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.
"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.
The Bucks have been better than they ought to be under Scott Skiles. The Rockets ... let's say the team's still finding their way. David Berri noted this morning that Houston's point margin is a chunk worse than last season's result, despite the addition of Ron Artest. No one wants to dismiss Houston after last season's shocking 22-game win streak with this roster and before the team has reached any semblance of health. But you can't help but feel nervous the vogue titlist will come up way, way short.
When Scott Skiles took over in Milwaukee, there was a lot of hope that he would take the young roster and develop a defensive identity without his prototypical reliance upon players that are, say, less than dynamic.
You know the old expression, you want to make an omelet, you have to deal with Luke Ridnour and Malik Allen. Or something.
Anyway, as the Bucks defense improves, including a stout effort Sunday night versus the Knicks, the youth movement got a little boost from the injury bug. Luke Ridnour, the point guard Skiles traded for to run his offense, came down with back spasms during the Bucks loss to the Raps a few nights ago. The result was sparkplug point guard Ramon Sessions coming in to add 30 points and 17 assists in two games.
Many wondered why the Bucks added Ridnour when they had the explosive Sessions. But Ridnour has shown an ability to get Andrew Bogut involved and operate the offense. Sessions also has significant problems on the defensive end. Still, there has to be a balance between Sessions' explosiveness and Ridnour's savvy. Maybe this is the break that helps Skiles opt for the more dynamic rotation, just as Charlie Villanueva's production has increased with opportunities. Skiles needs to continue to give the young players with upside a chance to avoid being, well, Skiles.
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.
"To be an NBA effective player, you have to be able to make shots. If you don't have a guy that can shoot the ball like Mo or make plays like Mo, then guys like Jefferson or Michael aren't going to get open as easily. So anytime you have a scorer on the floor I think he can complement other people. Everyone's looking for the consummate point guard, but there are just so few of those."
And, as we've learned with Jason Kidd, being the "consummate point guard" isn't necessarily a boon. Assists and "pointguardness" are severely misunderstood concepts in the NBA; that many recent championship teams have lacked a top-flight point guard (Derek Fisher, Jason Williams, Rajon Rondo?) seems to be lost on pundits as we all search for the next Steve Nash (who has actually shot a lot more the past couple years).
Jefferson and Redd have been very efficient scorers in the recent past. If Williams and the frontcourt can also score efficiently, there will be little problem overall with Milwaukee's offense. And there shouldn't be -- this is a talented offensive team. The real consternation regarding the Buck backcourt should come on the other end, where neither Williams nor Redd have shown they can be consistently stout defenders.
(Be sure to check out the first two parts [I, II] of BrewHoop's Hammond interview as well.)
Should Sampson land on Skiles's bench, it would complete (we hope) a massive shuffle of coaches in the Great Lakes region. As FanHouse's PostmanR (a Chicagoan) noted in an e-mail: Skiles (who lives in Bloomington during the summer) got canned by Chicago and went to Milwaukee, Sampson got exiled from Bloomington and could end up in Milwaukee, while Indiana hired Tom Crean ... from Marquette, in Milwaukee.
Since it seems unlikely the Bulls (or anyone) will hire deposed Bucks boss Larry Krystowiak, the only remaining solution: hire Detroit assistant Terry Porter, who previously coached the Bucks (check), was born in Milwaukee (check), and played at the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point (checkmate). (Presumed Bulls frontrunner Rick Carlisle -- formerly of the NBA franchises in Detroit and Indiana -- would make plenty of "sense," too. And hey, maybe Flip Saunders can get canned and take the long-rumored/long-LOLed Minnesota Gophers gig.)
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.
As teams get eliminated from the 2009 NBA playoff picture, Fork 'Em figures out what went wrong.
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. 
The story of Charlie Villanueva's halftime tweet on Sunday blew up this week, and not surprisingly, Scott Skiles doesn't approve. 
FanHouse's NBA Guide gives you a daily look at all the games that matter ... and some that don't. 
When Scott Skiles took over in Milwaukee, there was a lot of hope that he would take the young roster and develop a defensive identity without his prototypical reliance upon players that are, say, less than dynamic. 
Recently, the myth of point guard purity has been a bit of a personal bleating issue for me. Consider me thrilled, then, to see new Bucks general manager John Hammond address it head-on in a wide-ranging interview with BrewHoop. Hammond takes issue with the assertion shooting PG Mo Williams isn't a good match for wing scorers Michael Redd and Richard Jefferson.
ESPN.com's Marc Stein reported last night that new Milwaukee head coach Scott Skiles is trying to hire disgraced former Indiana U chief Kelvin Sampson as an assistant. Sampson was last seen carousing with the Spurs, apparently after finding out disgraced former Missouri chief Quin Snyder got a gig with San Antonio's D-League affiliate. (Gregg Popovich is like the Dr. Drew for folks with an addiction to recruiting violations.)
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. 
