followed along for the majority of the night.  This may make Bucks fans quiver, but it was Earl Boykins at the controls when the Bucks were playing their best.  Jennings re-entered for Boykins with 3:16 remaining and the Bucks up one.  He was unable to direct the offense as effectively as Milwaukee’s third string scoring guard.

The directing problem was most evident when Jennings spent the majority of one possession dribbling, before firing up a fadeaway jumper that missed everything as the shot-clock expired.

• Despite making some shots, the Bucks failed to make many threes.  Milwaukee finished just 3-23 from distance.

Defense

No team in the NBA wants to let a scorer like Carmelo Anthony get going early.  Unfortunately, the Bucks allowed just that against Denver.  With Ersan Ilyasova out nursing an eye injury, Luc Mbah a Moute was forced to slide on down to the four, largely keeping him from manning up with ‘Melo early.  And the big scoring forward took advantage.  He scored 12 points in the first quarter and 21 in the first half.

By the fourth quarter, Maggette slid down to the four on defense and Mbah a Moute was back hounding ‘Melo as he always does.  But a scorer like Anthony will get his if he’s allowed a good start.  Anthony finished with 38 points and 12 rebounds (seven of which came in the fourth quarter)

• So Bogut was awful on offense, we have established that.  But the big man still did his part on the defensive end and on the glass.  Despite scoring just those three measly points, Bogut finished with 20 rebounds, his third 20+ rebounding game this year.  In some ways, this game from Bogut was a perfect game to summarize this Bucks season on national television.  He looks like a legit defensive player of the year candidate very often, just like the Bucks look like one of the league’s best defensive teams.  But, um, he is a center and made one of seven shots and scored three points.  That’s often going to be the difference between winning and losing.

Final Thoughts

Milwaukee’s playing better basketball right now than they have for most of the season.  That’s a good thing.  They aren’t good at closing out games and haven’t been all season.  That’s a bad thing.  The All-Star break is here and the Bucks are 13 games under .500.  That’s a bad thing.  Milwaukee lost eight of 10 heading into the break.  That’s a bad thing.  Separately, players have been talking for some time about “now” being the time when they need to make a run.  That “now” started after a home game against San Antonio last month and has now extended to Wednesday evening.  At some point “now” will pass the Bucks bye.

It may already have.

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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