First he elbows and trips Ersan Ilyasova under the basket (look at where Blake’s left leg is) and then when he runs into Bogut’s screen at half court, he throws an elbow.
This guy needs to go to some anger management classes.
Tag: Milwaukee Bucks (Page 7 of 18)
It’s that time of year again. Let’s try to figure out who will win this year’s Rookie of the Year…
Brandon Jennings jumped out in the ROY race with a 22-4-6 average in October and November, while shooting 43% from the field and 50% from three-point land. This included an epic 55-point outing against the Golden State Warriors in which Jennings hit 21 of 34 shots, including 7-for-8 from behind the arc. Since then, he is averaging 14-3-6 and is shooting just 35% from the field and 36% from 3PT. He has struggled with scoring from inside the arc, but he leads all rookies in assists and has a pretty nice assist-to-turnover ratio — 2.41, but he has posted a 2.72 ratio since the start of December. Maybe most importantly, the Bucks are 41-32 and are in the #5 spot in the East.
Tyreke Evans overtook Jennings with a 22-5-5 December and hasn’t looked back. On the season, he is averaging 20-5-6, and is shooting 46% from the field. He’s on the verge of joining LeBron James, Michael Jordan and Oscar Robertson as the only players to average 20-5-5 in their rookie seasons. However, the Kings have the 6th-worst record in the league and have been out of the playoff hunt for some time. This is both good and bad for Evans’ stats. On one hand, the Kings are so bad that he has to be the clear focal point of the offense — unlike Jennings, he doesn’t have to get the ball to Andrew Bogut or John Salmons — but the fact that the Kings are so bad means that defenses can focus on stopping him.
And then there’s Stephen Curry, whom NBA.com’s Drew Packham lists first in his rookie rankings. Since the start of December, he has averaged 18-5-6, while shooting 47% from the field and 44% from long range. And he keeps getting better. In February and March, he averaged 21-5-7. But at 21-52, the Warriors are even worse than the Kings. In fact, Golden State is tied for second third in fewest wins this season.
One thing that pure averages don’t account for is a team’s pace (i.e. the average # of possessions a team has during the course of a game). Is it fair to compare Jennings’ numbers to Curry’s when the Bucks are #18 in overall pace and the Warriors are #1? Using the league average of 95.15 possessions, here is a look at the pace-adjusted numbers for each player, along with John Hollinger’s PER:
All due respect to Mr. Packham, I think this is a two-man race between Evans and Jennings. Evans’ numbers are better than Curry’s and his team is a little better, so if we’re going to go with a good player on a bad team, it should be Evans.
As for Jennings, his case depends how much importance we place on a team’s record and how responsible the player is for that record. It’s funny — a good record is crucial in winning the league MVP, but for ROY, it doesn’t seem to matter all that much. Why is that?
In the end, I think Evans will win Rookie of the Year. Given the history of the award, if a player clearly has the superior numbers, winning just doesn’t matter. That’s the case here.
Photo from fOTOGLIF
Admittedly, I wasn’t a big believer in Milwaukee’s decision to trade for John Salmons, but after his terrific play has ignited the Bucks’ recent run — 16-4 since the trade, with Salmons leading the teams in scoring 10 times — it doesn’t bother me that the Bulls will have enough cap space this summer to sign a max free agent. Salmons’ positive impact already outweighs whatever might happen this summer.
I’ve been keeping an eye on the aforementioned Bulls, because as a throw-in to the Salmons trade, the Bucks have the right to swap picks if Chicago picks outside of the top 10. The Bulls have won two straight, and are now sitting at 35-38, just a half game back of the Raptors for the #8 spot in the East. More importantly for the Bucks, Chicago is sitting in the #12 spot in terms of the draft, and outside of the Hornets (34-40), no one is going to slip past them.
What does this mean? Well, barring a complete meltdown by the Bulls, the Bucks will be able to swap picks, meaning that they’ll move up from their current position (#18) into the #11-#15 range. Per the mock draft at DraftExpress, that’s the difference between Baylor’s Ekpe Udoh and Marshall’s Hassan Whiteside.
Bill Simmons did a running diary of the Hawks/Bucks and Thunder/Spurs games last night. Here’s what he had to say about Bucks GM John Hammond…
9:30: Johnson posts up Salmons for two, followed by Carlos Delfino (21 points) draining a 3. Bucks GM John Hammond made three great moves in the past year: The Salmons trade; gambling on Brandon Jennings at No. 10; and signing Delfino for nothing last summer. (Not only does Delfino fill up the stat sheet, play both swing spots and give you solid D, but he has a giant tattoo of a lizard on his left shoulder that looks cool in HD. There’s a lot to like.) Meanwhile, Joe Dumars ran the Pistons into the ground in the 18 months after Hammond bolted Detroit for Milwaukee. Were the two events related? Hmmmmmm.
