Bucks Buzz: Monday March 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

Thursday: Pelicans 112 Bucks 104  -  Spirted effort from Milwaukee's professional basketball team. They played the Pellies tough throughout the whole four quarters, but they could not get it done down in the Nola. A trend continued on Friday when Anthony Davis took Bucks' big man to the absolute woodshed with a 29 point, 14 rebound performance along with five assists and a couple blocks. He took full control inside plus they got a great game from Tyreke Evans with 25 points. Milwaukee got another great game from Jeff Adrien whom matched his career-high from the night before by having 20 points and 10 rebounds in a losing effort. Adrien is playing at such a high level right now, which now means he will get overpaid by this franchise. John Henson deserves some love too as he started for Ersan Ilyasova and had 12 points with six rebounds, one of his better performances of late. O.J. Mayo decided he did not need to play this one after shoving former Wisconsin Badger Greg Stiemsma in the throat/face area which got him ejected

Saturday: Wizards 114 Bucks 107 - If Milwaukee would have came to play in the first half, this might have been a different game. They gave up 75 points digging a 22 point hole at the break. Milwaukee came back from half to hold Washington to only 10 points in the third quarter, but could not complete the comeback getting their 50th loss of the season. Trevor Ariza continued his hot stretch of late having 28 points with five threes including seven rebounds. Additionally, Washington got five more threes from Bradley Beal as he dropped 23 points. If John Wall beats you, that's okay, but to have the other players take you down is a little disappointing. As for Milwaukee, their backcourt had a nice game with Brandon Knight filling it up with 25 points on 9/20 shooting with Nasty Nate Wolters adding 10 points of his own along with a positive PER.

Bucks and Fox Sports Wisconsin, how can it be fixed?
As some Bucks fans learned on Saturday night, the game was not on television. This disappointed a lot of people including yours truly as it would have been fun to see Milwaukee take on the Wizards, one of the best young teams in basketball.  I do not understand why they chose home games to get the ax. I could totally get them not wanting to bring their cameras to New Orleans as that matchup does not really drive up the needle, but for whatever reason, they felt Saturday's game was less important than Friday. There needs to be a better plan in place for this sort of things. Look at some of the perceived worst teams, and when Milwaukee visits them, give them the ax. I realize we are not getting 82 games of Bucks basketball because that's how it works with FOX Sports, but let's try to figure out a better balance with these games.  

Links
Journal Sentinel had a nice write up about Henson's struggles in his second year. I met John on Saturday afternoon as we were at the same event. Good dude honesty. Down to earth guy who does not think he is better than anyone else.

Nice look from the people of Bucksetball looking at the Gary Neal trade after about a month later. Ramon Sessions and Adrien have been special.

What to watch
I would look for the Bucks durability. This sort of runs into the schedule, but the Bucks play five games in seven days. Luckily for Milwaukee, everyone is off suspension and healthy.

Upcoming schedule
They play Orlando tonight, a team they have beaten this year and then they travel to Minnesota on Tuesday night. Bucks could get one of two here. Doubt they would take both of them.

Charlie.

Bucks at the Break

It is finally the All-Star break, or “Black Super Bowl Weekend” if you choose, and Bucks have stumbled right up to it as expected. For the year, they are 9-41, a truly astonishing number. Our current record has Milwaukee dead last in the league. And Bucks are the worst at a number of things too, for instance:

•  Bucks are the worst rated offensive team with a rating of 99.68, no one is below them.
• Bucks garner the worst attendance rating but Aaron Rodgers attended a Bucks game with my uncle, so that was cool.
• Bucks have six less wins then a Philadelphia 76ers team that was just outscored 66-33 and 69-30 in the first half of consecutive NBA games against Los Angles Clippers and Golden State Warriors. Milwaukee are technically worse then this team somehow, someway.
• Bucks have 24.9% chance of receiving the 1^stpick in the lottery. The highest of all teams. This situation is kind of like having an argument with your girlfriend. You are fighting, she is winning, you finally think of something awesome and totally true to stick her with it, you stick her with it, she flies off the handle, possibly slaps you because your right and women are confusing. But the fact is that what she was bitching about to you could be justified in the first place, and so for awhile it is just weird as you both lick your wounds and don’t want to be around each other, and hate each other (The following has been a metaphor for having to watch the Bucks in case you are wondering), but then after a long tumultuous week of no sex and hating, the make-up sex happens and everyone breaths a fresh of new air (the eventual Draft Lottery). It’s been a sexually frustrating season in Milwaukee.
• Bucks have the worst Adjusted Net Rating. (Net Rating takes into consideration estimated point differential per 100 possessions and then it is adjusted in terms of strength of opponent. I like this stat because there are only two teams in the West that rank lower then 18^th, and only five teams outside of the top fifteen, and it is very apparent the West is far superior to the East. The Bucks hold an adjusted net rating of -10.75. To compare, Oklahoma City Thunder are the best at +8.48, and Atlanta Hawks are middle of the road at +0.68. In other words, Milwaukee loses games and generally, they lose pretty big.

So as you can see, some things have not worked out at all. The belief was to begin the year Milwaukee would not tank the season. Before the year, they brought in NBA veterans like Carlos Delfino, Brandon Knight, Gary Neal, OJ Mayo and Zaza Pachulia, it looked inevitable that paired with a decent frontcourt of John Henson, Ersan Ilyasova and Larry Sanders, this would be a team competing in the Eastern Conference. A team that seemed destined for the eighth seed. True Bucks fans sighed winds of depression thinking about how they were about miss out on the highly touted upcoming draft class.

