• Charles Gardner reports from the Bucks media luncheon that a nagging ankle injury will prevent Andrew Bogut from playing in the Bucks' final two preseason games.  Bogut originally hurt his left ankle at the Olympics in August after landing awkwardly on Kobe Bryant's foot. And while he appeared to be back at full strength last Wednesday in Guangzhou, Bogut reinjured it on Friday in Beijing.  And then he reaggravated it again on Tuesday in practice. In other words, Bogut's ankle hates China.  It's still hoped he'll be ready for Tuesday's opener in Chicago.
• Gardner also got a pretty good quote from Joe Alexander, discussing his potential dunk contest plans:

  "I'll jump over the Fonz statue."

• ESPN has their Bucks preview up, with just one of ten panelists predicting playoffs.  The lack of optimism isn't too suprising--though the fact that Ric Bucher is the guy predicting good things seems a bit weird.  I also find it a bit interesting that more experts thought the Bucks would finish third than fifth in the Central (4-2), though I suppose that mostly suggests how little they think of the Pacers and Bulls.  Oh, and in the right sidebar you'll notice BrewHoop's snide little contribution.
• Gery Woelfel writes that the Bucks are getting used to a new concept this fall: accountability.  For now Andrew Bogut is saying all the right things about Skiles' more disciplined approach--even when he was the one to get benched on Friday.

  "I think what he did was great,’’ Bogut said of Skiles. "I was held accountable, and that was the first time I’ve been held accountable as a Milwaukee Buck.
  
  "I’m not taking anything away from anybody else (past coaches), but I definitely respected what he (Skiles) did. It was a wake-up call, that no matter who you are or what position you play, nobody’s spot is certain.’’

  I'm not sure how that quote can't be interpreted as a shot against Terry Stotts and Larry Krystkowiak, but it's October so we might as well eat this stuff up and feel good that Skiles is being the guy who we thought he'd be.  Now he just needs to win some games.  
• While the rest of the Bucks were in China, Charlie Bell stayed at home to rehab his surgically-repaired ankle.  Charles Gardner writes that Bell is now back at practice and expected to play in the final two exhibitions.
• Freije lives!  Camp invites Ron Howard (not that one) and Kevin Kruger were waived on Monday, but at least they got a free trip to China out of it.  With T.J. Cummings having gotten the axe before the trip, that leaves former Vandy big Matt Freije as the last of the scrubs standing.  We like Freije around these parts--he blatantly has the homeless man's Dirk Nowitzki thing going on, he played well in Vegas and over the past few weeks, and Charlie says he's a cool dude.  Unfortunately for Freije, Damon Jones' expiring contract is currently occupying the final roster spot, and it seems like the Bucks are hanging on to Adrian Griffin's non-guaranteed deal as well.
• Jim Paschke, continuing his streak of blogging brilliance from China, offers up video from Joe Alexander's high school jersey retirement.
• The Bratwurst wonders what will become of Damon Jones.  Brett's guess that Jones gets bought out is a reasonable one, especially given that Tom Enlund threw out that scenario recently as well.  The JS really doesn't speculate about that sort of thing randomly, so I'd assume that idea was coming from either the Bucks or Jones' agent.  If the Bucks wanted to save some money they could just cut Griffin, so I'd just as soon suggest they hang on to Jones until the deadline, when his expiring deal could be used more productively with something else
  
• The lack of up-to-date preseason stats has been annoying me lately (even Bucks.com hasn't been updated since last Wednesday), so I was pleased when Ty recently linked to this site.
• Ersan Ilyasova was back stateside last weekend, impressing in a pair of exhibition games between his FC Barcelona side and the Lakers and Clippers.  In Barca's 108-104 loss to the Lakers on Saturday he came off the bench to score 15 points along with six boards in 21 minutes.  Then on Sunday Ilyasova filled up the box score to the tune of 20 points (8/14 fg), 14 boards and two blocks in 29 minutes of a 114-109 loss the Clips.  It's worth noting that the Clips rested Chris Kaman, Baron Davis and Marcus Camby on Sunday, but notching 35 points and 20 boards in 50 minutes of action against NBA teams is none too shabby.  Keep it up, Ersan. 
• TrueHoop spent some time learning what it's like to be a referee.  Great stuff.

• Like most of us, Damon Jones couldn't figure out how he was going to get minutes with Luke Ridnour, Tyronn Lue, and Ramon Sessions ahead of him in the PG pecking order.  So he's staying home for now--which is fine with the Bucks.  Jones' expiring $4.46 million deal could be useful down the road, though he can't easily be included in a package deal until October 13.  Which isn't a big issue at this point, since the Bucks aren't likely to be doing any dealing before the regular season anyway. 
  
  Jones' absence also cuts the Bucks' effective roster down to 14, meaning it's also more likely that the Bucks keep Adrian Griffin and his non-guaranteed $1.71 million deal.  I've never completely understood the rationale of keeping Griffin at that price, but Skiles evidently liked him in Chicago.  And I don't have to sign the paychecks, do I?
  
• Tom Enlund writes that the new-look Bucks aren't looking to dwell on last season's shortcomings.  Richard Jefferson says it best:

  "If you come in trying to figure out where you went wrong last year, or if you come in here trying to figure out how not to be last year's team, then you fall into that. You come in here, like ‘Hey, we have a new coach, a new GM, and we have new players'.
  
  "We have a top 10 draft pick, and quality guys like our rookie from UCLA who just went to the finals twice in his career, so he comes from a winning situation...that's rare to get someone like that as a second-round pick. So we've got good balance from top to bottom."

• Truman Reed has been writing huge features left and right over at Bucks.com, and this week he brings us a great profile of John Hammond.