Hammond also signed Ersan Ilyasova, who first played for the Bucks during a rough 2006-07 season when he was just 19. After a couple of years in Spain, Hammond brought him back and he has played well, averaging 10-6, 44% FG%, 35% 3PT, and playing hard-nosed defense. The signing made Richard Jefferson expendable, so Hammond traded him to the Spurs and ended up with Amir Johnson (from Detroit), whom he shipped to Toronto for Delfino, who is averaging 11-5-3 and is shooting 37% from long range, while playing tough defense on opposing wings.
I criticized the Jefferson trade at the time because I didn’t think that the Bucks got enough for him, but it turns out that with Ilyasova and Delfino, they did. Plus they’ll have significant cap space in the summer of 2011 with Jefferson and Michael Redd off the books. At that point, they’ll have six players under contract — Andrew Bogut, Brandon Jennings, Ilyasova, Delfino, Luc Mbah a Moute and Charlie Bell — and $25 million or more to spend. That’s a nice little nucleus, especially if they can keep Salmons at a reasonable price.
I also thought Hammond should have retained Ramon Sessions, but with Ridnour playing pretty well, he was expendable.
Hammond got off to a rough start in his first draft where he took Joe Alexander at #8, passing on Brook Lopez, Anthony Randolph, D.J. Augustin, Jerryd Bayless and Marreese Speights in the process. Passing on Lopez is somewhat understandable if you’re drafting for need (with Bogut already on the roster), but the team’s future would be even brighter if they had a forward like Randolph or Speights on the roster.
Regardless, Hammond bounced back with the Jennings pick and has made a number of savvy moves to get the Bucks to where they are now. Is Milwaukee a threat to make a Finals appearance? No, but the Bradley Center is hosting some good basketball now and to fans in Milwaukee, that’s all that matters. Hammond seems to understand how to manage a small-market team and has put the franchise in a good position for years to come. That’s all you can ask for out of your general manager.
Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel recaps John Salmons near-super human effort against the Kings and Nuggets last weekend.
John Salmons had to be a tired man after playing 92 minutes on back-to-back nights during the weekend.
But all Salmons’ work and perspiration was worth it as he helped the Milwaukee Bucks to a pair of satisfying victories, a double-overtime thriller at Sacramento on Friday night and a gritty decision in Denver on Saturday night.
Salmons’ impact on the Bucks’ fortunes is nothing short of amazing. Since his arrival at the trade deadline in February, Milwaukee has rolled to a 14-2 record and vaulted into the fifth playoff position in the Eastern Conference with a 38-30 overall mark.
The 6-foot-6 veteran provided more evidence of the “Salmons effect” with his play in the crucial stages against the Kings and Nuggets.
In the final minute of regulation in Sacramento, he sank 2 three-point shots, one coming off a double screen that the Bucks executed perfectly following a timeout. Then he grabbed two offensive rebounds and converted baskets in the first overtime period, and he finished with 27 points, seven rebounds and five assists while playing a game-high 53 minutes in the Bucks’ 114-108 victory.
What to do for an encore?
Well, how about taking a defensive turn on Denver all-star Carmelo Anthony and getting to the free throw line in the fourth quarter to help the Bucks seal a 102-97 victory, snapping the Nuggets’ seven-game home winning streak.
Salmons ended with 26 points, four assists and three rebounds, and he was 9 of 9 at the foul line, including 6 of 6 in the fourth quarter.
As I’ve written before, Andrew Bogut deserves a lot of credit for the Bucks’ recent run, but there’s no denying that Salmons has brought a dimension to the team that has been lacking for some time.
The seven-year vet is averaging 20-3-3, while shooting better than 45% from the field and 38% from long range. With Michael Redd hobbled (and now injured), the Bucks were lacking a wing that could score consistently. Salmons has filled that void perfectly and has exceeded even the highest of expectations after the Bucks pulled the trigger to acquire him at the trade deadline.
It’s funny — watching him play, you wouldn’t think he’d be a Scott Skiles kind of a player. His expression rarely changes, and his constant blank look could be perceived as apathy. But he plays hard, so who cares what kind of face he makes? He is seemingly unflappable, and that’s a trait that makes him a dependable crunch time scorer.
Monday night update: Salmons had another great night scoring the ball, dropping 32 points against the Hawks on 12 of 19 shooting from the field. He also hit two free throws with under 30 seconds to play to give the Bucks the lead for good.
Photo from fOTOGLIF
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