The Milwaukee Bucks have requested waivers on guard Darington Hobson (6-7, 210), General Manager John Hammond announced today.
Hobson, 24, was originally selected by the Bucks with the 37th overall pick of the 2010 NBA Draft, but was waived prior to the start of the 2010-11 season. Hobson re-signed with Milwaukee as a free agent on Dec. 10, 2011, and appeared in five regular season games for the Bucks this season, tallying four points, three rebounds and six assists in 39 total minutes of action. Hobson also spent two separate stints with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the NBA D-League where he averaged 10.6 points, 5.1 rebounds and 2.0 assists in eight games (six starts).
The Bucks roster now stands at 14 players.
What does this mean? Let’s let the next few days play out and see if it has any meaning at all before we jump to any conclusions.
Jeremy Schmidt writes the Milwaukee Bucks blog Bucksketball.com. Follow him on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.
Livingston did a whole bunch of good, big backup point guard things. He posted up well. He got to his spot inside the paint and made the short jump shot he goes to with regularity. He isn’t quite the creator on offense I hoped he’d be, but he keeps the ball moving well enough.
Jon Leuer, F22 MIN | 4-9 FG | 3-4 FT | 6 REB | 0 AST | 11 PTS | +4
Blessed with minutes thanks to the blowout nature of the game, Leuer took advantage and tossed up nine shots, making four of them. His jumper hasn’t been as accurate over the past couple games, but he’s still taking good shots and playing intelligent basketball.
Larry Sanders, C25 MIN | 4-7 FG | 0-0 FT | 7 REB | 3 AST | 8 PTS | +6
He’s nearly completely ineffective as an isolation offensive player at this point, but he typically isn’t going to have those chances anyway. He tried to take advantage of his minutes and role as essentially a veteran in the Bucks lineup late in the game with more looks on offense, and it proved more comical than effective. He did all of the other little things very well tonight.
He scored the first four points of his career tonight and some of his ball handling and passing skills we’ve heard so much about were on display. That was fun. But he’s kind of redundant with Jackson, Livingston, Dunleavy and Delfino in front of him. Milwaukee would be better served with another shooter in Hobson’s place.
Harris received extended minutes for the first time in his career and performed as well as anyone could have expected. He made two nice cuts off the ball, once resulting in free throws and once in a dunk. He lacks the explosion that makes star players, but getting 10 free throws is always a good thing. It was a treat to see him score with relative ease.
Four Things We Saw
The Bucks starters? Each was nearly invisible in their own way. When Nash wasn’t destroying him on offense, Brandon Jennings was doing little on offense. Drew Gooden wasn’t making the shots he’s hit the last few games, but was still playing the mediocre game that most forwards could play at a much lower price. The Suns were making a ton of shots, but the Bucks rotation on defense wasn’t what it typically is.Some of that is because Steve Nash is so talented, but he’s still just one man.
Milwaukee’s young players all showed some value tonight. Milwaukee won’t get many extended looks at their young players with veterans blocking the way across the board, so it was at least fun to see that they are all capable in their own way. Even if none has star level explosion or shooting skill.
Milwaukee has now lost 24 straight games in Phoenix, which owes to the Suns dominance in the 90s and most of the 2000s and the Bucks general awfulness through the same period. More important than those 24 straight losses is the five straight losses Milwaukee’s dealing with right now. They’ve been much better at home over the past few years, but this trip was a sobering reminder of how far the Bucks are from being anything other than playoff fodder.
Dan Sinclair put it best on Twitter: Without Bogut, the Bucks are bad enough to get a good pick. With Bogut, they’re good enough to get a bad pick. Uh oh.Uh oh indeed.
Monday was the first day NBA teams could openly court free agents, and the courting has begun with some gusto. And not surprisingly, the Milwaukee Bucks haven’t been widely rumored to be involved with much of the bidding.
But Gery Woelfel has a few tidbits about potential Bucks targets. Woelfel interviewed long shot Bucks target, Dallas Mavericks forward and Racine native Caron Butler. Butler did not outright rule out the Bucks as a landing spot:
Milwaukee definitely reached out and, obviously, that’s always a high consideration because it’s home. I’m a hometown guy. I’m a guy who always likes coming back and doing things in the community.
No more nostalgia, no more complaining from me, no more legalese. We can finally talk hoops again. As Chuck Mangione might say, “it feels so good.”
We’re kicking off with Bucksketball’s first installment of the TrueHoop Network’s Three-On-Three series. It’s like those Five-On-Fives you see back at the mothership, but shorter and longer all in one. Today we’re addressing some lingering roster questions that will finally clear up in the next few weeks. Read more…
We’ve been having something of a meeting of the minds over the past week here at Bucksketball.com regarding where the Milwaukee Bucks decision makers may want to direct their attention this coming off-season. We’ll get the discussion rolling in part one and close it out in part two. – JS
Jeremy
What needs addressing this off-season the most? I’d say shooting guard, and then I’d say it’s not even all that close.
82games.com makes the strongest empirical argument here, as Milwaukee’s collective PER at the shooting guard position this season was 11.4, while opponents managed a 13.5 PER against the Bucks at that position, leaving them with a net -2.1. But anyone who has watched the Bucks over the past two years knows the importance of the two guard position and how much trouble it has caused the Bucks.
Before John Salmons arrival in the 2009-10 season, Charlie Bell logged the majority of the minutes there and could do little aside from harmlessly parade into the lane, representing no true threat to score or create. He was a spot-up shooter being asked to do far too much. And while we all forget it because the Bucks post-Samons trade impressed so much, Milwaukee’s offense was brutal for the first half of that season. Virtually the only difference between that offense and the one that mucked up this past season was that team’s ability to hit some threes
Once Salmons arrived though, the onetime point guard brought to life the Bucks offense. He drove as a threat: he could pass or finish equally as well. The Bucks had shooters all around him, ready to capitalize off his drive and kick game. With him dropping assists and scoring 20 points regularly, the Bucks offense flourished for the first time under Coach Scott Skiles.
So much of the Bucks offense starts out of the wing that it’s crucial they have someone creative and adept at scoring logging heavy minutes there
