It’s preseason, so take the Bucks collapse in the last minute with a grain of salt.
Darington Hobson, Larry Sanders, Drew Gooden, Jon Leuer and Beno Udrih were on the court for that final stretch. That’s a far cry from what the Bucks actual crunch time lineup will be. The only thing that anyone can really take from that last minute is that Sanders may continue to be in coach Scott Skiles’ doghouse, after the bouncy but occasionally brainless forward tossed away an inbounds pass and ultimately the lead in the final seconds.
For all the talk of Bucks bringing in playmakers in Mike Dunleavy, Beno Udrih and Stephen Jackson, Brandon Jennings is still the best distributor the team has (he finished with nine assists for the game). The trade-off for Jennings distribution is that he’s going to take poor shots for himself. Jennings is a much worse shooter off the dribble than he is in catch-and-shoot situations (he went 4-13 for the game, his makes were two lay-ups, a dunk and a catch-and-shoot. His misses were a whole lot of him dribbling).
At Media Day, Jennings said he could be both a scorer and a creator for the team, but his talents require that he take a far different approach for each role: playing with the ball as a distributor and playing without the ball as a scorer. So what’s Jennings choice? Trying to have his cake and eat it too hurts him as a player and leaves the team without an identity.
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The pick and roll (PNR) has become the feature play in the NBA. Its rise came with the influx of point guard talent and rules changes favoring that position. Since drafting Brandon Jennings, 21 percent of the Bucks offense comes from PNRs. This is only second to spot-up attempts which the Bucks have run 24.2 percent of the time since acquiring Jennings.
So why do a post on PNRs instead of spot-up plays? PNRs setup spot-ups, not the other way around. The Bucks two best players (Andrew Bogut and Jennings) are involved in PNRs. The biggest gains can be made in that play type as Jennings improves. There hasn’t been a big statistical fluctuation in spot-ups between the successful 2009-10 campaign (0.99 PPP/38.9 FG%/37.3 3P%) and the woeful 2010-11 season (0.96/38.9/37.3).
Also, Beno Udrih is the statistical god of PNR ballhandling, ranked second in that category by Synergy with 1 PPP.
The Roll Men
In Jennings’s rookie year, the Bucks PNR roll men averaged 1.04 points per possession (PPP), good for eleventh in the league. Their field goal percentage was 50.5 percent and they scored 50.2 percent of the time. For the 2010-11 season, the Bucks ranked eighteenth in the PNR roll man category. They scored 0.97 PPP, had a 49.2 FG% and scored only 47.5 percent of the time.
After digging through more stats, I saw that Jennings’s assists at the rim dropped from 2.2 his rookie year to 1.5 last season. So initially I formed the hypothesis that Jennings wasn’t looking inside as much as he used to. Jennings has problems in the PNR, but they weren’t the reason for the drop in production.
The main problem is that his teammates refuse to put themselves in position to score.
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Legal jargon has turned into business jargon as the NBA closes in on finalizing the CBA agreed upon in principle by the league and the players. A lot of it is confusing and a lot of it means little to most fans. But some of it could have a direct impact on the Milwaukee Bucks.
If you’re hardcore into labor negotiations and need the full breakdown, check out Larry Coon’s breakdown of the last CBA vs. the new CBA.
If you’re looking to learn some of the highlights and how they apply to the Bucks, we got you covered.
Upon first reports of the new CBA allowing teams to purge themselves of one bad contract, keyboards everywhere took a pounding as people excitedly slammed out the letters D-R-E-W G-O-O-D-E-N alongside the word good riddance. But intel appears to have quelled that movement amongst Bucks fans. Today, Chad Ford and John Hollinger report yet again, that the team is unlikely to use the amnesty clause on Gooden this season.
The clause would clear Drew Gooden’s contract from the Bucks salary cap (something the last amnesty provision didn’t do), which would give the team just over $6 million to do with what they may this off-season. But the team would still have to pay Gooden, so whatever player replacing him would essentially be earning his salary and Gooden’s salary. The doubling of salary is probably one reason Milwaukee hasn’t been so anxious to clear Gooden from the books.
The other reason is likely the lack of time Gooden spent on the court with Andrew Bogut last season.
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(We’re counting down the best 20 Bucks since 1991 over the next few weeks. It’s something to do with the lockout sucking the life out of NBA fans. We continue with number 17. Luc Mbah a Moute, one of the premier defensive forces over the last three NBA seasons. – Jeremy)
If I could love any one thing as much as Luc Mbah a Moute loves playing defense, I’d be a better man.
If I approached a woman the same way LRMAM approaches offense, I’d be slapped.
As hard as it is to believe, there are parts of LRMAM’s offensive game that are actually pretty good. It’s hard to believe, but trust. The essence of his offense originates in his defense.
What makes LRMAM’s defense great isn’t his length, speed, strength or any other physical attribute. It’s his mind. LRMAM reads individuals and teams like a children’s book. He knows what you’re doing and where your teammates are going. He never bites on pump-fakes and makes it difficult for anyone to get the spot they want on the floor. He bites just hard enough on PNRs to give his teammate time to recover, but not let his man get away.
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