The Bratwurst - Milwaukee Bucks Blog

I don’t know if John Hammond is paying attention, but after the Yi/RJ trade and the draft, the Bucks’ roster has some pretty big holes. Take a look and see if you know what I mean:

PG: Mo Williams, Ramon Sessions
SG: Michael Redd, Charlie Bell
SF: Richard Jefferson, Desmond Mason, Joe Alexander, Luc-Richard Mbah a Moute, Awvee Storey*
PF: Charlie Villanueva
C: Andrew Bogut, Dan Gadzuric
(*I’m not sure if Storey’s deal is guaranteed)

Am I the only person who thinks that a 12-man roster with three guys taller than 6′8″ is a problem? Especially when one of them is Danny G?

It’s not as though trading for a starting caliber power forward is going to be easy. There simply aren’t many of them out there. I wanted to write one of my “12 potential trades that won’t happen” columns, but it was impossible. I couldn’t really find any decent power forwards who the Bucks would want and who their current teams would be willing to give up. Mo Williams for Udonis Haslem? Mo and Charlie V for Chris Wilcox and Luke Ridnour? Gadzuric, Villanueva, Mason and a #1 for Elton Brand? Those are silly ideas. You could probably get a stopgap power forward from Sacramento, but do you really want one of Kenny Thomas, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Mikki Moore or Shelden Williams?

Maybe Hammond is hoping that the Detroit fire sale starts soon. Mo, Mason and a #1 for Chauncey Billups and Amir Johnson or Mason, Villanueva and Bell for Rasheed Wallace would work but neither of those ideas sound like something that Joe Dumars would do.

The more I think about it, the more I think Hammond was taken by surprise in this draft. The Yi-Jefferson trade came out of nowhere, so it probably happened so close to the draft that the Bucks didn’t have much of a plan “B” beyond taking Alexander. Most likely, they made the Yi trade hoping that one of Kevin Love, Eric Gordon or Russell Westbrook would slide to them; but when the player to slip was Jerryd Bayless (who was supposed to go #4 or #6, so the Bucks had not worked him out) they didn’t know what to do.

So what does it all mean? Will Hammond be able to pull off something incredible or are we going to try the Bogut-Villanueva combo again, and hope that it works this time? I’m not really sure.

If the best they can do is sign Brian Skinner to be Villanueva’s backup, I’m going to be mighty upset.

Some other things of note:

Don’t forget that Ersan Ilyasova is still Bucks property. There’s no way they sign him and add him to this years’ roster since they don’t need a small forward, but he could be signed and traded.

Also, the final thing I am going to mention about Richard Hendrix (unless he turns out to be really good or gets released in training camp): according to Draft Express, his draft stock fell because of a knee injury that was uncovered at the predraft camp (despite his apparently playing well there). Draft Express points out that not only were Hendrix’s college numbers almost identical to Carlos Boozer’s, but Boozer also fell in the draft for the same reason.

If you are interested in the NBA Draft, I suggest donating to Draft Express. By making a donation, you will be able to view the site with no pop-up ads, which is well worth it.

A very quiet trade passed through last week: New Orleans traded Cedric Simmons to Cleveland for David Wesley and cash. Why is this deal of interest to Bucks fans? It closes the book on the Magloire-Mason trade, and the winner by a nose is Milwaukee.

Lets look back on that deal. The Bucks thought they were getting a solid player in Magloire, but were pretty much wrong. However the trade was necessary for them; Bogut was a rookie and the Bucks truly couldn’t assume they knew what he could deliver, so adding a center (for a player whose role would have been diminished with the addition of Bobby Simmons) made sense. Magloire pretty much sucked in every way but one — he could really rebound. The combination of him and Bogut at power forward (who is a good rebounder for a forward but only an okay one for a center) had Milwaukee actually leading the league in rebound margin for a while and helped propel them to the playoffs.

It can be argued that having Magloire around hurt Bogut’s development, but that can’t really be proven. It certainly didn’t keep Bogut off the floor, and his high-post role in the offense remained pretty much the same last year.

The Hornets thought they were getting a solid player in Mason who would help them sell tickets in their temporary Oklahoma City home. They were also wrong on both counts. If Bucks fans thought Magloire was bad in Milwaukee try Mason’s contribution — career lows in points, awful shooting percentages, more turnovers, playing his way out of the starting lineup by midseason …. and this was with Chris Paul passing to him! Meanwhile, the fan support was so good in Oklahoma City that they didn’t need the former Cowboy to help sell tickets.

Last season the Bucks flipped Magloire into Brian Skinner, Steve Blake, Ha Seung Jin, and later Earl Boykins. Mason had another lousy season and both teams underachieved badly.

But the real problem for Bucks fans was the fact that they included their 2006 first round pick in the deal, which turned into Cedric Simmons (that’s not to say that the Bucks wouldn’t have taken someone else, but I’m just talking about what has actually happened). Should Simmons have become a solid player then this trade would have been a big win for New Orleans, but Simmons was awful.

