Showing posts with label Keith Bogans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Keith Bogans. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Haiku Review Four

Francisco Elson
When much is given
much is expected. From Fran
we just asked too much.

When your team is asking Francisco Elson to log heavy minutes at the starting center position you know you've been hit by injuries. Fran did an admirable job and had one of the better "music clips" when he scored at the BC (Will Ferrell's Elf (Double parenthesis, thanks Bau) quote of "Francisco that's fun to say") but he's just another guy. The Bucks could have very well found someone younger and more exciting to be a crappy backup, and maybe that guy would have had some upside.

Keith Bogans
Dribbling adventures
were supposed to be offset
by shooting and d.

I had not seen a lot of Bogans before he came to Milwaukee. I knew he shot an okay three point percentage and had a reputation as an average to above average defender, but that's all. What I wasn't aware of was just how poor of a ball handler Bogans was. Yikes. This guy had more adventures dribbling the basketball than Bill and Ted did with their phone booth (Zing). He did do an okay job on defense, but his three point shooting was not what I expected. I honestly thought he would help propel the Bucks into the playoffs. Oh well. I'm sure we'll never hear from him again, but Keith, it was fun while it lasted kind sir.

Luke Ridnour
A surprising shot
blocker and game icer,
his days may be numbered.

He's not an intimidating anyone by any means and the numbers weren't actually very good, but I won't be quick to forget that Ridnour found a way to block three shots in one game this year. When friends of mine who don't like the NBA would watch the Bucks and see him they'd be confused as to why "that little white kid" was on the court, so for him to send three shots back from whist they came is pretty awesome. Ridnour also was absolute money at the end of games from the line. Too bad the Bucks rarely needed someone shooting free throws at the end of games. Conventional wisdom would suggest that Luke is one guy the Bucks are going to be peddling hard this summer, so we may be bidding him adieu right along with Bogans. Thanks for the drama of the fight for the last spot fellas.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

The Week Ahead (March 8th-15th)

I was successful in one prediction last week: I still suck at predictions. My hope for a 3-1 week to jumpstart a playoff run quickly spun into a 1-3 drop out of the current playoff picture. If the Bucks are going to claim to be a good home team don’t they have to beat teams like the Nets at home? Tuesday's loss was very sad for a team attempting to pose as a good home team.

But there are more pressing issues at hand than my inability to see the future.

In recent memory has their been a Buck more clumsy with the ball than Keith Bogans? Here I thought the Bucks were getting a guy who could play some defense and shoot the three and they got a guy who does little of either of those things and has the ball mysteriously slip away from him fairly often.

Charlie Bell and Keith Bogans, thanks for your hard work and all this year, but can we see heavy doses of Joe Alexander for the rest of the year now? The Not-So Killer B’s tandem of Bell and Bogans equates into a fairly significant weakness any time either of them are on the court. Bell is more of a liability defensively than he ever gets credit for. How can he not be with a four-year-old hanging off of his right knee?

Bell and Bogans have PER’s of 9.82 and 8.59 respectively. To put that in perspective, another guy whose job is to come in and shoot, Kyle Korver, has a PER of 11.11 – in a down year. Bogans is a much better defender than Korver but I don’t believe there is significant evidence that Bell is. Who has lived off a reputation as a good defender longer than Charlie Bell? If he was good before he hasn’t been since he lost his right knee.

(Bell does offer some veteran leadership and is the Bucks player representative, which counts for something, but not enough to offset the poor play.)

Bogans has done most of his damage (he hasn’t really done any damage, I guess I should say most of the damage has been done to Bogans) as a member of the Magic so I’m less concerned about him. I think going forward the Bucks will realize as quickly as I have that he isn’t very good. When I thought he would be part of the Bucks playoff charge I was envisioning a Bruce Bowen type instead of a Bruce Banner (non Hulked up version) type.

Oddly enough this Saturday Bell and Bogans had their best games since Washington last Saturday. Bogans still stumbled around a bit though and Bell still missed enough open shots that I was bothered. It just seems to me that it would be more productive for the future of the Bucks if Joe Alexander was getting some of the time these two were getting. I know that may be admitting defeat and dropping out of the playoff race essentially, but at this point if you’re the Bucks why kid yourself? Onto the week ahead...


March 10th vs. New York (25-36)
The Knicks continue to chuck with reckless abandon. They’re averaging 28 three point attempts per game. That must be why they acquired Larry Hughes, to slow things down. Their defense continues to be for lack of a better term defenseless. In the month of February they were able to hold an opponent under 100 points just one time. Fortunately the Bucks thrive in these types of games recently, so this should be a win.