  "We have to have people who understand that, 'I have to earn the right to be on this floor,'" Hammond said. "That's the mentality that Scott usually brings to a team, and that's the mentality that our players have to be willing to accept, that, 'I'm not going to be given anything. If I work for it, and I deserve it, I want what is rightfully mine, but I have to earn those minutes.'

  Amen to that.
• Jim Paschke has been keeping busy of late, and brings us the story of Milwaukeean and former ABAer Will Allen's "genius" grant.  Great read.
• Check out some media day pictures.  Not nearly as many as last year unfortunately.
• Marc Stein ranks the Bucks 16th overall and 8th in the East in his pre-camp power rankings.  A national writer predicting playoffs for the Bucks?  Surprising.
• Enlund also spoke to Toni Kukoc, who isn't a big fan of NBA basketball right now..

After adding Luke Ridnour and Damon Jones (and Adrian Griffin) and losing Mo Williams (and Desmond Mason) in the recent trade, the Bucks have five players capable of running the point: Ridnour, Jones, Ramon Sessions, Charlie Bell, and Tyronn Lue.

While the Bucks are long on quantity at the one, quality is more of a question mark, though all five possess positive attributes.

Ridnour capably started all 82 games on a division-winning Sonic team in 2004-05.  The same year, Jones hit 43.2 % from outside for the Heat, and the year before that he brought stability and to the Bucks' backcourt. In limited time last year, Sessions was one of the brightest rookies, and a wonderful distributor who averaged 7.5 assists in only 26.4 minutes. Bell plays defense and brings size at the one. Lue is an instant-offense type who nailed 45.3 % of his three-pointers last season.

Then again, the quintet totaled 23 starts last season. That's an average of 4.6 out of 82.

Lue is a career backup and Jones isn't starting material at this stage in his career either. Bell fits in more naturally as a backup shooting guard.

That leaves Ridnour and Sessions, both of whom can push, dribble, and pass the ball quite well. Their shooting and defensive abilities are questioned.

Sessions and Ridnour also went a combined 1-11 starting at point guard last season, with Ridnour getting the lone victory on March 24 against the Blazers.

That's not terribly inspiring, but basketball is a team game, and Ridnour and Sessions are team players. Not only that, but the 2008-09 Bucks hardly resemble the clubs Sessions and Ridnour played on last season.

Continue reading this post »

Brian Windhorst in Cleveland says it's done: the Bucks, Cavs, and Sonics will be completing a trade shortly that sends Mo Williams to Cleveland, Luke Ridnour, Damon Jones, and Adrian Griffin to Milwaukee and Desmond Mason and Joe Smith to Oklahoma City.

As we broke down yesterday, Ridnour's been disappointing the past two seasons but is owed far less on his current deal than Mo: $13 million total for the next two seasons compared to Williams' $43 million over the next five.  Jones had a quasi-breakout season with the Bucks in 03/04 following the injury to T.J. Ford and has an expiring deal worth $4.46 million. Griffin is a journeyman swingman who previously played for Scott Skiles in Chicago, but his $1.711 million 08/09 salary is reportedly non-guaranteed. 

In sum the Bucks would be shipping out $13.653 million while adding $12.671 million, providing about  $1 million additional room under the 08/09 luxury tax.  If Griffin is cut then the deal would net them about $2.7 million under the tax this year, but they probably won't be able to spend it all anyway.  Since Mason was expiring, the 09/10 benefit is simply the difference between Williams' and Ridnour's deals, which is $1.853 million.  The bigger cap benefits would come the following summer when Ridnour's deal comes off the books.

Acquiring two point guards for Williams leaves the Bucks with a logjam in the backcourt--Ramon Sessions, Tyronn Lue, Jones, and Ridnour would all be battling for time.  And if the Francisco Elson signing still happens as expected then the Bucks would be at the maximum roster size of 15.  That might suggest the Bucks aren't done dealing, but in moving Williams and Mason's expiring deal they now only have Charlie Villanueva left as an obvious trade chip--and they might be too thin at PF to deal him anyway. 

Meanwhile, Jones, Ridnour, and Griffin, cannot be traded with any other players for two months, but could be traded individually at any point.   So hypothetically if Miami decided they wanted Luke Ridnour tomorrow, they could have him for Udonis Haslem straight up (not that I'm expecting that to happen).  The current roster assuming the deal happens and Elson is also signed:

PG: Sessions/Lue/Ridnour/Jones
SG: Redd/Bell
SF: Jefferson/Alexander/Mbah a Moute/Griffin
PF: Villanueva/Allen
C: Bogut/Elson/Gadzuric

The guard situation in particular seems a bit odd, so I'm curious to see what the spin ends up being from the Bucks' perspective.  Clearly Mo Williams was viewed by the Bucks as deadweight in spite of his offensive productivity, and one can only assume that the trade market for him was minimal given the lack of discussion up until now.  Most Bucks fans would agree that the Mo/Redd combination just wasn't going to work--having two scorers in the backcourt who don't defend is awfully tough to pull off.  And since the Jefferson trade there's been a clear message that Redd was staying, which left Williams as the odd man out.

Talent-wise the Bucks would clearly get the short end of the stick, but then again the questions about Mo have never been related to talent.  Clearly the Bucks view this as addition by subtraction, though that might be tougher to sell to the average fan. The Bucks will get some financial benefits over the next two years and then even more flexibility once Ridnour's deal is up in 2010, but the near-term benefits won't be the same as they would have gotten in a straight salary dump. That suggests Hammond and Skiles do see Ridnour as more than just cap relief, though it's not clear what the point guard pecking order will look like once the dust settles.

As for Mo, he could be a terrific fit next to LeBron in Cleveland, where he'll also be surrounded by a more defensive starting lineup than in Milwaukee.