It’s not really that big a deal that a 21 year old rookie doesn’t play much and has a poor start to his career, but the two stats I like to use to judge young players who haven’t played much scream “bust” in Simmons’ case: rebound rate and free throw percentage. I feel that rebounders are born, not made, and if you shoot free throws well then you have the ability to improve on your shooting overall. Well, Simmons averaged 8 rebounds per 40 minutes (pretty blah) and shot 48% on free throws (yikes!). And now New Orleans has dumped him for a player who is going to retire.

The biggest thing here, though, is that Simmons only had one more guaranteed season on his contract — if the Hornets thought he had any potential then they could have just stashed him on the bench (or in the NBDL) to see what they have or if he could be a part of a better trade later on. But instead they literally dumped him for nothing! A team getting rid of a young player that fast says one thing to me … bad attitude. That’s not just accepting that he was a bad pick, that is separating him from your locker room (that’s just speculation on my part, by the way).

So the final score of the Mason-Magloire trade is:

Bucks - 1 playoff appearance, no players

Hornets - 0 playoff appearances, no players

Your winner: Milwaukee (but just barely)

UPDATE: I looked around on the internet for references to Cedric Simmons’ attitude and couldn’t find anything but positive stories. DraftExpress.com listed his attitude and work ethic as a strength, and other stories mentioned him being a no-nonsense guy. There must be some reason why the Hornets dumped him, but immediately thinking he was a head case may be a rather unpleasant leap on my part.

Now that the Bucks have at least cemented the return of their starting five and are nearly certain that they’re getting a few players back, I figure it’s time for me to offer my advice up to Coach K on how I would run things.

Center: Andrew Bogut starts, Gadzuric backs him up. Occasional action can be seen at this position by Brian Skinner (assuming he comes back).

Power Forward: Charlie Villanueva starts, Bobby Simmons backs him up (see Small Forward) or Brian Skinner on a match-up by match-up basis.

Small Forward: Desmond Mason starts (with the goal of having him lock down the other team’s best perimeter player early) and doesn’t log serious minutes unless he is playing well, Bobby Simmons comes in as the 6th man for whoever is playing the worst (Charlie Villanueva or Desmond Mason). David Noel logs minutes when Simmons is in the game already and Mason needs a break.

Shooting Guard: Welcome to the Michael Redd show. Charlie Bell (assuming he returns) gets action at this position for about 8 minutes a game.

Point Guard: Mo Williams starts obviously, playing the majority of the minutes. Charlie Bell is the first off the bench to replace him, with Lynn Greer getting action when Bell is already on the floor.

Question Marks? Yi, obviously, let’s assume he won’t be playing and that he’ll be traded. Obviously we need to get something in return, but what I don’t know. Ersan Illyasova (one of my favorite players) is reportedly going back to Europe to play. Ramon Sessions will probably be in the D League (it’s a great resource to develop players). I have no idea what their intentions are for Damir Markota, but he looked pretty good in Summer League play. Does he start to compete with Gadz or Skinner for minutes?

I’m not sure what the trade all entails that is being rumored between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Golden State Warriors, but it doesn’t seem like it would really help the Bucks become a contender.  Swapping Jason Richardson and the Warriors pick for the 6th pick doesn’t really gain the Bucks anything, they have plenty of players in Richardson’s position.  What the Bucks could use is another big man.

Brian Skinner’s production is only going to fall (he’s aging) and Dan Gadzuric certainly isn’t getting any better.  The addition/return of Bobby Simmons will help with rebounding, but man the Bucks could use another big body in the post.  Jason Richardson is not that.

If the Bucks could unload Gadzuric in this deal, pick up another big man to replace him (at a much cheaper price), get Richardson, and the 18th pick.  I think there you might have something.

What big men are out there to sign?  If you get Richardson do you still resign Patterson and Bell?

This is all situational of course and dependent upon Chinese standout Yi still being there when the 6th pick comes up.

Terry Stotts is staying with what has brought him success and is keeping Michael Redd and Brian Skinner in the starting forward spots, while running Charlie Bell at shooting guard.

I think this is an excellent choice, albeit a no-brainer.  Charlie Villanueva has yet to find his touch after coming back from his injury. 

Ruben Patterson has been absolutely excellent off of the bench and is one of those short burst, high energy players that isn’t exactly suited for starting and playing the entire first quarter.  He’s a game changer when he comes off the bench.

As evidence of my previous point, in the Cleveland game last week the Bucks were out of the game in the 3rd quarter.  Down by well over 10, but did Ruben quit?  No.  His tenacity on the offensive boards helped change the game and give the Bucks a chance come the fourth quarter.  He did this all without Andrew Bogut and Michael Redd on the court.

Ruben Patterson may be one of the best non-starters in the NBA.

The Bucks have been terrible in crunch time this year.  I have a few thoughts as to why.

