The Milwauke Bucks, one of the great Mysteries of the league

[HE Pennypacker]

Sloan already has Coach of the Year locked up. Book it, write it down and post it on your fridge.

[Buck You]

Ya if the Jazz continue their success Sloan will win it, especially because he has never won it.

But anyway, Bogut has dominated this year, Jennings has played well, Ridnour has played better, we play great defense, have good chemistry and have a good coach. For the Bucks to get to the next step Jennings has to shoot a little better but that's really all he has to do. They also need to get another guy who can score 20 ppg consistently, I don't know where we will find that guy but he's really needed on this team, preferably a SF or PF, especially if we keep Salmons. If the Bucks make it we'll probably win 1 game at most in the playoffs but it will be a nice building block for the team. Hopefully though this team doesn't just stay in the playoff fodder stage like they did earlier this past decade and they actually improve, time will tell. We have a nice point guard with a ton of potential, a top 2 center in the East and some nice role players, I think we're in good shape. But we aren't where we need to be yet.

[Serge28]

Besides everything that's already been stated, I think in general people underestimate the depth of this Bucks team. Before his bad February, Luke Ridnour had been by far the best backup PG in the league. He might still be. After Jennings' hot start, he's been putrid offensively and the team has been playing much better with Ridnour on the court.

Besides Ridnour, Bucks have Bell, Delfino, LRMAM, Ersan, and Thomas. That's a lot of hustle right there. That's a lot of defense. Ersan at time has been excellent. LRMAM's defense has already been mentioned. Delfino has certainly had his moments offensively.

Bogut is a much better defender than anyone gives him credit for. His overall impact on the Bucks team defense as an anchor is astounding.

The addition of Stackhouse was good for our offense. The addition of Salmons has so far been fantastic for our offense and good for our defense.

If Jennings can stop being a dumbass in terms of his shot selection inside the 3-point arc (for some reason he's mostly capable of good shot selection on his 3s) and can learn how to draw contact when he drives to the hoop instead of throwing up wild shots that kill his FG% and hurt the team, the Bucks will make the playoffs. If Salmons can continue to play like he has in his first 2 games in Milwaukee and there are no major injuries, the Bucks will make the playoffs. And once they do, they will be an unpleasant opponent for whomever they face. Now, I'm not saying they will upset Cleveland, Boston, Orlando, or Atlanta, but they will make those teams earn that series win.

[kombayn]

I think Coach of the Year has to go to Scott Brooks, Jerry Sloan or Larry Brown.

[blkout]

Hey it's Serge. Come back and make our POTG threads.

[aboveAverage]

Lol Bucks fans we hijacked this thread

[AussieBuck]

Hey it's Serge. Come back and make our POTG threads.

Strongly agree, some of the new guys have taken the lead from my lazy 4 hours later POTG threads and just thrown a couple of names up, we even had one that didn't have a poll.

[bawkbagawk]

Hey it's Serge. Come back and make our POTG threads.

+1

He is dipping his feet in the water, ready to dive back in soon I hope!

[FreeSealedJono]

I like having a 'thread about the thread' that's getting a few posts as well as taking over the general board discussion, bucks fans. can we start some poll to force vote serge back, if he gets 100 votes he has to post each game/post game, 500 has to take over POTG threads?

Bucks board's 'thread about this thread':
viewtopic.php?f=21&t=989807

[Ito]

Yes, Ridnour is way better than him(at the moment). And if you've read the Bucks forum as much as me, you'll realize that the overwhelming majority of Bucks fans believe that too.

Jennings is still a rookie and some games he's going to hit a wall and thats when Ridnour comes in to keep the game under control.. but Jennings is, and will be way better.

[Magilla_Gorilla]

Ah yes - Year one of the Skiles plan.

Year two is surprise 4th seed in the playoffs.

Year three is implosion.

Year four is Skiles asking to be fired.

[ATLTimekeeper]

The Bucks were one of my dark horse teams to make the playoffs this year. If they had the same leeway from the refs as the Bobcats and Bulls, they'd be four or five games above .500 right now and people would be talking about them as a first round upset threat. They play defense, are the 2nd best defensive rebounding team in the league and chuck 3s at a decent rate. On the nights when everything's dropping and the refs let them play they become really hard to play against.

If they miss out this year I'm sure they'll make it next year, and then as has been mentioned, Skiles will lose them.

[Dr Positivity]

They're not a mystery to me. They play good defense and get by offensively with Bogut and a lot of 3s. Luke Ridnour is one of the league's most underrated players btw. He passes well, shoots, and plays hard every night. Good vet to have.

If you surround an all-star caliber C with a bunch of defense/shooting role players, 9th in the East should not be a surprise. That's the Bucks in a nutshell

I think this team will head to the top much faster than people anticipate. The Bucks play the right way. Jennings will eventually figure it out, right now he's great at beating his man off the dribble but sucks ass within 10 feet of the rim. Harden has the same problem. Eventually Jennings with get some floaters and scoring touch in there his FG% will go way up

Jennings really couldn't have had a better team to draft him. If he was on the Warriors or Grizzlies or something he could've turned into a me-first chucker disaster. Half a year on the Bucks and I like his character going forward and commitment to winning as much Curry, Griffin, and Derozan

The only thing that will stop the Bucks from becoming elite within 3 years or so is the team tuning out Skiles, IMO

[Raptor_Guy]

The thing with teams that supposively "lack talent" is that they can be harder to prepare for. There isn't one guy on Milwaukee that if you shut him down you'll win the game, they have a lot of streaky guys like Delfino,Bell and Ilyasova where if they get on a roll you're in trouble, and if you try n double on then you're leaving another shooter open.

As for the defence, Scott Skiles teams always hustle and play good defence, it's basically is trademark as a coach.

[Senor Chang]

due to its close proximity to chicago, and with skiles as coach.. i root for milwaukee when they're not playing the bulls. oh and wisconsin dells pwneds.

[tsherkin]

It's good to see Milwaukee performing well. It's impossible to have every team playing well every year, and every team goes through cycles of ups and downs. The Bucks were last "up" for real in 2001, then had a couple of seasons around .500 and then dove off into non-contention, so it's nice to see them starting on the road back up.

[skones]

due to its close proximity to chicago, and with skiles as coach.. i root for milwaukee when they're not playing the bulls. oh and wisconsin dells pwneds.

Summers in Wisconsin are amazing IMO. It's the winters that are the problem.

[Jimmy76]

9th in defensive rating

i solved the mystery do i get a cookie?

[jimmybones]

Summers in Wisconsin are amazing IMO. It's the winters that are the problem.

ditto.

lol at everyone knowing the date the Bucks players will turn on Skiles. Maybe it can work long term with a coach like that if his top 2 or 3 players buy in. I have no doubt Bogut will stay committed, he just wants to win. I believe Jennings will buy in if the team continues to improve. And his percentages from the floor will improve as he continues to learn WHEN to shoot, not HOW to shoot. The key will be getting that 3rd guy that can be a 1 or 1a type player in this system.

[hsb]

I disagree that Bucks have only two good defenders. In that system, if you don't play defense and hustle you are not going to get major minutes. Atleast that was the case in the first few months.

Bogut and M&M deserve the accolades at the end of the year though.