March 13th vs. New Orleans (39-22)
Remember when New Orleans was disappointing this year? What happened to that team? Suddenly they are third in the West and surging. Tyson Chandler has looked very feisty since returning from injury and his trade untrade fiasco. The Bucks certainly wish he had been gone in their last game in New Orleans. Chandler’s tip with time running down bailed out the Hornets after the Bucks fought back into the game during garbage time. Chris Paul continues to play point guard better than anyone anywhere and now that Chandler is healthy and springy again they are certainly looking dangerous.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Thoughts While Splitting Time Between Bradley Center Tenants

• I come in a minute and a half late and the Bucks are already up 5...I like that.
• Another Jim Chones evening. I like Johnny Mac as much as anyone, but I’ve grown to like the dry assessments Chones has brought to the table.
• Ramon Sessions blows a wide open lay up and the Mavs hit a three on the other end. It seems like it always works out like that.
• Uh-oh Charlie V. is looking hot early.
• Jim Paschke refers to Charlie Bell as “kind of a Vinnie Johnson type lately” based on his recent work off the bench. Can any player put together a stretch whey they are scoring pretty well off the bench without being called a “microwave like Vinnie Johnson”? That may be the most used comparison in the NBA. I can only imagine how often it comes up in the local Detroit broadcasts when Rip Hamilton comes into games.
• A stop OR a bucket would be fine at this point. 16-0 run for Dallas right now. Coincidentally enough Marquette gave up that same run against Connecticut early tonight. That does not bode well for the Bucks.
• Chones on Antoine Wright’s technical foul: The refs don’t want to hear from you until you score 20 points more than once every six nights.
• Charlie V. is running risk of injuring his back this evening given the way he’s carrying the entire offensive burden thus far. Bucks 23 Charlie V. 19.
• Three techs in the first quarter on the Mavericks. What is going on? They got rung for one after Dirk was given an and one. I don’t remember the last time I saw that.
• Holy Villanueva. Bucks down 33-23 after the first quarter.
• Holy fouls. Mbah a Moute has three in five minutes.
• Poor Elson. He drops a nice pass from Charlie V. and then catches an earful about it. Seems like he gets yelled at more than anyone else on the team.
• Ramon Sessions and Luke Ridnour are in the game together and Sessions is taking the role of primary ball handler. ALL HAIL SCOTT SKILES.
• The Bucks are effectively using Charlie Bell with the point guards. I don’t know if this is the key to future success, but I’m feeling it right now.
• When Dallas is throwing three athletic guards/wings out there like Kidd, Antoine Wright and Josh Howard, that puts the Bucks at quite a disadvantage. Especially when Ridnour and Sessions are out there together. They just don’t have the size/athleticism to match up.
• Maybe a little defense fellas? 59-41 Dallas. Skiles looks like he’s about to strangle someone.
• Bucks down 65-41 at half. Yikes. Charlie V. was held scoreless in the second quarter, so much for that bright spot.
• Dallas is getting to all the loose balls and showing all the effort in this one. They were flat against a beat up San Antonio team yesterday, so this type of effort was to be expected from them. Hopefully the Bucks will follow suit on Friday in New Orleans.
• Luc Mbah a Moute is the only Buck starter with a positive plus minus right now. I don’t know if that is due to his defense or his inability to stay on the court today.
• Charlie V. gets back on the scoreboard in a big way with a Chris Webberesque dunk.
• Little is being done by Milwaukee to curtail any penetration - off pick and rolls or otherwise - by Dallas. This is leading to open jump shots off kick outs and easy dishes for lay-ups.
• The Bucks have trotted out a defense that has finally led to some confusion at the least for Dallas. Zone up top with match-ups in the back. It’s been more effective than it sounds, at least until Josh Howard hits a three with 11 seconds left in the quarter. It was contested though.
• Jim Chones plea for the Bucks to cut the deficit to 10 by the beginning of the fourth quarter will go unanswered. He’ll have to settle for 17. 90-73 Dallas.
• Keith Bogans is doing his best to make me regret making him a reason the Bucks will make the playoffs. He gets stripped of a rebound and then loses his dribble out of bounds on a spin move on the next possession.
• Three-pointer from Charlie Bell in the corner. Uh-oh. Gap is closed to 11.
• James Singleton does everything but stick a knife in Charlie V’s back and does not get called as Dirk grabs an offensive rebound.
• Back to back lay ups for Kidd and a fall away jumper by Dirk sandwiched around a Bucks timeout push the lead back to 17.
• Make that 22. Now an 11-0 run.
• Eddie Gill is in. That’s my cue to exit.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

5 Good Reasons to Expect Playoff Basketball

Almost to the day a month ago I did my best to break down the Eastern Conference playoff race. I was looking for a term to describe it when the comments section did it's best and I was rewarded with "flaccid sword fight". Thanks to "Cookies" for that one. Well the fight has changed a bit so I thought it may be a good time to rehash the Bucks chances going forward. Since I'm still firmly entrenched in the position that the Bucks will be in the tournament I thought I'd give my top five reasons why they will make it.

