Tapping The Keg Podcast Episode 77

Tapping The Keg podcast is back for another edition as Charlie and Mitch discuss all sorts of things in a nice 45 minute podcast.  We start off talking about the distinctive music tastes around the United States of America, Milwaukee Bucks talk ranging from Caron Butler's buyout to Jeff Adrien being a part of the long-term plan for the team. We move on to discuss about Johnny Manziel and the criticism around him. Mitch and Charlie do a non-Hank The Dog edition of talking about Milwaukee Brewers ranging from their over/under number, Spring Training get started and Yankees interested Rickie Weeks. Our discussion carries us to James Jones and his future with Green Bay. Mitch rants quickly about U.S. Hockey. We finish up talking Jason Collins and the culture of sports.

Charlie & Mitchell.

Bucks Buzz: February 26 - Butler Bought Out

Even though it has been a bad year for Milwaukee thus far, Mitch Pratt and Charlie Tritschler will provide you with a bi-weekly update on the Bucks ranging from recaps, links and other neat stuff.

Quick Recap:

Monday at Philadelphia: Bucks 130 Sixers 110 --

The Bucks played their "best" game of the season on Monday night, notching their eleventh win against the lowly Philadelphia Sixers. The Bucks were lead by OJ Mayo who scored 25 points on 8-14 shooting. In fact, the Bucks as a team shot 57 percent from the floor (60 percent from beyond the arc) and shattered their season high in points with 130. The previous high was 117. 

It sounds as if many Bucks' fans are legitimately concerned that the team is going to start winning games and jeopardize their draft position. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous that the Bucks will end up with the second worst record in the league when it's all said and done this year. The Sixers are horrid. They have two legitimate NBA talents left of their roster and one of them is a rookie (Michael Carter-Williams) and is hitting the "rookie wall" right now. They gave away two of their three best players in Evan Turner and Spencer Hawes at the deadline for nothing, thus, the tank is really on in Philly. I'm surprised that the league office approved of these trades, if I'm honest. 

This was also the second game the Bucks played with new acquisitions Ramon Sessions and Jeff Adrien. These guys have come in and looked pretty good and actually might help the Bucks win a few games, which would be a typical move. Sessions, as some of us are aware, is a former Buck. He can get to the tin and is a better PG than you'd think. Adrien is a typical hustle guy/rebounder that is playing for another NBA contract. Kohl might be susceptible to give it to him, unfortunately.

I'm not that worried about the tank, personally. We've come this far and the tank will get back on the rails after they get destroyed in Indiana on Thursday. If they compete with Indiana or, God forbid, beat them, then we have problems but until then, have no fear.

Links

In other news, it sounds like the Bucks and hometown forward Caron Butler are working on a buyout that is supposed to be finalized on Wednesday, this according to an article on ESPN.com. This is a move to do Caron a solid by allowing him to hitch onto a contender. Also, it saves the Bucks some money and a roster spot. The Bucks could use the roster spot on a D-Leaguer but that doesn't usually happen, so I won't hold my breath.

Believe it or not, Drew Gooden is coming back to the NBA. He signed a 10-day contract with the Washington Wizards and will join the team on Thursday.

According to an article by ESPN's Marc Stein, the NBA is looking at expanding the size of the court and possibly adding a four-pointer. I don't get it.

What to watch

I'm going to watch the rotations that coach Larry Drew settles into now that the roster has been tweaked. Sessions, Adrien in and Neal, Ridnour and Butler out. OJ Mayo is healthy now and looks to be back to his early season form.

I'm guessing the rotation will look like this going forward:

Wolters/Sessions

Knight/Mayo

Middleton/Giannis

Ersan/Adrien

Pachulia/Henson

What's next?

The Bucks will play in Indiana Thursday evening and then will return home to face the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday night. Like I said, don't expect victories in either contest. The tank will not be disturbed in the next two.

