Yes, another Bucks post. Maybe this photo of Bango and Sportsbubbler’s Gridiron Girl will tide over you non-sportsy people:
It's good to be Bango
I have seen two Milwaukee Bucks games in person this week, and boy are my eyes tired. There was the heartbreaking 115-113 overtime loss to a superior Dallas team on Monday, and a 99-85 win over a vastly inferior New Jersey team on Wednesday. This is what we know — The Bucks are somewhere between Dallas and New Jersey on the NBA Team continuum. But what else do we know? Is Brandon Jennings a star-in-the-making? Are the Bucks, at 6-3, and actual playoff team? How will the return of Michael Redd affect all this? We’re going to figure this out with a bulleted list, with the twist that the bullet points are going to be people’s names:
Brandon Jennings: Check the last post for my thoughts about this guy. I don’t think much has changed since then. He looked pretty good again against Dallas, scoring 25 on a bad shooting night and generally looking like the best player on the court. Rodrigue Boob-Wah played him very well defensively, and the Mavericks doubled him with Drew Gooden on pick-and-rolls, which worked because Drew Gooden is not mostly stationary like Erick Dampier. Still, he had 25 points, and played a large part in forcing the game into overtime.
Last night against the Nets he only took 13 shots, and consequently only scored 19 points. This is the impressive thing about Jennings right now — he really is doing all this in the context of the offense, and isn’t forcing much. They didn’t need him to score last night because New Jersey stinks. When Jennings does force things, it’s when the Bucks need him to. That’s become Brandon Jennings Time (TM). Like at the end of the Mavericks game, when Scott Skiles decided that Mr. Jennings needed the ball in his hands on every play (and the Mavericks were bound and determined to keep it out of his hands) — The Bucks needed a comeback, and the only way that was going to happen is by the power of Brandon Jennings.
And those are the main things the rookie has brought with him from Italy — Hope with a capital H, and the feeling that the Bucks are never out of any given game. That’s how you can tell he’s a superstar, even in his NBA infancy. We haven’t had one of those in Milwaukee for at least 7 years, and I, for one, am determined to enjoy it.
Andrew Bogut: As good as he’s been this year, the Big Aussie’s greatest impact on the Bucks’ season might be the formation of Squad 6, a collection of 100 insane and well-organized fans that keep the Bradley Center from seeming like Bradley’s Tomb. I had forgotten how much that place eats crowd noise. Anyway, it’s always good to have 100 people cheering wildly when the rest of the stadium is quietly worried about losing to the 0-11 Nets.
As for his game, he’s pretty good against guys not named Samuel Dalembert, which is most guys. Offensively, he’s the Bucks only (non-sucky) post threat right now, and he’s consistently been able to make teams pay if they don’t double him. Defensively, he’s a good player who seems to struggle to keep up with young, vibrant, athletic, good-looking centers. Basically, he’s the anchor to the defense, so he plays close to the paint. This opens up the outside for the Mikki Moores and Drew Goodens of the world, which makes them look good. In reality, the Bucks need him down low, where he can challenge drives and rebound misses. You know how you can tell he’s a good defensive player? When he’s out of the game, the Bucks’ interior defense gets atrocious.
Carlos Delfino: To quote the Bobs from Office Space: “What is it, you’d say, you do here?” Delfino’s been a subpar shooter during his NBA career. Also, he’s not a very good defender. Also, he’s not that strong of a passer. Also, he doesn’t really crash the boards like you’d want him to. Is he really the second coming of Tim Thomas (or the third coming, since Bobby Simmons was the second), a starting Bucks small forward who is below-average in almost every way? Thankfully, the Bucks have Luc Richard Mbah a Moute to come off the bench and actually play defense and rebound and hit corner threes like a latter-day Bruce Bowen. The bad part is, when Mbah a Moute is injured (like he was last night) and Curly Joe Alexander is out (like he is every day), the Bucks have to play Delfino 40 minutes or go with a three-guard offense for much of the game. Any way you look at that, it’s bad. Luckily, Delfino had his best game as a Buck last night, and only looked like a turd occasionally. The man really doesn’t do anything well.
And here’s the thing — if Delfino could shoot open threes, that would help the offense a LOT. Even when Redd comes back — especially when Redd comes back, there will be open threes to be had. If he misses them, that’s a huge weapon the Bucks can’t use, solely because he sucks. Stay tuned.
Michael Redd: Speaking of the Bucks’ best player, he got injured (or is still injured, depending on one’s level of cynicism), and the team didn’t miss a beat. 90% of the credit for that goes to @youngbuck3, with the remaining 10% being spread thinly over Coach Skiles, Bogut, Ersan Ilyasova, Luke Ridenour, and Mbah a Moute. Much hand-wringing has been done by Bucks fans over the return of Redd, mostly phrased something like, “When Mike comes back, does that take shots away from Jennings or Bogut, and do we really want that?” They picture Redd as some sort of unconscious gunner who doesn’t have any idea how to play basketball. Let me tell you, there was a reason Redd took all those shots — he was the best player on the team. To suggest that the Bucks don’t need another good offensive player on the team right now is the opposite of true. That’s exactly what they need. And with Redd and Jennings both attracting attention, that will provide opportunities for everybody. It’ll also make it virtually impossible for opponents to double Bogut and run centers at Jennings on the pick-and-roll. Trust me, the only reason you think the Bucks don’t need Redd is that Skiles has been playing Jennings and Ridenour together, and Ridenour has been shooting better than usual. He probably can’t keep that up.
