Ted Davis team commentary on WSSP this afternoon

[paul]

Also the talk of Tobes defense being so horrendous is out of this world exaggerated, but whatever.

[Chapter29]

Tobias is a poor defender and wasn't anything special on offense. Effectively overall wasn't very good for us. Daniels has been much better.

I don't have a ton of faith in Tobias and have no issue at all with him sitting.

I'll take Moute every day over him.

[randy84]

Hilariously, the synergy numbers say otherwise on Harris.

Offensive PPP 1.04
Rank 36

Defensive PPP 0.69
Rank 21

Marquis Daniels defensive numbers are only slightly better at 0.66. However, his overall offensive PPP is only .93 ranked 133.

[Nebula1]

Tobias Harris = Last years Larry Sanders.

Scotty will look just as much of a moron this time next year for not playing Tobes as he does right now for not playing Sanders last season, and a couple of posters on here will still defend him and say Tobes was crap and deserved it - and so the cycle continues. Welcome to Scott Skiles doghouse Tobes, With Larry playing and Bogut traded someone had to fill the vacancy. Pray for an injury or a trade.

Yup

[randy84]

Just as a follow up because i know Harrison Barnes is a lot of people's wet dream on here.

Barnes numbers:

Offensive PPP .84
Rank 197

Defensive PPP 1.01
Rank 296

Difference on perception between Barnes and Harris is, as Paul can attest, GSW plays Barnes no matter what. They let him go through the growing pains. Something Skiles doesn't do with Harris.

[LUKE23]

Harris should be playing more. Offense is the teams issue right now more than D. We need to see how Harris handles a higher usage. Daniels little mini hot streak is a fluke and I would hope everyone knows that. There is a reason he was available very very late in the offseason for peanuts.

As it is though, this team has too many similar level players competing for minutes so don't expect there to be good rotations.

[JBucks]

Is Davis paid by the Bucks or 620?

[crkone]

Harris just needs to not double down in the post. It's a stupid philosophy when you have Udoh or Sanders under the rim. I'm guessing the benching is due to Melo light him up from 3, and subsequently lighting up Daniels. But Daniels can get down into a good defensive stance so he's a Skiles guy.

[Thunder Muscle]

Is Davis paid by the Bucks or 620?

I believe the Bucks. I highly doubt if he was paid by 620AM that they would allow him to be on 1250AM.

[Thunder Muscle]

Link to the podcast for this hour is here:

http://podcast.sportsradio1250.com/wssp2/3774442.mp3

My own speculation is that the Bucks now understand they need a multi-media presence to spread the gospel and that because Hammond and Skiles aren't good public spokesmen they have turned Ted Davis loose on WSSP this year.

I'm actually enjoying Ted's thoughts and commentary quite a bit when he's on. The other part is that I believe 50% of what he says is his opinion and the other 50% represents what the franchise braintrust is thinking and would like put out there. This gives us some insight into their mindset that we used to regularly get on the now defunct "Pro Hoops Show" that Sparky used to do.

For those who don't want to listen, Ted said:

-The Bucks are who they are right now. Likely a team that hovers around .500 for the year

-Whether they win or lose on a given night is essentially in the hands of Jennings, Monta, Dunleavy and Ersan and whether or not one or more of those guys shots are falling.

-He thinks the Central Division is so weak that 43 or 44 wins might win the division.

-Because of that, the Bucks need to really focus on winning the Central because then they would get the 4th seed in the conference and have a favorable matchup with the 5th seed. It would give the Bucks the best chance they've had in a decade to advance past the first round.

-Thinks Skiles is now settling in on his 9-man rotation and it will be Jennings, Monta, Sanders, Udoh, Daniels with Dunleavy, Ersan, Moute and Udrih (while he's injured Lamb) and that will be what he'll ride.

I enjoy Ted, I think he is pretty honest and I really like him as the radio guy. Isn't afraid to blast refs, exciting, etc. I haven't heard him alot on WSSP but have seen him on Roundtable and what not years back and he's pretty entertaining, seems to be failry honest as said above.

I agree with his opinions, I'm thinking right now that high end we'll be 43-45 wins. I don't forsee Ellis/Jennings improving their efficiency that much and Henson/Harris haven't much factors yet. Harris may be a factor by the end though. The problem is Jennings/Ellis/Harris is an awful defensive unit, and even if the front court is strong, I don't know if it can make up for 3 below average defenders. But Daniels will cool off at some point and then maybe Harris gets another shot.