(And as long as we’re here I’ll take a moment to gloat about the success of my previous playoff picks. I slotted Milwaukee into 7th just ahead of Philadelphia with New York, Chicago, New Jersey and Charlotte missing out. Currently Philadelphia sits in 7th ahead of Milwaukee with the aforementioned teams missing out. I had New York and Chicago flipped, same with Milwaukee and Philly. Pretty well done. Of course I’ve also announced the death of the 2008-2009 Milwaukee Bucks 38 times, but we’ll forget about that for now.)

5. Keith Bogans
Huh? I know, I know. Keith Bogans is a relative nobody in terms of the NBA. He’s a journeyman, semi-three point specialist and semi-good defender. But Luc Mbah a Moute is wearing down. He’s still doing his best to bring his usual hounding defense, but the rookie wall has robbed him of virtually any offensive game. For the first few months of the season Mbah a Moute was shooting roughly 45% from the field and 77% from the line. As they say in golf, that’ll play. Since February began and minutes have begun to add up a bit, Mbah has shot 38% from the field and an even more frustrating 48% from the line. Bogans is a veteran and very fresh from the few minutes he was getting in Orlando and should be able to take a lot of pressure of Mbah. Bogans hasn’t shot the lights out from the field but the man hasn’t missed a free throw as a Buck yet! 15-15. I’d count on his shot coming around before Mbah.

4. Three Point Shooting
When Michael Redd went down one of the most significant things it was assumed he would take with him was any scoring behind the arc the Bucks had. Charlie Bell is an okay shooter, but simply wouldn’t be effective enough doing everything else to take a lot of minutes behind Redd. Charlie V. and RJ have never been known as outside shooters so it seemed like a long shot that they would be of great help here. Well they’ve been of great help. Did they have some quick Lasik done or something? What has gotten into these dudes? Before this year Charlie Villanueva was a 32% shooter from behind the arc. In the last two months he’s shot 43%! He hit SEVEN on Sunday! I feel like I’m watching Tim Thomas from the 2000-2001 season. If I see a newspaper headline in July that says the Notorious C.H.A.R.L.I.E. with him signing a 60 million dollar contract I’m going to faint. Jefferson has been even better than Charlie V. in February, shooting a scintillating 58%. I haven’t even been able to throw hatred at RJ lately - he’s just been too solid. They’ve certainly been getting a lot more good looks, which brings me to my next point...

3. Ramon Sessions
I don’t want to beat a dead horse here...but have I mentioned that I think pretty highly of this guy? Is it a coincidence that the Bucks have averaged over 112 points per game since he’s taken the reigns as the starting point guard? I’m not the only one who thinks this guy is pretty good. Here’s an excerpt from a John Hollinger chat on ESPN.com on February 12th.

Jeremy (Milwaukee, WI): Does anyone outside of Milwaukee even know who Ramon Sessions is?
SportsNation John Hollinger: No, but they're going to find out pretty darn fast. It's criminal that he was left off the sophomores' roster for the rookie game, and it's equally perplexing that the Bucks kept him behind Luke Ridnour for half a season. I continue to be extremely impressed by what I've seen from him.
I’ve wrote thousands of words about Sessions already, so I’ll refrain from my usual Sessions poetry, but the man is for real. It’ll be fun to see him against Chris Paul this week. Not on ESPN though. Jerks.

2. Scott Skiles
Here is one hope I have for the rest of the season from Coach Skiles: Please do not play Ramon Sessions at the two guard any more. If you’re going to insist on playing Ridnour and he together, just put Ridnour at the two. It makes a lot more sense. Ridnour is a much better mid range shooter and has some three point skill. Sessions ENTIRE game is based on penetration. All he’ll serve to do at the two is clog it up. There is statistical evidence that Sessions has no business playing the two. I’m confident Skiles knows this and will change things. I’m so encouraged that he has left Ridnour behind Sessions on the depth chart that I’m willing to believe he’ll either stop playing them together or will play Ridnour off the ball. Prove me right coach.

1. Andrew Bogut
Bogut has been in and out of the lineup so many times this year that betting on him making a return is a risk. But If this season was a movie I feel like Bogut is the character who comes back in the end to save everyone. He is Red in Pineapple Express. You keep thinking he is dead and gone, but no, there he is jumping in to save Saul. Saul would be Francisco Elson. Elson always has this goofy stoner look on his face. Speaking of goofy, I never really said anything about it, but Andrew Bogut must have lost a bet or something a few weeks ago, because he had the most ridiculous looking white suit of all time on. I found a picture of it at RealGM.com. Words can’t explain. Anyway, if Bogut comes back with everyone else firing on all cylinders like they are now, that makes the Bucks a for real serious playoff team. Think if only he were manning the middle right now and not Elsonzuric. They wouldn’t even need to feed him in the post and he’d still get 16 and 10 a game with the tempo right now. He would feast on rebounds and put backs from Sessions penetrations. I’m holding out hope for an April stretch run comeback on the big man. And if that happens I’ll be seeing much more April basketball than I expected in November.