Milwaukee Bucks Thread 2008–2009 (part 1)

[FVBrewerFan]

Seriousy who gives Dan Gadzuric a 6 year $36M dollar deal? He is a back up center for god sakes. That has got to be one of the worst contracts in Bucks history. It literally made no sense at the time. I guess the same could be said about giving Redd a max contract. One dimensional players should not be getting max contracts. I think Kohl was behind that however.

I think Ned was behind it. Gadzuric is such a scrappy player.

[JJHardy7]

Seriousy who gives Dan Gadzuric a 6 year $36M dollar deal? He is a back up center for god sakes. That has got to be one of the worst contracts in Bucks history. It literally made no sense at the time.

 

I'm going to guess another team would've given him this or at least that's the impression I had at the time. Big guys get a lot of money even if they don't have a lot of skills. I really didn't mind $6 million a year at the time, but I did hate the length. Gadzuric had a very limited offensive game at the time of the contract and he hasn't improved. I would've been fine with a 3-year $18 million deal since I didn't think Gadzuric would develop anywhere near 6 years of guaranteed money.

[razzzorsharp]

Not a bad start so far.

[JJHardy7]

I know it's just one half, but I think LRMAM is going to be one of the better second round picks and will see a lot of playing time. I also think the Bucks may actually have a 'true' point guard now. Ridnour should be solid for them all year. I'm not saying after one half the Bucks will get a four seed, but after one half it gives me more belief that they can compete for a playoff spot. The effort IMO was pretty high on the defensive end. They may not have defensive players, but so far (again one half only ) it looks like Skiles is 'changing' the Bucks and to me that's a good thing.

[crewcrazy]

I thought it was kind of funny that the Bulls PA announcer announced Derrick Rose as "from CHICAGO" instead of "from Memphis".

 

I'm finding it a little hard to get sucked into this game, though. It could just be because it's the first game of the season and the players don't really seem to care (Jefferson looks psyched to be a Buck, and Ben Gordon could hardly contain his excitement during player introductions), but there doesn't really seem to be anything exciting about this year's team. I'm kind of a free agent when it comes to my basketball fandom...I lost interest in the Bucks after they traded Ray Allen and have kind of floated around since. Right now my main interest seems to be the trainwreck that is the New York Knicks.

[princeginterhallhelms04]

I've always liked Ridnour and in my eyes i think sessions should be the back up. So far they are playing ok. Free throws are drastically leaning towards the bulls and i'd like to see a little more running with the bucks.

[razzzorsharp]

Bad 4th quarter.

[danzig6767]

I've always liked Ridnour and in my eyes i think sessions should be the back up. So far they are playing ok. Free throws are drastically leaning towards the bulls and i'd like to see a little more running with the bucks.

I thought Ridnour played a miserable game

 

Overall, they looked like past Bucks teams. Terrible defense, inconsistent offense, not athletic enough, and a weak bench. Granted, it was only the first game and Skiles can't work miracles.

[brewerjamie15]

Perhaps we could push the season off another week? That was a poor second half.

[bork]

Overall, they looked like past Bucks teams. Terrible defense, inconsistent offense, not athletic enough, and a weak bench. Granted, it was only the first game and Skiles can't work miracles.

Yeah, the box score does look very familiar. Besides the bad defense, 19 shots and only 1 assist for Redd. And only 4 shots for Bogut.

[JJHardy7]

I thought Ridnour played a miserable game

 

He showed flashes IMO that he can be a 'true point guard'. He did have some bad turnovers.

[homer]

They didn't get to the line at all. I thought the refs missed a bunch of charging fouls against Chicago but you could tell where the athletes were. The Bucks need someone like Tyrus Thomas or Joakim Noah (minus the mental issues) to run the floor and jump and rebound and what not. Gadzurich is about as close as they get and he just plain stinks.

[yoshii8]

I was really hoping to see a different Michael Redd, his stats look good, but other than a few stretches I thought he played very selfishly, especially to start out the game. I liked when Skiles pulled him in the 3rd quarter(I think) when he threw up a crappy 3 pointer instead of passing it into the post.

 

I think if Bogut doesn't get into foul trouble this would have been a lot closer game. He looked to be very aggresive on the offensive boards.

 

I wasn't very happy w/ the rotation, as I was hoping to see Villanueva play more than 9 minutes, I wonder if he got hurt, or if Skiles just decided not to play him. I thought he worked hard when he was out there. Malik Allen was hitting his jump shots, but has no athleticism, and shouldn't be playing 20+ minutes.

