After tonight’s game with the Raptors, the Bucks will have successfully (actually, typically not so successfully) completed 41 games. Milwaukee sits one game back of the eighth and final playoff spot in the East, with 22 home games and 19 away games the rest of the way. With that being said, there are some things that I’m especially interested in checking out in act two of the NBA’s season.
1. The Integration of Stackhouse
How much does the veteran have left? He looked terrific as a role player type on Wednesday, but that was in his first game in nearly a year, surely it isn’t a true indication of his actual current talent level. After a few practices and games, it’ll be interesting to see what Stackhouse can bring to the table offensively. At the very least, I like the idea of having Stack out there at the two spot simply for the extra size he gives the Bucks. While Charlie Bell can look good at times, there aren’t many twos he can physically match-up with very well.
While I’m not sure the actual relevance of this as I haven’t been in enough NBA locker rooms to really know, it’s supposedly going to benefit many of the Bucks younger players to have another old guy around. It does make sense to me in theory, he’s someone who’s been through playoff races before, he knows when to feel good and when to feel bad. He ideally can help calm overreactions to losses and prevent overconfidence after wins. It’s after the real emotional games that I imagine having Stackhouse should help the Bucks, especially someone as young an emotionally involved as Brandon Jennings. Read more…
You thought you’d heard the last of Jerry Stackhouse as an NBA player, didn’t you? You thought injuries and age had robbed him of the athleticism once deemed necessary for him to be relevant as a player.
If you didn’t, you’re much more plugged in than I, because I certainly did.
But no, Jerry Stackhouse is back … as a Buck (or is on the way shortly). I guess since the Bucks recent play has fans recalling all of the horror stories about the Bucks since 2002 they felt it necessary to take it one step further and sign a player who was last relevant in the early part of the 2000’s.
We've seen Stack with AI and now we'll get Stack with BJ
I called my dad upon hearing the Bucks had signed the 15-year veteran, his response?
“Nooo. Isn’t he coaching?” Read more…
It’s hard to even be concerned about a loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on the road. That talent disparity is too great and the road troubles too significant for the current version of the Milwaukee Bucks.
But it isn’t hard to be concerned about another knee injury to Michael Redd.
Either on his jump or on his landing on what looked to be a shot attempted but ended up as a pass in the second quarter, Redd went down and didn’t come back up. The left knee is the same knee he tore his ACL and MCL in last January and gave him soreness earlier this year that required some time off. Whether this is as serious as the latter or another patella strain remains to be seen, but it’s generally not a good sign when a player needs to be helped back to the locker room as Redd did. Read more…
Recaps/Box Score
The most bizarre thing about the second half for the Bucks was that it took so long to happen. I mean, we all know Michael Redd has been playing for appearances sake and with the hope that he’ll magically find his game and improve his trade value. He certainly hasn’t been playing because he’s been doing so well, but everyone assumed the Bucks were stuck playing him, through thick and thin. Then the Bucks-Bobcats first half happened.
It’s not often you’ll see a coach more at a loss for words and explanations than Kelvin Sampson was when he tried to explain what happened in the first half for the Milwaukee Bucks. After looking off in the distance (possibly for someone who could figure out why the Bucks are playing so poorly) Sampson said something to the effect of, “Basketball is a simple game. You just need to make your shots when you’re open. We’re getting good looks, wide-open looks, and not hitting them.”
Sampson looked fed up and it’s logical to assume Scott Skiles was fed up too judging from his second half strategy. The Bucks started the third with Brandon Jennings, Jodie Meeks, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, Ersan Ilyasova and Kurt Thomas. The first man off the bench? Francisco Elson. I’d say Skiles wasn’t so thrilled with his starters, as Michael Redd, Andrew Bogut and Carlos Delfino didn’t see one second of action in the second half.
And when his team is down 22 at half to a mediocre team, how can you disagree with his moves? Read more…
Recap/Box Score
(Note: Sorry about the lack of a game preview and slow to arrive recap of the Kings game. It’s the holidays, friends are in town, things are going on, I’ll try to see to it that this doesn’t happen again. The Kings game was the first game I was unable to make it to, and naturally it wasn’t on TV either, so it’s hard for me to be exceptionally thorough about this one.)
- Another night, another last second loss. This type of thing is becoming as common as flying and dribbling for the Milwaukee Bucks of 2009-10. After a particularly gut-wrenching home loss to the Sacramento Kings Saturday night, I’m left with a number of questions.
- Why can’t the Bucks win close games?
- Why do other teams get good looks in important spots and the Bucks are left to flail contested impossible heaves?
- How could Andrew Bogut ever go 6-20?
- Has anyone ever before seen such violent swings in minutes as in the case of Charlie Bell? His four minutes Saturday come after 32 and 27 in the previous two, which followed two DNP-CD’s.
- And speaking of Bell, it comes to my attention that he was on the court for the very final play of the game. On offense. Which may be a little more difficult to succeed at after not having played for a while. He came back in, after having played four minutes all night. Didn’t Luc Richard Mbah a Moute not come in against the Lakers because he hadn’t been playing? Didn’t that happen!? DIDN’T IT!? Sigh.
- Will Michael Redd ever again hit two free throws in a row?
- Why can’t Redd hit free throws?
- Did Brandon Jennings and Bogut combine to miss their last 13 shots? Is this an accurate figure? I counted twice. What are the odds of that? 50-1? 100-1? 5-1?
- After a rough two games at the office, has Luke Ridnour finally come back down to Earth?
- In games LRMAM plays at least 30 minutes, the Bucks are now 4-2. In games he plays less the Bucks are 3-7. Has he proven he needs over 30 minutes a night yet?
- Now that the Bucks are healthy, is there any hope for a semblance of a rotation emerging? Kurt Thomas has appeared to grab hold of backup center minutes, Hakim Warrick is entrenched as the backup power forward and Ridnour at point, but when will a rotation work itself out amongst the swingmen?
- And if a rotation is established, will Jodie Meeks be facing the D-League? He had a nice line against the Kings, five points two assists and two steals in nine minutes, but doesn’t Redd squeeze him out?
- When the Bucks staff watched Jason Thompson, were they thinking, “This is exactly the guy we need here,”? Because they should have been.
- Isn’t Tyreke Evans the other piece the Bucks need? But I’d love him to be playing NEXT to Brandon Jennings, not instead of him. Evans is a helluva wing player, but this point guard thing will never makes sense to me. In the last few minutes, sure. Then just give him the ball and let him make a play, but I’d rather have Jennings running my team for the first 45 minutes.
Lots more questions than answers at this point for the Milwaukee Bucks. But when a team is trying to reincorporate it’s ex-star with it’s new stars, it’s not easy. Yes, Redd’s been struggling the last two games after one nice game, but it’s all just a work in progress. Give Milwaukee at least ten games with Redd before panic is allowed to set it. As long as the Bucks keep games close, they’re bound to win a few more of these last second games. I refuse to panic until after ten games of Redd’s return or a dip down to five games below .500.