Tapping The Keg Podcast Episode 76

Mitch Pratt and Charlie Tritschler get together for yet another edition of Tapping The Keg podcast. Most of the podcast involves us talking about the trade deadline for the NBA. Even though there were not many big deals, there were enough of them to talk about for 15-20 minutes. Milwaukee Bucks made a move dealing Gary Neal and Luke Ridnour to Charlotte for expiring contracts with Ramon Sessions and Jeff Adrien. Even Turner deal to Indiana is discussed at great length as well as a couple of the minor deals. Also in this podcast, how Tinder is changing the date game, getting you ready for the Olympics and Hank the Brewers mascot dog!

Charlie.

Bucks Buzz: Monday February 10th

Even though it has been a bad year for Milwaukee thus far, Mitch Pratt and Charlie Tritschler will provide you with a bi-weekly update on the Bucks ranging from recaps, links and other neat stuff.  

Hot Recap Takes

Saturday: Rockets 101 Bucks 95 -  A rather competitive effort from Milwaukee's professional basketball team. A bad second quarter plagued Milwaukee, and that's a microcosm of the season where Milwaukee has one bad quarter screwing up everything else. Houston received a big game from Dwight Howard with 27 points and 13 rebounds continuing the trend of big men having huge games against Milwaukee. Jeremy Lin had a great game with 18 points on 8/15 shooting with a +9 PER. As for Milwaukee, they had double-doubles from John Henson in his second game back from an injury, and Zaza Pachulia had 12 and 10 off the bench. Quite possibly the most encouraging performance came from Nate Wolters. He started again with a career high 19 points with 9/15 shooting with seven rebounds and only two turnovers. Granted, Houston's perimeter defense cannot guard a gargoyle, but still maybe this will jumpstart Wolters' confidence to be more of a shooter. Even though the Bucks lost, I am happy they put up a decent effort at home for the fans on Saturday night.

Cool thing Bucks did on Saturday was put their MVP season ticket holders on the center line. I like that move a ton.

As part of @BucksMVP Appreciation Night, MVP season ticket holder names were placed on center line at tonight's game pic.twitter.com/zIyFyKtuOb
— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) February 9, 2014

Revisiting the Bucks trade block 
We are about a week and half away from the trading deadline. Gary Neal did nothing for his trade prospects, but I have to believe he gets move at some point. Ersan Ilyasova bothered by a bad back, but still there is a chance he might get moved with two years and 15 million dollars left on his contract. Caron Butler is beloved by some people in Milwaukee, but he is another piece that could be on the move. I doubt Milwaukee moves Larry Sanders or Zaza. Additionally, I think no one wants the albatross contract of O.J. Mayo although I am sure no Bucks fans would be sad to see him go elsewhere. Ilyasova would probably gain back the most stuff for Milwaukee, but I doubt any of their pieces will gain them an extra first-round draft pick.

Links
There were multiple Giannis Antetokounmpo articles out there this week. Scoop Jackson wrote one for ESPN about how much he truly enjoys the game of basketball.

The other Giannis article I speak of is a Q and A with a Greek reporter. The biggest thing discovered in here is Milwaukee needs a Souvlaki spot.

What to watch
Milwaukee started a lineup of Wolters, Brandon Knight, Khris Middleton, Henson and Sanders. That seems like a dream lineup for Milwaukee fans, and if Sanders is fully recovered from his blurred vision as he got an elbow to the eye early in the game. It would be interesting to see it play out for a full game versus the first four minutes of the game.

Upcoming schedule
Before the All-Star Break, Milwaukee has two home games this week against Boston tonight and New Orleans on Wednesday night. Maybe they could grab one to get to double-digits before the break.

Charlie. 

Bucks Buzz: Monday February 3rd

Even though it has been a bad year for Milwaukee thus far, Mitch Pratt and Charlie Tritschler will provide you with a bi-weekly update on the Bucks ranging from recaps, links and other neat stuff.  

Hot Recap Takes
Friday: Magic 113 Bucks 102 - Nice fight from Milwaukee as they were down by 21 at half and started to march back in the second with a great effort from the bench from some of the unhappiest Bucks. Gary Neal whose somehow still on this basketball team had a productive night with 13 points going 50 percent from the field.  Caron Butler had 20 points with 7 of 12 shooting. It is nice to see like a white whale that Neal and Butler can come up with big performances every now and again. Also off the bench, Giannis Antetokounmpo had a big night with 15 points with seven rebounds shooting efficiently from the field. He also had a massive dunk in the fourth quarter during the Bucks comeback. Negatives, they missed 10 free throws and allowed Orlando to shoot over 50 percent from the field including a nice game from Arron Afflalo whose developing into a Bucks killer with a 21 points with five rebounds and a PER of +18.

