FanHouse Scott SKiles

Tip-Off Timer counts down the days until the first game of the 2009-10 season. On Sunday, there are 30 days remaining.

Most of the NBA records, the most prestigious ones, are held -- and rightfully so -- by the greatest players in history. Names like Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain, Karl Malone, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson are peppered throughout the record book.

It only makes sense.

It's why gritty Scott Skiles sticks out like a dark stain on a white carpet.

As teams get eliminated from the 2009 NBA playoff picture, Fork 'Em figures out what went wrong.

Through the first half of the season, the Bucks rode as one of the great surprises of the NBA. A team sunk in the dead space between truly atrocious and just plain bad in 2007-08, Scott Skiles (and Michael Redd and Andrew Bogut) had Milwaukee back on the map, threatening to crash the postseason and even peeking into one analyst's Top 5 around the New Year.

Mark Cuban recently utilized everyone's favorite social media tool, Twitter, in order to criticize the referees in a recent Mavericks-Nuggets game. Cuban wondered why the crew in stripes didn't tag J.R. Smith for coming off the bench to taunt Antoine Wright.

Matt Watson pointed out, at the time, that Cuban would probably have a rather large fine coming from the NBA, primarily because David Stern does not care one bit for referee criticism. Well, it appears, based on Cubes' latest Tweet, that Watson was spot on.

The story of Charlie Villanueva's halftime tweet on Sunday blew up this week, and not surprisingly, Scott Skiles doesn't approve.

"We made a point to Charlie and the team that it's nothing we ever want to happen again," Skiles told the AP after practice Tuesday. "You know, (we) don't want to blow it out of proportion. But anything that gives the impression that we're not serious and focused at all times is not the correct way we want to go about our business."

The 3 PM ET trade deadline in the NBA has come and gone, and while there were plenty of big names rumored to be on the move, few teams actually had the guts to pull the trigger. There were plenty of deals made, however, including one that might have one Eastern Conference team feeling like it's back in the title conversation. A wrap-up of today's events after the jump.

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On Wednesday, we looked at the most compelling storylines in the Central, but what does it all mean? How will it all come together? Let's make some educated guesses, shall we?

First up, I'm going out on a limb playing it completely safe by saying Detroit wins the division. No, Joe Dumars didn't shake up the roster like he said he'd try to do, but let's not ignore that this is essentially the same team that won 59 games last season, second-most in the league and fourth-most in franchise history. To suggest they no longer have the firepower to win at least one more game than the Cavs, who won just 45 games last year, is ludicrous.

It's official: Scott Skiles is the new head coach of the Bucks, signing a fully-guaranteed four-year deal on Monday afternoon. For all the reasons that Tom Ziller explained yesterday, Skiles is a good fit: the Bucks need to improve on defense and sharing the ball, both of which can be improved with effort and focus. If anyone can get that out of a team, it's Skiles. His personality may wear thin after a few years, but he's a great stepping stone for a team starting near the bottom.

Skiles is actually a close friend of the recently fired Larry Krystkowiak, but I hope Michael Redd doesn't hold that against him. Krystkowiak talked about his firing over the weekend, and the way he tells it, Redd's selfishness during games sabotaged Krystkowiak's best efforts to get the team to share the ball. From the Milwaukee J-S:

"There was a different mind-set in practice than there was in a game," Krystkowiak said. "It was like two different types of teams so we could never address sharing and moving the basketball because we did a decent job of it in practice. It was in games where it didn't happen. . . . Things became very focused on scoring points and that's Mike. Truly great players make the players around them better.

"A lot of times in practice he would defer and wouldn't be as scoring-minded and so I don't know how you're supposed to get better as a team when . . . practice was different than games."

For the record, Redd did make a conscious effort to distribute the ball this year. He talked about it early in the year, and he finished the season averaging two fewer field goal attempts and four fewer points per game than he did a year ago, all while averaging a career-high 3.4 assists per game. Maybe he didn't do enough, but you can't say he didn't try.

Who's going to be the new coach in Milwaukee? The online sportsbook Bodog lists odds for six candidates plus the field -- Scott Skiles is easily the favorite with 1:1 odds, followed by Larry Brown at 3:1, Rick Carlisle at 7:2, Tom Thibadeau at 4:1, Jeff Van Gundy at 6:1 and Mike Fratello at 8:1.

What about the Bulls? Carlisle and Van Gundy are tied with 7:4 odds, followed by Fratello at 7:2, Terry Porter at 9:2 , Thibodeau at 6:1 and Mark Jackson at 8:1. Personally, I'd peg Carlisle as the favorite to land with the Bucks over the Bulls due to his history working with John Hammond, but all in all I can't disagree with these odds.

But what about the Knicks job? This is where it gets interesting. In talking with a contact from Bodog over email, I was told Bodog almost didn't post any odds on candidates since "Jackson is such a prohibitive favorite." What they settled on was a straight-up question: "Will Mark Jackson be named the new head coach of the New York Knicks?" The only option bettors can select is "no," which pays +150. In other words, which means they're so sure he's going to get the job they're not willing to risk a single dollar for people wanting to bet "yes," no matter how long the odds.

Granted, all of this might change once Donnie Walsh starts bringing in candidates to interview, but it's interesting that the snap judgment from a company whose business is based on making correct guesses is that the job is absolutely Jackson's to lose.

Previously on FanHouse:
Zeke Could Have Made You Some Money

Bulls GM John Paxson denied yesterday's rumor that he was interested in hiring Larry Brown as the permanent replacement for Scott Skiles. In fact, Paxson denied being interested in making anyone the permanent replacement just yet. From the Chicago Sun-Times:

Paxson reiterated that interim coach Jim Boylan, whom Paxson promoted after firing Scott Skiles on Christmas Eve, has the job at least until the end of the season.

''I have not begun the process'' of evaluating coaching options for next season, Paxson said.

If I had to guess (and I do, since offering my opinion is kind of the whole point of being a blogger), I wouldn't be surprised if it were Brown himself behind these rumors. He clearly enjoys being the center of attention and is probably bored with being ignored in his "nobody really knows what he does" role as a special advisor something or another with the Sixers. After burning expensive bridges in Detroit and New York, I'm not sure why anyone would want to take on his ego, but the teams "rumored" to have interest in him, the more likely another team might panic and take the plunge.

Rick Carlisle, Larry Brown and Paul Westphal will have to wait until the offseason to fight for the vacant job in Chicago, as it seems Bulls GM John Paxson is willing to give Jim Boylan an audition in an interim role for the rest of the season. Boylan was Scott Skiles' lead assistant both in Chicago and several years ago in Phoenix, so Paxson must be confident that the team needs a new voice more so than a new philosophy.

How will Boylan make his mark? By apparently keeping the same whipping boy that Skiles always used. From the Chicago Sun-Times:

Among Boylan's first moves as coach will be a lineup change: Chris Duhon will replace Ben Gordon as a starting guard alongside Kirk Hinrich.

Why is Gordon always the first player sent to the bench when Hinrich is the one who's been struggling the most? If Duhon is starting, he may as well take over the point since distributing and protecting the ball is really the one thing he does well. Gordon has certainly regressed this year, but not to the extent that Hinrich has. The real measuring stick Boylan will be held up against will be the development of young players like Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah, but it'd be refreshing to see the "new" regime give the veterans a clean slate and erase preconceived notions about their roles, as well.