The Gift of Giving

March 8, 2010

“Today was just a great day.  My teammates were looking for me.”

-          Thaddeus Young 3-7-2010

“We’re loaded with guys who know how to put the ball in the basket. We all enjoy sharing the ball.”

-          Jason Kidd 3-6-2010

“We’re not good enough to play 1-on-1.”

-          Mike Miller 3-5-2010

“We found spots and moved the ball and had open shots.”

-          Luol Deng 2-26-2010

It’s not easy to quantify unselfishness.  Yes, we know it’s important, and those quotes I’ve selected from players in postgame interviews all have to do with the idea of unselfishness.  Ad nausea, coaches and players will talk about how unselfish they were in wins and how selfish they were in losses.  But, aside from assists, the NBA doesn’t really have any other statistics that express how one player is creating points for his teammates or how a team is working together.  There are certain units on teams that play well together, do a better job rebounding or defending or shooting, but unselfishness itself is one of those difficult to calibrate traits.  One that’s nearly immeasurable.

So naturally I’m going to try and show you how unselfish the Bucks have been in the last ten games.

It’s actually quite amazing, because, to be honest, unselfishness hasn’t exactly been a hallmark of the Milwaukee Bucks over the years.  In what one could refer to as “The Dead Era” of Bucks basketball 2003-2008, the Bucks were a typically competent offensive team that couldn’t defend and as a result, didn’t win much.  As someone who spent many a day watching and cursing the selfish nature of these teams, I can assure you these teams were only competent offensively because of their relative talent on that side of the ball.  What I’m trying to say, is that Mike Redd could fill it up.  Rarely was there a cohesive team effort at either end though.  When looking back at the numbers of these teams, the assist to turnover ratio reflects on the selfish nature.

YearAssist to Turnover RatioOffensive Rating Rank
2003-041.68-14
2004-051.52-113
2005-061.48-114
2006-071.43-112
2007-081.45-121

In 2003-04, the Bucks ranked 4th in the league in offensive rating.  The Bucks had a team assist to turnover ratio of 1.68-1 and had a shot at knocking off the Nets in the first round, but Tim Thomas didn’t box out Rodney Rodgers on a free throw and Terry Porter mysteriously refused to play Dan Gadzuric (when he was still good, 17 PER) in the playoffs.  But that’s all a story for another day, what’s important is that these Bucks, spearheaded by a pre-injury T.J. Ford, weren’t selfish.

In the following season, Ford got hurt, Mo Williams became entrenched as the Bucks point guard, Redd began his all angles assault on the basket and eventually the Bucks imploded after many years of selfish, losing basketball.  Each year the Bucks assist to turnover ratio dropped, further and further before cresting around 1.45-1.

There was an uptick in the ratio in Scott Skiles first season at the helm, but things really took off halfway through this current season. Read More »

By Jeremy | Posted in Bucks Player Features | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (2)

Sure, Lebron Was Out, but Still, It’s a Win: Bucks 92 – Cavs 85

March 7, 2010

Recap/Box Score

Fortunately, the NBA doesn’t decide standings with a poll that measures the strength of each win.

No, in the NBA, every win, regardless of who it’s over, the margin of victory or the location of the game, counts just the same.  So if anyone tells you that the Bucks wins over teams missing their star players (the Hornets without Chris Paul, the Heat without Dwyane Wade and now the Cavs without Lebron James) don’t mean anything, you can simply point to the Bucks current position in sixth in the Eastern Conference and inform them of their error.

A Cavs team sans James, Shaquille O’Neal and Zydrunas Illgauskas is a significantly weaker opponent than one with those three, or any of them for that matter.  In two weeks, Shaq will still be out, but James will surely be back in the lineup, Illgauskas will be back and the Cavs will again be a force to be reckoned with.  But that’s not important today.  What’s important right now is that the Bucks won another game and even better, it’s one that not many people had penciled in a day or two ago.  It’s important the Bucks are now two games up on Chicago for the sixth seed, it’s important the sold out Bradley Center had plenty of reason to cheer all night long Saturday and, most of all, it’s important that Brandon Jennings’ mojo finally returned.

Ben Gordon :: Trendsetter :: Brit

Ben Gordon :: Trendsetter :: Brit

For just the third time since February 1 (17 games), Jennings topped 40% shooting, finishing 6-14 from the field and 5-7 from behind the arc.  Jennings finished with 25 points and had a season high number of “three-point monocles.”  Popularized in last year’s playoffs by Ben Gordon, the “three-point monocle” is an especially braggadocios celebration of a three-point shot.  Seeing Jennings break it out was especially joyful for me for a number of reasons.  First, it’s good to see Jennings having fun out on the court again, especially in light of his recent comments about packing in his shot for a while.  Second, I just love the trey monocle.  Jennings explanation:

I did a little mocking, a little dancing for (Lebron). Hopefully (Lebron) caught that, I think it got his attention.

That being said, it would have been nice to see just where the Bucks measure up against the NBA’s best team, especially with Jennings having it going. Read More »

By Jeremy | Posted in Recaps | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (8)

Bucks Beat Wizards, No One’s Thrilled: Bucks 100 – Wizards 87

March 3, 2010

Box Score/Recap

“Generally if anybody’s guarding someone I stick with them.”