Giannis' unreal slam. Gotta think he is in the dunk contest in under five years. (Full highlights of his night, dunk comes .57 secs in).



Saturday: Grizzlies 99 Bucks 90 - Man, the Bucks had a lead for most of the game until a bad late third quarter into an early fourth quarter. Nick Calathes fills in for an injured Mike Conley and goes for a career-high 22 points which seems ridiculous Milwaukee let happen but we will get to that in a second. Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph combined for 42 points and 16 rebounds inside which does not surprise me in the slightest with how bad they have been defending good big men. Good night from Ersan Ilyasova with 14 points and 13 rebounds. Brandon Knight had a nice night at the two guard position with 23 points, seven rebounds and six assists on 8/19 shooting. Bucks struggled with Memphis defense shooting way too many threes, shot 23 of them and they only shot 39 percent from the field. They could only compete with Memphis for about three and half quarters, and that feels just about right.

Best part of the night... Larry threw up the thumbs up again! (H/T @AnaheimAmigos) 



Nasty Nate's re-emergence as Bucks point guard
Calling a guy that looks like 'I like turtles' kid, 'Nasty' is absolutely perfect. Nate Wolters played a great deal early on in the season, and then Larry Drew sort of placed him on the bench forgetting about him as he only averaged about 13 minutes a game in January. He played well against Atlanta in a blowout, played solid against Phoenix then nearly filled up a triple-double against Orlando with eight points, nine assists and seven rebounds. It almost feels like Milwaukee needs to keep exploring the idea of having Wolters at the one and Knight at the two because that's their natural positions. Knight is not a point guard at this point of his career, and he needs to admit that to himself.  Additionally in Wolters two starts this weekend, he had one total turnover. My only worry with him is the lack of defense because Wolters is putrid at defending almost all point guards in the league.

Links
I do not have any links this week. I am sure there is good stuff out there, but nothing worth talking about it.

What to watch
Let's see if the Wolters-Knight experiment continues and what's up with John Henson's wrist as well as the return of Zaza Pachuila.

Upcoming schedule
Weird schedule for Milwaukee in the next two weeks before heading into All-Star Break. Milwaukee takes on New York at home tonight before heading to Denver for a one-game road trip on Wednesday.

Bucks Buzz: January 23rd - We Got One!

Even though it has been a bad year for Milwaukee thus far, Mitch Pratt and Charlie Tritschler will provide you with a bi-weekly update on the Bucks ranging from recaps, links and other neat stuff.  

Quick Recap:

Wednesday vs. Detroit: Bucks 104 Pistons 101 -

Yes, that's the final score. You read that correctly. The Milwaukee Bucks notched their first victory of 2014 after losing nine in a row since their win in Los Angeles on New Year's Eve. Had the Bucks blown this one, it would have marked their second ten game losing streak of the season but nope, the resilient Bucks held off the reeling Pistons for a nice victory.

Caron Butler had arguably his best game as a Milwaukee Buck, on his bobblehead night naturally. The Racine native had 30 points, seven boards and five assists on his line in front of a nice crowd at the BC. Butler said after the game to FSWisconsin's Telly Hughes that he "just wants to play" and that he "earned his minutes" which I'd agree with. It sucks that Giannis didn't play a minute in the fourth quarter but he still played 26 minutes, which is probably enough right now.

Miroslav Raduljica threw in a really productive 20 minutes (8 points, 8 rebounds, 2 steals) off the bench for the Bucks last night as well. I never really thought I'd say this but when he's banging around and being a nuisance for other teams' bigs, he's really fun to watch. He gets a nice game ball honorable mention from Sportandfashion-news.

Former Buck, Brandon Jennings, made his second trip back to Milwaukee and had a pretty good game...we still don't miss you though, Brandon.

