Milwaukee Bucks 2011/2012

[JJHardy7]

can't make a 3 to save his life

 

He actually did the other night.

 

I like the Lin story. Is it getting too much play? Sure. It's just a boring time in sports IMO so it's either this story or Peyton Manning's future. I'll take Lin for now.

 

When is the last time a player like this came out of nowhere? I'm not saying it'll last forever, but this isn't something that usually happens in the NBA. Undrafted, cut twice, etc.

 

I also think the NBA NEEDS a start that the general public likes. They may not like him after all the press, but I'm sure the NBA is beyond thrilled right now. We'll see if it lasts.

[RockCoCougars]

Lin is an ESPN creation. Something to tide the masses over now that Tebowmania has subsided (Unless a game is on, I do not watch that network by choice). Big deal, he's strung a few games together. I'd have to check the stats, but I'm pretty sure that Ramon Sessions did something close to this in his last season with the Bucks.

[brwrsfan]

Lin is scoring a lot of points, but his turnovers are SKY high. Something like 40 or so in his 7 starts. Including games with 8, 8, 6 and 6. Thats an awful lot of TO's for a point guard. And yes, he made a three the other day, but he's not a great shooter. Its great he is doing well but the media hype is ruining him in a hurry.

[JJHardy7]

Sessions didn't. Lin has done things that have historically not been done before or it's been decades since it has been done. ESPN nor did any other thing 'create' what he's done.

 

Will he last? Can he sustain? We'll find out, but personally I find that much more interesting than anything else that has happened in the NBA in awhile. The only disappointing thing is that he's on the Knicks. I hate the Knicks.

[RockCoCougars]

Sessions didn't. Lin has done things that have historically not been done before or it's been decades since it has been done. ESPN nor did any other thing 'create' what he's done.

 

It was very close. I remember a stretch where he had some high scoring games and set the Bucks franchise assist record. I'll have to check the details later, but it was pretty much the same scenario. The team was decimated with injuries so the unheralded point guard puts up big numbers for a stretch. The major differences were that Milwaukee is not New York, and that the Bucks most likely weren't beating up on doormats during the run.

[GoudaBrew]

The major differences are that Lin was undrafted, a college walk-on, had been cut by another team, and has been on this incredible role as first games as an NBA starter. It's a pretty unique story.

[jjkoestler]

It's just nice to see a guy from Harvard overcome the odds and succeed.

 

What he is doing is pretty amazing though. The kid has game. It will be interesting to see how his game changes once Melo returns.

[Baldkin]

All I can say to the whole Lin thing: Are coaches that dumb? He was on three teams, and I assume had 20+ practices on all three of those teams, you're telling me none of those three coaches or any of the 143 assistants noticed that this guy was *great* at running the pick-and-roll and could beat guys off the dribble?

 

Seriously, this makes me question anything any coach does in the NBA.

[rwa12]

Golden State is and always has been a quagmire. As far as him getting cut from Houston, they had Lowry and Dragic already. He didn't have much of a chance there. As has been said, Lin is a big story because he is helping the Knicks. No one would care if he was turning around the Bobcats or Bucks. He's a good kid, I hope he holds on and establishes himself longterm.

[Outlander]

The last five games of Sessions rookie year he averaged 15 assists a game, however the Bucks were really bad by then and the Brewers already started playing so not even people in Milwaukee cared.

[RockCoCougars]

I looked this up last night, and Sessions had a stretch where he scored roughly 22 points a game (with a 40+ point game) with a tad more than 8 assists (including the record assist game), so he was slightly worse than Lin. The differences are that the Knicks won 7 games in a row. This is a clear advantage to Lin, but I'm going to wait before I crown him as the next Steve Nash. When you are handling the ball on almost every play against substandard competition on a team decimated by injury/etc., you can put together a nice run. Lin isn't going to continue shooting 50 percent from the field on mostly layups, he's not regarded as a good shooter, and he's not going to get the scoring opportunities now that Amare and the black hole Carmelo are back. Nice story, though I'm getting really tired of hearing about it constantly (why does the media have to run everything into the ground?), but it smacks more of flavor of the month to me than a long term thing. Props to the kid for taking the bull by the horns as a point guard in his first extensive duty, but my guess is that with more scouting and taking the guy seriously, teams are going to adjust how they guard his pick and roll to keep him from driving the basket with the same success.

[Outlander]

You are mixing up a couple of different seasons. The assist streak was at the end of his rookie season as mentioned and then he had a nice scoring run plus a 40 point game at the mid point of his second year. However, he was never able to maintain the level over a decent stretch of time and his season numbers for both years are pretty average.

[crewcrazy]

I disagree that Lin is an ESPN creation -- New York was buzzing about him after the first start, but ESPN did kick their coverage into overdrive when he had the big game against Kobe and the Lakers on their own network. It is more than a little ridiculous that he gets a mention on every ESPN NBA broadcast now (and even some NCAA broadcasts), but they're just trying to ride the popularity while they can. It's good business.

 

Sports Illustrated put him on the cover. Dan Patrick and other non-ESPN, nationally-syndicated talkshow types are talking about him. It's far from just an ESPN thing.

[RockCoCougars]

You are mixing up a couple of different seasons.

 

You are absolutely correct. My bad, for some reason I thought the assist record was 17, forgot that he played enough to get it his rookie year.

 

Sports Illustrated put him on the cover. Dan Patrick and other non-ESPN, nationally-syndicated talkshow types are talking about him. It's far from just an ESPN thing.