The second part of the Redd hand-wringing is often phrased like this: “When Mike comes back, the Bucks’ defense will suffer because he hates defense.” As someone who watched Chris Fargon Douglas-Roberts drop 31 on the Bucks last night, let me assure you that the Bucks’ wing D could not really be worse than it is right now. It’s not like Charlie Bell and Jodie Meeks are locking anyone down. Trust me, Bell is too small to cover big swing players, and not quick enough to guard small ones anymore. Jodie Meeks is a second round pick who was drafted for his offense. Redd’s return would mean that Mbah a Moute can start at the 3, and Ilyasova at the 4. Along with Jennings and Bogut, that’s a much better defensive unit than if you had Bell and Delfino out there. And Redd can’t possibly be a worse defender than the 6-1 Luke Ridenour, who played the entire 4th quarter of both games I saw at shooting guard. If the Bucks are going to be good this year, they need Mike. If they’re going to be good in the future, they need to showcase Mike so they can trade him.
Hakim Warrick: If we have learned one thing in the 9-game Hakim Warrick era, it’s that “athletic” does not necessarily mean “coordinated.” Dude’s like a baby elk out there. This explains why a 6-9 guy with an incredible vertical leap can lead the league in both “failed defensive possessions” and “failed monster dunks without picking up a foul” (not real stats). And high holy heck is he bad on defense. I don’t want to disparage him too badly, since he only costs 3 million a year and he’s actually functional as a scorer off the bench, but anyone who thinks he’s a good NBA power forward is sadly mistaken.
Ersan Ilyasova: Three years ago, the Bucks were starting him in a blatant attempt to get a higher draft pick (which ended up being Chairman Yi, so it was ultimately counterproductive). This year, they can’t take him off the court because he’s essential to their defense. He played the entire 4th quarter against Dallas, and the entire 3rd against New Jersey. Those were both really good quarters for the Bucks. He annoyed Dirk Nowitski, and would have actually stopped the Big German a few more times had they not called some cheap fouls on him. He seems to be getting better and more comfortable every game. Plus, he wears that delightful Rip Hamilton mask.
On the other hand, he’s not as good a spot-up shooter as advertised, at least not so far. He’s been better than Delfino, though, and he always seems to bounce back from an airball with a swish a couple minutes later. His jumper is like the proverbial box of chocolates from Forrest Gump. It’ll be interesting to see how much he progresses this year, and if he end up leading the league in opposing players saying, “I can’t believe I’m losing to this guy” (also not a real stat).
Luc Richard Mbah a Moute: The Bucks’ success this year in large part will be determined by how many minutes they can get this guy. The only reason he’s not starting right now (assuming Skiles has noticed that he’s good) is because Charlie Bell is basically an offensive zilch, and Delfino is a better (?) shooter than Prince Luc. Notice, however, that Mbah a Moute is always in at the end of games, and basically gets starter’s minutes (29/game so far this year). He’s a versatile defender who can defend small 4′s, all 3′s, and most 2′s. And now that he can hit the corner three, he’s not a total turd offensively.
Charlie Bell: I’ve pretty much already written everything I want to about Bell. I think Skiles starts him solely because he tries hard and doesn’t make mistakes. He knows exactly what he’s going to get from the guy every night. It isn’t much, but it won’t kill you. Too bad he’s shooting poorly and can’t defend anymore.
Jodie Meeks: I’ve pretty much already written everything I want to about Meeks. I think Skiles plays him solely because he tries hard and he can’t play Ridenour 40 minutes a game. He knows exactly what he’s going to get from the guy every night. It isn’t much, but it won’t kill you. Too bad he’s shooting poorly and can’t defend anybody. (See what I did there?)
Luke Ridenour: I functional backup point guard who is pretty good when he’s shooting well, he’s been playing large minutes lately because Skiles has realized he’s one of the only Bucks able to create his own shot. Also, he doesn’t make many mistakes (at least on offense) and he’s pretty quick for a white guy. There were times in both the Dallas and New Jersey games that Ridenour was the only guy playing worth a darn. He also plays well on the same floor with Jennings, largely because Ridenour seems to realize who The Man is.
Big Picture: Now that I’ve put too fine a point on the entire team, I’ll step back and sum things up: Jennings gives them a puncher’s chance every night, even against good teams. Their defense has improved over recent years, but is still prone to giving up a 68% shooting percentage for a half (as they did against Dallas) if they’re not careful. Bogut is a real live NBA center, and the more minutes they can get for Ilyasova and Mbah a Moute, the better off they’ll be. Can this team make the playoffs? Probably. The East only has 8-10 good teams (including the Bucks), so they’ll either keep up their current pace (not likely) or end up fighting with the Detroits and Philadelphias of the world for the final couple of playoff spots. The big decision they have to make is whether or not to trade Redd, and it’s a decision that will shape both their present and future.
Also, Joe Alexander wants to be traded. Good for him. It’s nice when everyone’s interests line up, right?
