Part One of Ian Segovia’s first post here at Bucksketball was posted earlier today.  It addressed the positive aspects of Bucks guards this season.  Now, for part two.

Negatives

• Slamming John Salmons

Let’s keep this short because Salmons is going to be mentioned a lot while going through the rest of the negatives.

Many people like to point to his contract as a cause for his laziness. I will do no such thing. The reason there’s so much negativity towards the effort Salmons put forth is that the general public believes far too much in itself. Everyone believes that if they were handed millions of dollars to play basketball, they’d always play hard, do the little things and be the perfect teammate. This is bullshit. If it was, you wouldn’t have an office feud with Tammy in accounting.  You wouldn’t be on the internet right now. You’d be working, spending time with your kids, looking for a job or trying to make humanity better.

Here’s a less cynical explanation for Salmons season.

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It is the dawn of a new era at Bucksketball.  Today’s post is the very first from one of two new contributors, Ian Segovia.  Ian was once one of the finest 12-year-old spellers Wisconsin has ever known, and has turned that innate ability to spell words like “Parallel” into the ability to construct sentences about his favorite basketball team, the Milwaukee Bucks. As he hopes and prays Brandon Jennings can turn into some sort of Kevin Johnson clone, he’ll deliver his Bucks related thoughts here at Bucksketball.

We’re rolling out a three part series today reviewing Milwaukee’s pluses and minuses this season at guard forward and center.  Ian starts today with guards.  Up first, the positives.  Later, the negatives.  Next week we’ll look forward to the off-season and figure where the Bucks most pressing needs will be.

- Jeremy Schmidt

It was a tough year for the Bucks guards. Since the Bucks are such a perimeter-oriented offense, the guards deserve much of the blame for the team’s offensive struggles. Plus, it isn’t clear how much credit they deserve for the team’s stellar defense. The defensive standouts for the team were located in center and forward spots. And often the best defense against a great opposing guard was to funnel them to Andrew Bogut. Yet, the guards still had their silver lining.

• Boykins off the bench

John Hollinger’s PER rankings has Earl Boykins at 17.62, best among the bucks and good for fourteenth among all point guards. Obviously, this is ridiculous, but what PER does show is that Boykins was the perfect deep bench role player.

He dropped thirteen in the fourth quarter against the Lakers. He rang in the New Year with twenty-six against the Mavericks and then ran around like a chicken with its head cut off to drop in the game-tying bucket against the Heat. I haven’t kept track of anyone else’s third-string point guards, but I highly doubt any can boast as much.

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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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Recap/Box Score/Enemy

Wednesday night wasn’t the first time the Milwaukee Bucks needed Earl Boykins to jump-start a stalling offense.  Perhaps you remember Los Angeles.  Or Sacramento.  Or a home games against Dallas and Atlanta.  You get the picture.  It wasn’t Boykins first shot-making rodeo.

And it probably won’t be his last, or the last one the Bucks require of him.  Making shots has kind of been Boykins role this season; come in when the Bucks first or second units have dug a hole and missed shots and keep the team afloat.  For a team that’s largely been devoid of a consistent offensive presence, his dependability has been rather comforting.

Milwaukee needed a big dose of little Earl early on Wednesday.  The Bucks were down 25-18 when Boykins made his first three-pointer of the night with 1:39 remaining in the first quarter.  By the time he scored the last of his 18 first half points, the Bucks had firmly taken control of things with a 62-49 lead.  During his 12 minutes, Milwaukee’s guard made all eight of his shots and was was the driving force behind an offense that shot 60.5% in the first half.

Coach Scott Skiles was not so surprised after the game, as he rarely is when a guy who he dubbed the Bucks best shooter scores well.  He thought back to when Boykins was signed when the summer was nearing an end.

“We talked about it with Earl, and we talked about it internally,” Skiles said after Wednesday’s game. “could Earl be a guy that could come in and help us win five, six, seven games?  And that, no question, has already happened.”

Milwaukee wouldn’t require quite so much out of their pocket-sized point-getter in the second half, after all, it was the Cleveland Cavaliers in town.

Brandon Jennings picked up the offensive slack (14 of his 18 points came in the second half.  He made seven of 10 shots, so it’s worth noting now: back-to-back games of equal to or greater than 50% shooting for Jennings. Eyes open, people.) and the Bucks defense did their usual thing against a Cavs offense that did their usual thing.  The second half saw the Bucks split evenly the ball amongst a number of prospering offensive players, something that hasn’t been seen often in Milwaukee, or anywhere else the Bucks have played this season.

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Stopping Steve Nash was at the forefront of Scott Skiles mind before the Bucks game Friday night against the Phoenix Suns.

“You gotta stop Steve,” Skiles said.  “That’s the main thing you gotta do.  You gotta commit to getting him stopped.  Steve has a way of getting in there, dribbling around and finding somebody.”

For one half, the Milwaukee Bucks succeeded at slowing the future Hall of Famer.  Alas, things changed in the second half.  Milwaukee could not prevent Nash from penetrating and drawing defenders, allowing his teammates to spot up around the arc with open looks.  Time after time, the Suns converted on their open opportunities while the Bucks faced the same struggles that have plagued them all season long on the other end.

“We were okay in the first half, we had pretty good active hands,” Skiles said after the game.  “In any NBA game, if those two things are happening at the same time if you’re going 11 or 12 possessions without a basket and you’re also kind of caving in on the other end, it’s going to be disastrous.”

A 19-0 Phoenix run that spanned longer than six minutes would ultimately be too much for the Bucks to overcome.  Milwaukee saw a 48-45 halftime lead turn into a 76-63 deficit after three quarters and finally, a 102-88 loss in the end.

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