 

We really need more athleticism, I hope that Alexander starts to figure it out so he can get some minutes at the 3/4 over Malik Allen.

 

Ridnour had some ugly turnovers in the second half, but I think a lot of his play was due to him being injured. He looked much better in the preseason games I saw him play. Lue played better than I expected, but doesn't look like he has any court vision, I'd much rather see Sessions get the backup PG role.

[Hammer]

While I realize that we all want this team to win we do need to remember that this was game 1 of year 1 of the rebuild/fix from the Larry Harris mess. Give Hammond and Skiles a chance before you get too ticked (not pointing at anyone in particular...just throwing it out there). At least the team seemed to play harder than they have in the past...that was nice to see.

[nate82]

While I realize that we all want this team to win we do need to remember that this was game 1 of year 1 of the rebuild/fix from the Larry Harris mess. Give Hammond and Skiles a chance before you get too ticked (not pointing at anyone in particular...just throwing it out there). At least the team seemed to play harder than they have in the past...that was nice to see.

It is going to take another year or two before the Bucks become good again. I wish they would have went full blown rebuilding and traded away Redd also. I don't like Redd's defense and his selfish playing style. Redd hardly ever passes the ball and it feels as though he is trying to prove to everyone in the NBA that he is a Kobe Bryant type of a player which he is not he would need to work on his defense and passing game before he even comes close to being as good as Kobe is.

 

Oh well at least they are playing better than they were last year. At least there is some focus on defense unlike in the past.

[Chio151]

I tried, I really tried. But the NBA may have lost me forever. Run into the paint, act incredulous when you run into someone, shoot free throws, rinse, repeat. It is totally absurd to watch. To think that they get paid for this and can't even bear to have minor physical contact. The problem is that the Bucks are trying to build a real basketball team. That'll never work. You need to find some guys that can hop twice from the 3-point line and then flail convincingly. I'm thinking olympic triple jumpers with a sense of flair.

 

Someone talk me down.

[bucks2281]

Someone talk me down.

 

I absolutely hate the NBA. I loathe David Stern. I buy into some of the conspiracies associated with Stern and the league. I can name only maybe two or three things I like about the NBA. But, I love the Bucks, and I watch practically every game. You can definitely hate professional basketball and America, but still be a fan of a specific team.

[JJHardy7]

It didn't take to long for people to post they didn't care about the NBA or didn't like it...

[Chio151]

It didn't take to long for people to post they didn't care about the NBA or didn't like it...

Hey, I suffixed it with a plea to talk me down....

 

Seriously, tell me what you love about watching Bucks basketball. I want to support my home team.

[homer]

It didn't take to long for people to post they didn't care about the NBA or didn't like it...

I"m actually pretty impressed we made it to page 4 of the thread.

[JJHardy7]

Seriously, tell me what you love about watching Bucks basketball. I want to support my home team.

 

Well I just look back at the year they made the Eastern Conference finals. That was a great ride and I'm not saying this team will do that, but that team took a few years to hit their stride. I think having Skiles around is a big plus and the new GM should be pretty good. I'd also think if you're not a huge Bucks fan just remember it's early. You never know what can happen and there should be some optimism with the team...at least for now!

 

I"m actually pretty impressed we made it to page 4 of the thread.

 

I guess you're right homer.

[fondybrewfan]

The game yesterday just had no flow because of the excessive foul calls. I know not all NBA games are like this but yesterday was a little ridiculous. Redd was still taking to many contested shots when he very easily could have gotten someone else a much easier shot.

 

The team still seems to be a one on one team, there wasn't a whole lot of good passing going on. I can handle the lack of defense so long as the offense is exciting. But the offense was far from exciting. Plus having to watch Joakim Noah prance around makes me want to punch myself in the face. Man I despise that kid. Oh and Johnny Mac drives me crazy.

[homer]

NBA League Pass is free this week in case any out of towners want to watch the Bucks.

[brwrsfan]

Bucks looked pretty solid tonight, albeit against one of the poorer teams in the league. Bogut looked good again, now if only he can stop getting hosed bye the guys with the whistles.

[yoshii8]

Much better game tonight, Charlie Villanueva looked like a whole new player. The Bucks really shared the ball nicely, and were very active defensively. Michael Redd also looked very good tonight, and was making good passes, and taking good shots.