Instead of competing though, Bucks got injured, losing Delfino, Sanders, Knight, Pachulia, Neal, Butler and Mayo, all at different and overlapping times over the first month and a half of the season, and the next thing you know, it's the end of December and Milwaukee is 7-24 becoming the front-runners in Tanksville.The injuries have been peculiar. Sanders broke his hand in a bar fight and just recently broke the orbital bone in his face. Pachulia broke his foot. Henson sprained his ankle terribly, and Knight popped a hammy two minutes into the season.

None however, make as little sense as OJ Mayo. In late January, Mayo missed some games due to the flu. He returned to play in back to back games on January 24th and 25th and has sense been day-to-day on the injury report with “the flu”.It is now, February 11^th and he still has the same flu. Like Mayo, I too reside in Wisconsin, but I haven’t heard of anyone else getting the three week flu like Mayo. Which leads me to question a few things.I hit up my uncle recently asking him if he had heard anything more about Mayo. He laughed and replied Mayo is fine. So take that, as you will. I’m just waiting to see how fat OJ Mayo gets by April.

Bright Spots

As Milwaukee tumble on through the season, a couple of positives have come to light. One is Brandon Knight. I was pretty skeptic on Knight. In Detroit, he did nothing that was memorable, aside from getting baptized by DeAndre Jordan but that is not exactly a positive thing. For the season, he has led the team in scoring, at 16.5 ppg. He has been a decent distributor (numbers-wise) averaging 4.8 assists per game but has also shown that he is much more of a two guard, that is just a hair small to only play the two.

I hope he can develop a sense to really command a team as a point guard, and not just as a scorer. As Coach Larry Drew has more time with him, I’m hoping this becomes a reality. Especially if they are surrounding him with blossoming players like Henson, and Giannis Antetokounmpo and a future number one or two overall draft pick. The development of Knight could prove crucial to this team in there or four years. 

Another bright spot has been John Henson. Henson is arguably skinnier than Giannis, but he is just as long. He gets pushed around on defense when guarding the stronger players in the league (Guys like Dwight Howard, Joahkim Noah, and Roy Hibbert), but his length is a constant problem for defenses. For the season he has averaged 2.2 blocks per game.On offense, Henson has been Milwaukee's second option, scoring 11.8 points a game on 52% shooting. He legitimately uses a lefty skyhook that makes Kareem smile. When it is on, it’s beautiful.  He has also been a sturdy rebounder at 8.1 per game and leads the team with a 19.5 PER.

I’m really high on Henson. I think he will be a playmaker in this league for a while. My only real complaint is he seems very laid back, and nothing seems to bother him. Not even losses. I don’t want to question his drive, but I don’t want him to become like Corey Maggette and become so used to losing that it doesn’t phase him. But that is me really knit-picking. Realistically I have nothing but love for Henson.

The Rookie Class

I may be biased when I say this, but I think it’s safe to crown Milwaukee kings of the 2013 Draft. Milwaukee nailed three players. Bucks obviously drafted Giannis Antetokounmpo, whom is an Internet sensation, and a player on the rise. While he is still raw and learning at the tender age of 19, he managed to score 7.1 ppg and 4.6 rpg. Those numbers are modest, but I can assure they are the most exciting seven and four in the league. Every time Antetokounmpo grabs a rebound and starts to run up court on a one-man-fast break, the city of Milwaukee wins. He alone has made a 9-41 season delightful. There is not another rookie that can say that.

While most NBA heads have heard of Giannis by now, another solid move was drafting Nate Wolters in the second round. Milwaukee threw Wolters into the fire forcing to play a lot early on due to injuries and proved that he does in fact belong in the NBA. He does not turn the ball over often and has shown a knack for filling up the stat sheet. While his minutes haven’t been consistent, in games he has played for longer stretches, it pretty common to see a stat line consisting of seven points, nine assists and seven rebounds or 7/10/4, or 11/3/4, just a little bit of everything. A 6’ 4” and 190 pounds he is a big powerful point guard that defends and makes plays. Before the season, I compared him to Goran Dragic. Dragic has since exploded this season averaging over 20 points and six assists per game, and while I don’t know if Wolters will ever average that, I think he will be a very, very reliable point guard in this league for years. I mean, could not you see Wolters being the pivotal bench player as a member of a contending San Antonio Spurs team? I sure can.

Our draft doesn’t stop at two players however; Milwaukee also drafted a brute named Miroslav Radjulica. The man is a mountain. He is like Nikola Pekovic but a little swifter. He sports a tremendous arm sleeve tattoo and can drink over a gallon of vodka in 2 hours[1]. While he does not average many minutes, he has been ultra efficient, with a PER of 16.7. Radjulica honestly has great ball skills and soft hands. He is pretty good pluus he just looks so strong that I cannot say anything bad about him in fear that if he were to meet me and know I said bad things about him, he might strangle me. And quite frankly, I don’t want to go out being strangled by a guy named Miroslav. I have always envisioned my death way different then that.

A Mid-Season Outlook

We know this season is done. It would be beneficial to lose every single game from here on out, but we as Bucks fans will probably settle on winning like four or five more games; a modest and fair amount.

Hopefully this season can be the turning point to more glory days in Milwaukee Bucks basketball. Although it is often forgotten, even by Milwaukee's own fans, Bucks were an original NBA franchise and have a very rich history in the league, despite only winning one championship.

If they are lucky Bucks will land the coveted first pick that becomes a franchise cornerstone. If Milwaukee is really lucky, the draft pick, Giannis and Henson will stay in town for awhile. And if the Bucks are really really, really lucky, they will an NBA championship in the next five years.

But for now, let’s just cheer for Giannis as he represents for Milwaukee during All-Star weekend.

~Andrew

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[1]Okay, I made up the vodka part.

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.