The Bratwurst – Milwaukee Bucks Blog

If you remember my NBA Draft preview, I had touted Alabama’s Richard Hendrix as the steal of the draft. He put up great numbers for the Tide, had a track record of improvement in college and almost perfectly fit the profile of players like Carlos Boozer, David West and Paul Millsap (power forwards who put up dominant numbers in college but slipped in the draft because of worries about their size).

My reason for liking his game is here, but to sum it all up: I can’t see anything not to like about Hendrix, and I think the people who get all wound up about him being one inch too short are idiots.

Hendrix was sent to the D-League by Golden State, where in 8 games he pretty much treated the league in the same manner that Ramon Sessions did: he stuffed the box scores nightly.

And now, in order to make room for Monta Ellis, the Warriors let Hendrix go.

Big mistake.

In the D-League, Hendrix averaged 13.9 points on about 55% shooting and10.9 rebounds. He had an IPM in the 0.950 range and also averaged about 1.5 blocks and steals per game. He spent a couple of games in foul trouble and had a few 4+ turnover games but I don’t care about that — in a glorified exhibition game like the D-League, I’d rather a player be aggressive and throw his body around all night.

I’m not saying that Hendrix could step in at power forward for the Bucks and dominate. But I think he could be a solid 15-20 minute guy right now, providing a little high-percentage scoring and some shot blocking and — that one skill that you can’t teach — rebounding. He’d be the type of guy who you would say “he gave the bench a boost” just about every night. And next year, yes, he just might be the starting power forward.

To sign him the Bucks would have to cut Austin Croshere, and I can’t find any details on if his contract is guaranteed or not. But it’s a no-brainer move: the Bucks aren’t contending for a championship, so pick someone up now who might really help you in a year or two!

At the very least he’d do wonders for the Mad Ants right about now.

Sign Richard Hendrix today!

Here’s a fun one, not a single Milwaukee Bucks starter achieved double figures in any statistical category other than mintes against the Los Angeles Lakers last night.  Yahoo’s Ball Don’t Lie has more.

Yeah, I know 9-13 isn’t very good.

But here’s the key: the Bucks have played nine home games and 13 road games. All they have to do is keep up the pace they have currently played and thanks to the 32 home games vs. 28 road games they have remaining they should finish at .500. Which should get them into the playoffs.

Also, it helps that the schedule will get slightly easier going forward. For example, the Bucks have lost 5 times to the three best teams in the league (Boston, Cleveland and the Lakers). Over the remaining three quarters of the season they only have to see these teams five more times.

More home games + more games against bad teams = more wins.

It also helps that this team has actually played pretty poorly on the offensive side of the ball, and the reason is because it’s biggest guns have been misfiring all year.

Michael Redd has not gotten going at all, hampered with his ankle injury and possibly a little post-Olympic hangover, and is putting up a brutal 0.668 IPM this season (IPM Data through Sunday is HERE). His numbers are down a little bit in every category, which suggest to me that his struggles are more a result of his injury rather than anything he is doing differently. His offense could also be down a bit because he is actually trying on defense this season, but either way he has not played enough minutes yet to be sure.

Andrew Bogut has not fit well in Skiles’ offense, and it has horribly hampered his numbers. He has been plagued with a case of turnover-itis, as he seems to constantly get the ball in the post and have a hard time getting rid of it cleanly. Remember his “great passing big man” reputation? I’m starting to wonder if he’s having trouble with Skiles’ offense or if his passing is going the way of his college jump shot. However, he has been bringing the goods on the boards and defensively, so if he gets going — adds 1 or two assists a night and cuts a turnover here or there — his numbers will be back to where they were last year. At least he is shooting 53% from the floor.

I’m satisfied that Ramon Sessions is a real player, so there’s a plus. I don’t know what the deal is with Richard Jefferson — a 0.68 IPM is not what we expected. In fact, that only looks good when compares with the 0.488 that Bobby Simmons is putting up for New Jersey. Jefferson made a nice career for himself as a complementary player but he’s not good enough to carry a team. With a little improvement from Bogut and Redd than maybe he wont have to try and carry the Bucks any more.

Most encouraging is that the Bucks currently rank 11th in the league in defensive efficiency. Scott Skiles has singlehandedly changed this team from a defensive laughingstock to nearly a top-third team in 20 games. That’s great, now their 26th ranked offense needs to pick up some slack.

I think they will, simply because the schedule says so.

That said, get ready for a little losing streak the next two weeks. They have little chance at Phoenix tomorrow. Then they have to play a back-to-back against Golden State — a horrible team, but one that could cause problems for a tired team. Then a must-win at home against Indiana, likely losses at Miami and Philadelphia next week, then a winnable game at New York next Friday, followed by a likely gimme against the Clippers at home next Saturday (LA will be on the second of a back-to-back). 3-4 will be likely in that stretch, I’d consider 4-3 a success.

Remember in my season preview I made a remark about how the Bucks were sunk if they lost Andrew Bogut for a long time? Well, looks like I was right.

While Bogut’s overall production has been a little disappointing this season, at least he has been a rebounding beast. With 20, 17 and 17 boards in the three games before the injury, Bogut was averaging a rather stellar 0.347 rebounds per minute — the 6th best rate in the league among players averaging over 20 mpg. Of course, the cynic says that Bogut had better rebound like that since he’s the only rebounder the team has. That is a good point.

In the three games he has missed (all losses) the Bucks have been outrebounded by 24. That was a major problem in the loss to Cleveland, which was able to use the triumvirate of Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Ben Wallace and Anderson Varejao to simply hammer the Bucks on the boards all night. That game was a hard-fought effort until the Bucks simply ran out of gas (to the best team in the league — 5 straight double digit wins).

It worried me when John Hammond did nothing to bolster the front line behind Bogut, but it is true that dominant rebounders are not all that easy to come by. So what can the Bucks do?

Play Dan Gadzuric until he fouls out every night. It may make you shudder to hear this, but Danny G is a much better player than Francisco Elson. Why would Gadzuric only get enough minutes to pick up a total of two fouls in the last three games?

Free Charlie V! Face it, he is a lousy defender, but he scores in bunches and actually rebounds very well (0.32 per minute). The Bucks need him on the floor. Mbah a Moute is a very effective player, but why have him playing power forward on a regular basis where he gives up 3-7 inches to every opponent?

Go big. Ramon Sessions may be the Bucks most effective point guard, but when you have the chance a lineup of Gadzuric-Villanueva-Moute-Redd-Jefferson may work for a brief stretch. If that team has a hard time getting the ball upcourt (likely) then Sessions will have to come back in, but a big lineup might create some mismatches — and if it doesn’t then it gets Jefferson (38 mpg) a little rest.

Will it work? I don’t know. But Scott Skiles needs to do something to keep the boards clear while Bogut is on the shelf.