• Terry Stotts never makes any line-up changes to interject fresh legs in the final minutes unless he has to because of foul trouble.  If your team ain’t scoring Terry you need to change something. 
• Mo Williams always plays regardless of the situation.  Steve Blake needs to play when the team is ahead, he has the right mentality for playing with the lead.  He is a pass first player that is well-suited to look for Bogut and Redd in crunch time.  He can’t score like Williams, but I have more faith in him as a decision-maker.
• Michael Redd dribbles way too much.  They need to develop crunch time plays, not crunch time time 1-on-5 situations like happened tonight vs the Pacers.  Both on-the-ball picks should be happening for Redd and off-the-ball picks by Andrew Bogut so that he can role to the basket.  This is not street basketball and Michael Redd is not Kobe Bryant.  Terry Stotts needs to teach and preach X’s and O’s.
• Ruben Patterson often doesn’t play in the final minutes in favor of Charlie Bell.  If the Bucks are winning Patterson should be on the floor.  He is the Original Gangsta and plays like a mad man on defense.  It should be made clear to him that on offense he only shoots if it is a dunk and that on defense he is needed on the court so that he can assault the opposing players with his  Jermaine-O’Neil-jacking-the-fan-on-the-court type anger.  It is far too often that players get easy layups on the Bucks late in games.
• No one should score against the Bucks on an easy layup.  You do not get to dunk or lay the ball in against the Bucks.  This is the NBA.  You will to get fouled and you will get fouled hard.  This is how good teams control the tempo late in games.  Fear.  Right now it’s a cake walk, and it’s sickening.
• Dan Gadzuric should never touch the ball on offense in a close game.  Come to think of it, why isn’t Brian Skinner on the court?
• Ersan does not in any circumstance belong on the court late in a close game.  In the event that he would need to come into the game a random fan shall be selected from the crowd to take his place.  He does not have pressure experience in the NBA yet and this isn’t the time for him to learn it.  He needs a good 1,000 minutes of regular season experience before I would even consider putting him in late in games.

In summary when the Bucks are winning they need Steve Blake and Ruben Patterson.  They also need to tighten up the defense and foul people hard if they try to lay the ball in.  They either dunk it over Andrew Bogut’s head or settle for jump shots.  Bucks defenders need to develop the “Over My Dead Body” mentality in the final minutes of a close game, because right now they are a pathetic basketball team in the closing minutes.

The Bucks defeated the Charlotte Bobcats 104-100. Redd against paced the team with 21 points. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has my favorite recap where the highlight how Charlie Villanueva fouled out the first two games. I wasn’t able to watch this game, so I don’t have any legitimate insight to add other than Dan Gadzuric still had another terrible shooting outing, even though he didn’t start.

Tonight the Bucks continued rolling and stomped on a bunch of guys wearing Dallas Mavericks jerseys. Dallas didn’t play Dirk Nowitzki, Greg Buckner, Devin Harris, D.J. Mbenga, Jerry Stackhouse or Jason Terry, which creates an easy win for the Bucks.

If this was the regular season and Dallas didn’t play those players, the Bucks would have used their starters to destroy them. Unfortunately, it’s still the preseason and the Bucks are missing now two starters. Bobby Simmons is going to be out for a month now with a heel injury, a downgrade in status from his previous “day-to-day” (which I previously believed meant I would be seeing him tonight).

So out of a starting lineup that included Andrew Bogut, Villanueva, Simmons, Michael Redd, and Mo Williams, we’re now looking at Dan Gadzuric, Villanueva, Ruben Patterson, Michael Redd, and Mo Williams. I don’t buy into the starting point guard debate at all (despite the national’s media attention to a non-existent issue), Steve Blake will not start, Mo will.

The loss of Bobby Simmons won’t hurt nearly as much as the loss of Bogut. Ruben Patterson, an off-season acquisition (the defensive stopper I said we needed), has played very well so far. What is more surprising though is the emergence David Noel. He has already shown that he has quite the desire to prove himself in the L and has the skills to back it up. Without knowledge of the long-term Simmons issue, I sat at the game tonight wondering what Stotts/Harris would do with Noel, whether they would let him ride the pine all season or send him to the D-League to develop. That won’t be an issue to start the season, he’s going to get action right away. The development of David Noel is the second most important storyline to watch on the Bucks now, number one being how the Bucks fair without Bogut.

Observations from tonight’s game…

• Mo Williams takes far too many bad outside shots. If he takes better shots his shooting percentage is going to go through the roof.
• The Dan Gadzuric/Brian Skinner storyline was mute in my mind tonight. What they do against a bunch of second-tier players doesn’t matter to me. I want real game situations.
• Terry Stotts did the right thing by keeping Michael Redd on the bench for much of the game, while the Bucks had the lead.
• What’s wrong with Ha Seung-Jin? I want to see him play.
• I was impressed with Steve Blake’s hustle. He will push Mo this year for playing time in the clutch.
• Charlie Villanueva avoided foul trouble tonight. I’m going to guess he fouled out of the first two games because he just came out with a huge chip on his shoulder from the off-season knacks on his defense. Once he calms down and learns how to be effective, he’ll be fine. Again like Gadzuric and Skinner, it’s a wait and see against better players issue.
• In my first time seeing Ersan Ilyasova play in the NBA he looked pretty good. He looked like he belonged. He’ll get minutes in the wake of Simmons being gone. David Noel will really push him.
• Damir Markota won’t make the team, just a guess. He doesn’t seem to get any minutes and looks a little loss when he is on the court.

Milwaukee 91, Mavericks 78 - JS Recap, NBA Recap, ESPN Recap