-         Scott Skiles (Late 2009)

I don’t think Scott Skiles benched Brandon Jennings for the fourth quarter and overtime of the Hawks game to teach him a lesson, or because his defense was bad or for any other reason than Luke Ridnour was playing better.  It’s too late in the season for Skiles to be sending messages or do anything other than try to get wins.

But Wednesday night, Brandon Jennings looked like he took something out of it.

Jennings spent much of the first two quarters playing an aggressive pressure defense that he has rarely shown off this year.  Jennings is remarkably quick, his change of direction reminds me of a number of nimble insects, but that hasn’t resulted in much when he’s decided to pick up full court.  Wednesday Jennings was jabbing at the ball handler the way a boxer would when feeling out an opponent.  The Wizards point guards were taking them like body blows, staggering but never falling down as they committed just one turnover in the first half, despite losing their respective grips on a few occasions.

But in the third quarter, the Wizards point guards and the rest of the team for that matter, they went down.  Hard.  Looking tired from the hounding Jennings had been placing on them, Randy Foye, Shaun Livingston and Earl Boykins combined for six third quarter turnovers, including the ever so rare eight second call.  The Wizards themselves turned the ball over 11 times in the third and saw an eight point halftime deficit turn into a 17 point mountain that they would be unable to climb.

This was not one of Jennings finer offensive performances, in fact it ranks right up there with any as his worst when you factor his six turnovers into his 2-12 shooting performance.  Jennings ability to limit turnovers has been his saving grace as his shots have continued to fly towards everything but the bottom of the hoop.  Jennings seemed down trodden in the locker room, even when I mentioned the rarity of a forced eight second call in the league.

“Yeah, I mean, my offense wasn’t going so I had to fall back on something else and just went to the defensive end,” said Jennings.  “I didn’t have a good offensive evening and I was just trying to put pressure on the defensive end tonight.”

Skiles, who was visibly upset with his team’s performance (he referred to the game as “a step back”) stuck with Jennings in this one.

“We’re trying to win a game; that’s what we’re trying to do,” Skiles said after the game.  “Obviously he hasn’t had much luck finding the basket, but he was trying to apply pressure, he had good active hands.  He has his moments like that, he’s trying to find other ways to help and he did a pretty good job tonight.” Read More »

By Jeremy | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments (15)

Hammond Focused On Foundation

February 26, 2010

(A special guest post from Ross Geiger today on the work John Hammond has done in his two years with the Bucks.  Ross has covered the Bucks for Marquette University.)

From day one, Bucks general manager John Hammond has had goals.

His goals seemed very unrealistic to many around the league, and rightfully so when taking a glance of the Bucks roster at the time Hammond took over the team. The Bucks signed a slew of horrid contracts in the years before he arrived and had little direction, leaving Hammond with a giant mess of puzzle pieces in front of him.

Puzzle pieces that were impossible to solve immediately, yet pieces that are beginning to come together as Hammond’s closes in on the end of his second year in Milwaukee. Undoubtedly Hammond’s tasks have had their highs and lows especially when examining his last two first round draft selections: 2008’s 8th overall pick Joe Alexander and 2009’s 10th overall pick Brandon Jennings.

Risks were taken, big trades were made, injuries occurred, and despite all the criticism Hammond remained determined to follow his game plan: to put the best possible team out on the floor each and every night. That game plan has been Hammond’s number one goal as the team progresses each year. Hammond has stressed time and time again, that fans be patient, and to trust the direction he is leading the franchise. A trust that’s beginning to flourish at the Bradley Center each night and it all started with laying a foundation. Read More »

By Jeremy | Posted in Bucks Player Features | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (7)

Game 57 Preview: Bucks at Pacers

February 25, 2010

Milwaukee Bucks (Scott Skiles) 28-28

at

Indiana Pacers (Jim O’Brien) 19-38

Larry Legend has been Lotto Larry for a few years in Indy now.

Larry Legend has been Lotto Larry for a few years in Indy now.

Date: 2/25/2010

Time: 6:00 (CST)

TV: FS Wisconsin

Matchups

Point Guard

Brandon Jennings vs. Earl Watson

Jennings numbers continue to look pedestrian, but his impact is evident in the success his teammates are having.  Five Bucks scored in double figures Wednesday night and three more scored nine points.  If a team doesn’t have a good point guard, it’s difficult to get that kind of even distribution, even in a blowout.  Jennings always keeps the offense running smooth and didn’t record a turnover against New Orleans.  Jennings’ usage is at 26, his assist rate is right around 30 while his turnover rate is only 12.6.  Let me take Deron Williams as an example of where Jennings is having success.  Williams’ numbers in those categories are as follows, 23.6, 42.7 and 17.2.  If just a few more times nightly, Jennings were to hit an open shooter leading to a successful three-point shot, Jennings could conceivably close in on the first two numbers while keeping his turnover number down.  He’s not all that far off from Williams and if he used a few less possessions statistically, as a point guard he’d be in the class directly below Williams.  That doesn’t say anything about his offensive struggles with shooting, which would bring his overall game down a little further.  Bottom line, Jennings has been a VERY good point guard.

Advantage: Bucks Read More »

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