 

Correct. This is why I avoid pretty much all of those outlets for the same reason that I avoid the local news...I can't stand fluff pieces. I'm so tired of hearing about Tebow and Peyton Manning, now this. Kind of like the Whitney Houston thing. An easy story- custom made for the lazy press- that has been beaten to death 10 ways to Sunday already... why can't they let the poor woman rest in piece? This is a godsend to all the talking heads during perhaps the biggest sports down period of the year between Super Bowl and NCAA. Can't avoid Linsanity on the net though. I will say that he seems like a good guy, hopefully he cashes in on the hype.

[brwrsfan]

Another great collapse by the Bucks in the 4th tonight against the Magic. Bucks were up 8-9 with about 6 minutes left and proceed to allow the Magic to finish the game on a 17-0 run. Can't say I'm too disappointed really.

 

Lin's line tonight: 26 points (8-18 shooting), 5 assists, 9 more turnovers. Oh and the Knicks lost at home to the now 7-23 New Orleans Hornets.

[Baldkin]

What a beautiful collapse it was. Jennings goes 4-20 from the floor and three horrible 4th quarter turnovers.

He is back to being a terrible shooter and not doing anything right when he has the ball in his hands over the last two weeks.

[TooLiveBrew]

He did mention he's having a hard time caring at this point

[brwrsfan]

Lin now has 45 turnovers in his first 7 starts, shattering the record (if you can say anything in the first 7 games is a record), but he shattered the mark of 38 set by Bucks forward Glenn Robinson. I believe he now has 6+ turnovers in 5 straight games. But yes, please keep it up with Linsanity, at least they are finally starting to talk about it a little bit. The turnovers that is.

[paul253]

Now I don't know a whole lot about the Bucks and I haven't followed this thread at all so I apologize if this has been brought up already. But in my opinion, the Bucks need to blow up the roster and start over. This is the year to do it because the draft should be the strongest in recent years, especially front court wise. Andrew Bogut can't stay healthy. Jennings has already said he wants to play in a bigger market. If I were the Bucks, I would trade them both and try to get additional first round picks in this draft. The team is going nowhere. Their attendance is pathetic. The roster gets turned over so much every year that the casual fan barely recognizes anyone. They need to do something major, especially now that Seattle is looking like they are going to build a brand new arena to get a team back.

 

Trade Jennings and Bogut and whoever else you can and see if you can get some more lottery picks. That's what I would like to see them do. It might even get me to start following the Bucks again.

[JJHardy7]

I looked this up last night, and Sessions had a stretch where he scored roughly 22 points a game (with a 40+ point game) with a tad more than 8 assists (including the record assist game), so he was slightly worse than Lin.

 

Sessions really wasn't close to Lin's production. I believe the main line thrown as there in historical context is most points in first 5 career starts. I think Lin as the most since 1978 or something like that. Lin has 137 points in his first five starts. Sessions had 47. Like I said, not real close. Sessions is a solid player though.

 

We still don't know what Lin will turn into, but you can't argue against his production. His turnovers are concerning, but we'll see as well what happens as time goes on.

 

As for the Bucks, it looks like things are starting to fall apart. I have a feeling they're going to end up with one of the worst records in the league. Would this mean GM and coaching changes? How much rope do they have?

[Baldkin]

I don't know. I think Hammonds is as good as gone, I wish they'd fire him now and find a replacement *before* he can do more damage trying to save his job... then again, nothing around Milwaukee will change as long as the Senator wants to fight for the 8th seed every year.

[nate82]

 

As for the Bucks, it looks like things are starting to fall apart. I have a feeling they're going to end up with one of the worst records in the league. Would this mean GM and coaching changes? How much rope do they have?

 

It would be near impossible for the Bucks to end up with the worst record or one of the worst records in the league. With about 36 games left to play the Bucks would have to basically only win 8-10 games of the remaining games they have left. That could be possible but I don't think it is anywhere near as likely for that to happen plus the Raptors, Nets, Wizards, Bobcats and Hornets to win about 10-15 games of their remaining games.

 

The Bucks could end up anywhere between the 6th worst record to the 10th worst record in the league. The Bobcats look to be going for the worst record ever in NBA history. They may not even hit 10 wins on the season. A funny thing is that the Hornets could possibly get the 1st and 2nd pick in the draft.

[JJHardy7]

The Bucks are 5 games away from the 3rd worst record and 8 from the worst. I agree it may not happen, but I think this team is pending on imploding. If Jennings were to get hurt, I think it's possible.

 

The Nets are getting back Lopez as well.

 

I wonder if the NBA would 'give' the Bucks the #1 pick? They need some luck!

[crewcrazy]

The good news for the Bucks is that in such a stacked draft class (due to last year's top freshmen staying in school because of the lockout), they don't need the top pick to get a potential impact talent. Anywhere in the top 5 should net a potential star. Of course, if the current regime is making the decisions, they'll probably take someone with a limited ceiling (hello, Tyler Zeller) or someone with huge boom or bust potential (Perry Jones?).

[RockCoCougars]

Frankly, I don't see anyone in this draft that is going to make an immediate star-type impact in the NBA. I've seen Andre Drummond projected as a possible number one pick. From what I've seen, he's not even a force in the Big East, he impacts things defensively, but doesn't seem to have any offensive game at all. Even if he does develop, it will take years. Every other player I've seen ranked highly is either a fr./so. and/or a tweener. There is not one player that I've seen that makes me say, "Wow, I hope the Bucks win the lottery to get this guy".

 

As for the Bucks, I have been extremely frustrated with how Jennings has played since his 'snub'. Lazy, selfish basketball. I cannot believe that anyone could be that crushed by not getting selected to an all star game. In most sports, guys don't even want to play in these things. The way the Bucks have been going this year, they will probably reel off another streak of wins again now that it looks like they are on the brink of implosion. I cannot figure this team out. Their inconsistency, even within a game, is astounding.