By now, everyone knows that I'm especially on the tank bandwagon but I've had an epiphany of sorts the past few days to a week; I have no problem with anyone who roots for the Bucks to get a W and indeed, I will be rooting for them every night. There are two reasons for this: 1) I'm pretty certain that the youth has become the focal point of the front office by now (Caron's big game last night, on his bobblehead night, hopefully won't derail that) and 2) They are so bad that typical "tanking" measures don't really need to be taken. The team is healthy finally, for the most part, and they are still trash. 

Links

Here's is a column from Bucks' insider Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal Times that says there's a 70 or 80 percent chance the Bucks get a new building and remain in Milwaukee, according to sources.

Caron Butler talking after the game last night. Even though I'm not thrilled he went to the media to voice his frustration about playing time, I don't think he's a locker room cancer by any means. He's clearly a leader in the locker room and somebody the younger guys should look up to.

What to watch

Now that the Bucks have a victory this calendar year, we'll have to watch if they can build off of it. As I previously stated, the youth movement appears to be locked in so at some point, you'd like to see them hop out of the tank and stretch out a bit. Perhaps we'll see a stretch where they win three out of five or so.

What's next?

The Bucks will head to the metropolis of Cleveland for a Friday night fight with the Cavaliers. The Cavs haven't been playing great, so could we see the Bucks get their first back-to-back Ws of the season?

Then, Saturday, the Bucks return home to face the Atlanta Hawks who are in the top half of the East by default. 

Toodles.

-Big Money

Bucks Buzz: Monday January 20th

Even though it has been a bad year for Milwaukee thus far, Mitch Pratt and Charlie Tritschler will provide you with a bi-weekly update on the Bucks ranging from recaps, links and other neat stuff.  

Hot Recap Takes
Saturday: Rockets 114 Bucks 104 - I probably sound like a broken record here, but I keep talking about how big men tear up the Bucks despite all their size. Bucks hoped things might change with Larry Sanders back in the fold. It has not. Terrence Jones had 36 points and 11 rebounds. Not Dwight Howard, but Jones had a breakout game in his second year with a monster first half where he had 25 points. Houston also had 20 plus effort from Dwight Howard and James Harden which was all they really needed to win this game. Bucks had cut the lead to six in the third quarter, but Rockets dashed their dreams going on run combined with some Bucks turnovers giving Houston a 16-point lead putting Milwaukee to bed. The defensive effort was not all there, but John Henson had a big game with 20 points and 15 rebounds. Brandon Knight played in control with 26 points on only 16 shots. Khris Middleton did not have a great day going three of nine missing all four of his threes only resulting in eight points.

Sunday: Spurs 110 Bucks 82 - Milwaukee did not stand a chance in this one. They were completely beaten down in this one. It was one of those games where you say 'Hey maybe San Antonio is napping in this one and the Bucks can steal this one.' NOPE. Milwaukee trailed 29-16 at the end of the first quarter, and it was all downhill from there.  San Antonio had seven players in double figures with Patty Mills of all people leading the charge with 20 points. Mills has only 20- point efforts in three games in the last two years so there is that. Milwaukee gave Gary Neal a chance after Luke Rindour went out with a wrist injury and he failed to step up to the occasion going 1/8 in a horrendous effort. Speaking of bad effort, O.J. Mayo did not even register a point in 19 minutes of play. The only Buck player whom did decently on Sunday night was Larry Sanders with 10 points and seven rebounds.

Links
This is a fun fan fiction of Giannis Anteokounmpo meaning that we are at 15 straight Buck Buzz's with at least one Giannis mention. Gotta keep the streak alive.

Not a link, but Gary Neal cried all over Instagram on Friday



What to watch
I want to know if someone gets on the move this week. Caron Butler and  Neal seem like they are having a bad time regarding both their negative comments in public in the last couple of weeks. Milwaukee is waiting for some team to get desperate but I just feel like the longer these guys are on the team the worst they are making things.

Upcoming schedule
Couple days off for Milwaukee after a week featuring four games in seven days. They take on Detroit at home Wednesday night.

Charlie.