[averageposter]

I don't think his man Defense was bad, but I do think he had some normal rookie type issues facing some of the best NBA scorers at the 3 seeing them for the first time. Would have loved to find out if playing some decent minutes even later in the same game as the 5 minute starts would have resulted in shoring that up.

[Badgerlander]

I caught the beginning of the show yesterday and I love Ted on there, very honest and straightforward. I also love how he calms the 1250 guy down when he tries to stir up stupid drama and gets the show back on topic. Ted and Sparky are the only guys worth listening too. I completely agreed with his assessment of who the Bucks are, aside from Larry making the leap this year they've played about how I expected them to. I didn't hear his comments on Tobes but I think it's a little early to throw any dirt on him because of how hard the kid works on his game. Hopefully he's going up against Moute in practice and seeing how to play D every day. I just hope the next coach runs an offense that will suit Tobais' strengths a little better.

[Newz]

Tobias Harris = Last years Larry Sanders.

Scotty will look just as much of a moron this time next year for not playing Tobes as he does right now for not playing Sanders last season, and a couple of posters on here will still defend him and say Tobes was crap and deserved it - and so the cycle continues. Welcome to Scott Skiles doghouse Tobes, With Larry playing and Bogut traded someone had to fill the vacancy. Pray for an injury or a trade.

To be fair... Tobes is unbelievably bad defensively.

He already appears to be a good offensive player though.

[Treebeard]

I very seldom get to hear Ted Davis cover the Bucks - The local stations in Western Wisc. do live calls of High School & local college basketball before they cover the Bucks.

Still, on the few times when I do get to hear Davis, I enjoy his approach. He has the really good radio guy's knack for creating word pictures of the action on the floor. He's clearly a Bucks supporter, but he's also not afraid to take them to task too - I like that. Call 'em as you see 'em.

I don't need or want a corporate mouthpeice trying to spin gold from straw.

[europa]

Tobias Harris = Last years Larry Sanders.

Scotty will look just as much of a moron this time next year for not playing Tobes as he does right now for not playing Sanders last season, and a couple of posters on here will still defend him and say Tobes was crap and deserved it - and so the cycle continues. Welcome to Scott Skiles doghouse Tobes, With Larry playing and Bogut traded someone had to fill the vacancy. Pray for an injury or a trade.

To be fair... Tobes is unbelievably bad defensively.

He isn't very good right now but neither are Dunleavy, Ellis, Beno and Jennings a lot of the time. I like Dunleavy but he's a terrible defender. But he's locked into a rotation role when healthy because he's a vet and he can shoot. Daniels is the middling/gritty vet type that Skiles loves. So even though Harris is arguably the best/only post option the team has he gets screwed. I appreciate the need for defense, especially on this team given its woeful perimeter defensive options, but the Bucks could use post scoring, especially since so much of their offense revolves around two inefficient guards.

Utilizing Harris would be an intelligent way to open the offense up but that ain't gonna happen because once Skiles gets fixated on something he rarely changes. Dunleavy's ability to shoot gets him on the court despite his shoddy D. I think Harris' ability to score in the paint should get him on the court as well. Daniels really shouldn't be playing when everyone is healthy and I don't think he should be playing over Harris now.

[BUCKnation]

Tobes just really needs to work on his lateral speed and agility and he'll be fine. That is what is causing his defensive problems, imo. He is young enough and a hard enough worker where he can still improve there.

Henson really isnt a liability on either end, so I feel like he should still get a few minutes, even less than 10 per game would be fine.

[europa]

I don't think Henson deserves to play to be honest. I don't think he's been very good most of the time in the games I've seen and Ilyasova, Sanders, Moute and Udoh are all better PF/frontcourt options. No room at the inn for Henson unless some guys get hurt or are traded.

[JimmyTheKid]

-Thinks Skiles is now settling in on his 9-man rotation and it will be Jennings, Monta, Sanders, Udoh, Daniels with Dunleavy, Ersan, Moute and Udrih (while he's injured Lamb) and that will be what he'll ride.

[Chuck Diesel]

I like what Daniels has been able to give us so far.

[mattg]

Not true but feel free to keep repeating it. Skiles dumped him because he went 1-4 then 1-9 which you can't do when you're the new short leash guy.

Oh I'm sorry, I forgot you know everything about everything. Feel free to actually refute anything I said about Tobias' defense. And no, pointing to those individual synergy numbers with the amount of noise they have doesn't show anything.