UPDATE:  Roko is heading to Turkey according to ShamSports Twitter account and Brandon Jennings‘.

The Bucks have requested waivers on Roko Ukic, apparently on his own request.  The release from the Milwaukee Bucks:

The Milwaukee Bucks have requested waivers on guard Roko Ukic (6-5, 190), General Manager John Hammond announced today.  Ukic requested to have his contract voided by Milwaukee, removing any further obligation by the Bucks for the remainder of his contract.

“Roko asked to be released from his contract in order to pursue other playing opportunities,” said Hammond.  “We appreciate his hard work and professionalism while with the Bucks and wish him well in his career.”

Wow.  I suspect if Roko is willing to forgo the remaining dollars on his contract that he’ll shortly land a deal in Europe.  He was fairly effective in the EuroCup over the summer, but never had a spot in the Bucks rotation.  His one shining moment came in a 17-point outburst against his former teammates in a home game against the Toronto Raptors.

Scott Skiles said after the game he may have waited too long to give Ukic an opportunity and hinted more may be forthcoming.  Alas, reality returned in the Bucks next game against Portland and Ukic played a largely ineffective six minutes.  He was caught up in a numbers game and nothing special in his short stints he did see on the court.  So my money says Ukic heads back to Europe, never to be heard from again.

He must really really want to play somewhere though, as he’s giving up roughly 900 thousand dollars this year and 1.45 million dollars next year, as he had a player option.  I can’t remember the last time a player walked away from that kind of money with 50 games left in the season.  And I ESPECIALLY can’t remember a player as average (or below average) as Ukic ever walking away from guaranteed money by essentially opting out of his player option a year before it was due up.  The Bucks will end up saving around $2.3 million thanks to Ukic’s desire to just play basketball.  Kudos to him for not worrying about the money and consider this a break for the Bucks.

Recap/Box Score

I’m just going to throw these numbers out there and let you take a look at them.

52.5 percent shooting, 42.9 from behind the arc, 24-28 at the free throw line and 24 assists to nine turnovers  .

You’re thinking that the Bucks gave up another strong performance again and their defense still hasn’t come around as we’d hoped right?  Well, no.  That’s the Bucks offense Wednesday night.  The Raptors are possibly the worst defensive team I’ve witnessed this year, with only Golden State competing with them for that title.  I’m almost thinking the Toronto Raptors defense should fall into the category of performance enhancing drug and therefore not be allowed on the court or associated with the NBA.

Frankly, this one was such a blowout that the highlight of the Raptors night appeared to be when a ball boy trying to fix the net got the floor mop caught in the hoop on the Raptors side of the court.  They took great delight in that.  Probably because there was nothing else enjoyable going on for them (spare a run to end the third quarter) Wednesday night in Milwaukee. Read more…

Recap/Box Score

I haven’t heard, but can already hear Bucks fans lamenting the Bucks lack of energy in Sunday’s loss to Cleveland.  After all, isn’t that typically what gets the blame when a team gets smoked?  Effort and energy get cited in big losses more than alcohol in DUI’s.  But I can’t help but think it’s even more simple a problem than lack of effort in this one.

The Bucks are just a little below average, whereas the Cavs are significantly above.  So that’s pretty much that.  Cleveland is full of keepers and the Bucks are in the beginning stages of figuring out who figures into their future.

Coming into the game the Bucks biggest strength was their three-point shooting.  Well, the Cavs do it even better.  Among the Bucks biggest weaknesses was allowing significantly more free throws than they shoot.  Well, the Cavs shoot roughly as many free throws as they allow.  So how did those things play out in the game?

Bucks: 4-20 on three’s and 12-16 from the line.

Cavs: 6-10 on three’s and 25-27 from the line.

So much for the Bucks making up the points they allow on free throw’s through their three-point shooting.  Against some teams, they’ll get by with that mentality.  Not everyone defends the three-point line very well.  But the Cavs do.  And so do other good teams.  On top of that, the Cavs now have more capable offensive players than ever and still get in your face on defense.  They’re pretty good.  Against them, it’s not going to matter if the Bucks are going balls out from start to finish, because they are more talented virtually across the board than the Bucks.

The Bucks came out with a furious punch to the proverbial face of the Cavs in this one too.  An 11-0 start had no one questioning the Bucks effort in the first three minutes.  Funny how those things work out, isn’t it?  But in the end the Bucks lose by 15 so it looks like they were lifeless.  I didn’t see that though.  I just saw one team that looked like a contender for the NBA title and another that looked like most of their guys won’t be around in two or three years.  Effort shmeffort, this one was about talent. Read more…

Fortunately we can look at this for two weeks.  (Hat tip: Henry Abbott)

(I could listen to Johnny Mac’s hooting and hollering about this one for a couple weeks no problem.)

From ESPN.com’s Chris Sheridan:

Michael Redd of the Milwaukee Bucks will miss at least two weeks after experiencing soreness in his surgically repaired left knee, a source told ESPN.com on Monday.

Obviously, this is not good news.  I figured after the game that Redd would be out more than just a day or two, given that’s typically the way the Bucks describe every injury, whether it’s swelling of a wrist or decapitation of a head.  Bucks fans have been hoping against hope that Redd would be able to make it through this season unscathed, but apparently that will not be the case.  Whether the Bucks can weather this injury better than they have in the past remains to be seen. Read more…

There are two things that were very important to the formation of the Milwaukee Bucks:

Marv Fishman’s love of Milwaukee and Vince Lombardi’s iron fist.

After the defections of the Milwaukee Hawks in 1955 and the Milwaukee Braves in 1965 Milwaukee was left without a big league team.  This didn’t sit well with Fishman.  He knew Milwaukee was a big league town with big league fans.  Milwaukee represented themselves well with a baseball exhibition in 1967 drawing over 50,000 fans.  Fishman thought he might have a real shot of landing an AFL team and then landing the NFL when the leagues eventually merged.

But Vince Lombardi had other ideas. Read more…