Wednesday Notes: Knicks waiting for Sessions, Warrick interest, Meeks profiled, the Jennings family
by Frank Madden on Jul 29, 2009 10:21 PM CDT
in Daily Notes
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Jennings on Jennings: Terrence scouts his big bro (from Paschketball)
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SNY.tv: Knicks playing waiting game on Sessions
In New York, Tommy Dee has a pretty sound take on the Ramon Sessions situation.Apparently, the play for Walsh is to sit back and see what the Bucks decide to do with Bowen, who is rumored to be drawing interest from Boston. That means nothing imminent will happen with the Sessions situation from the Knicks for a few more days. I don't think anything of the Jamaal Tinsley rumors. At this point, it would make more sense to bring in Sessions or settle on bringing Robinson back on a one-year deal.
I'm not sure what the Bucks would want from the Celtics, who obviously could also just sign Bowen outright for much less than $4 million if/when he's waived. That would also give the Bucks the financial breathing room they need to match a deal for Sessions, so it seems in both teams' interests to stand pat. Further complicating things are tweets from Chris Mannix and Gery Woelfel that the Bucks are inquiring about Hakim Warrick's availability. Warrick had his qualifying offer withdrawn by the Grizz (aka he got Villanueva'ed), so he's now an unrestricted free agent but don't expect him to get Charlie V dollars from anyone.
As Dee notes, it seems like the Knicks and Bucks have basically reached a standoff: the Knicks continue to preserve their MLE by not signing other players, while the Bucks continue to maintain their financial flexibility by not signing additional free agents and having partially NG'ed players like Bowen, Weems, and Stoudamire around. Warrick was one of my fave college players of the past decade, but he's mostly been a role-playing PF with a penchant for high-flying dunks and a poor-to-mediocre mid-range game. Personally I'd prefer to risk the possibility he signs elsewhere in order to maintain the flexibility to retain Sessions, but if the Bucks let Sessions walk then a smallish deal ($2-3 million) for Warrick would be fine with me. Justin at We're Bucked is like-minded. It might not make the Bucks that much better, but we'd at least get some added entertainment value.
Bucks.com: Bucks rookie Meeks a veteran of big time
Truman Reed continues to be a beast for Bucks.com, cranking out so much stuff that I usually don't even get around to linking to it all. His latest is a look at Jodie Meeks, who seems to be settling right in with his fellow rookie Brandon Jennings.
"We've become pretty good friends," Meeks said. "I think it'll just develop more and more and we'll get better and better as the year goes on."I think we have a lot of chemistry on the court. I've found that if I find open places on the court, he'll get me open shots."
HoopsWorld: Jennings fan club
Thanks to Brandon at BallerBlogger for the heads up on this very complementary article on Jennings by Mike Moreau, the director of basketball at IMG academies. Among the highlights:
Sure, with his high school kid's body, he got posted by bigger guards. But as a coach, give me that guy who will get up and challenge and we'll get him help when he needs it. We can scheme and rotate for him when opposing guards try to post him by doubling immediately, and he can use his speed to beat the swing pass to the corner on the rotation. Problem solved.And I just loved his overall positive vibe, his smile and his enthusiasm. He brought energy that is contagious – the kind of energy everyone wants to be around. More than any player I saw this summer, Jennings looked like a guy who just loves to play. And he made his teammates love to play with him.
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Warrick and Jennings Perception
I am on board with Warrick. I feel with his scoring combined with Amir Johnson’s defense, the Bucks could have some flexibility at the 4. Also another athlete to run with Jennings. To be up front, I am a little more enamored with a guy’s Player Efficiency Rating(PER) than maybe I should be, but Warrick does have a solid number at over 16.
I was really happy to read the Moreau article. I think we will hear more and more stories like this about B. Jennings. ESPN has flat-out trashed him, and that started the day he bypassed college basketball for oversees. Everybody just looked at his 35 ppg from Oak Hill, and assumed he is arrogant and cocky. Super confident does not make a bad teammate or a guy. The article also points out how unselfish Jennings is with the ball, a true PG.
We’re Bucked
by We're Bucked on Jul 30, 2009 6:55 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs
the Boston/Bowen thing
actually, if Boston is committed to signing Marquis Daniels with its bi-annual exception (a smart move for them IMO), then I don’t think Boston would have any exception to use to sign Bowen (as they are already well over the cap). So, if Boston wants Bowen, they probably need to trade for him. A sign and trade involving Glen Davis might make sense for Milwaukee as the Bucks could use a forward who can make a consistent mid-range jump shot. Anyway, I don’t think its a foregone conclusion that the Bucks will just waive Bowen. Sure, they won’t keep him beyond that deadline…but a S&T with Boston isn’t a completely silly idea.
by hunter11 on Jul 30, 2009 8:58 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs
Would Glen Davis fit in with an uptempo style? With the athletic pieces on the roster along with the addition of Jennings, I would think adding Glen Davis could contradict what the Bucks have been doing. Which to me seems like becoming a team that can really run. I like Davis, but I do not like it when teams go one direction, then make a move that goes against that direction.
Like adding Anthony Mason to the Big Three.
We’re Bucked
by We're Bucked on Jul 30, 2009 9:07 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
I’m not at all interested in Davis to be honest…just one look at his pathetic rebound rates is enough for me. I know he played better in the second half and hit some big shots in the playoffs, but to me that means his stock has gotten out of wack with his actual production. I’d rather go with Ilyasova/Johnson at PF with Joe/Luc getting minutes there as well. Three of those guys can hit mid-range shots (Ersan/Joe can shoot threes as well) and only Joe was a worse rebounder than Davis last year.
by Frank Madden on Jul 30, 2009 9:20 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
okay, so Glen Davis was a bad idea...but what about
Gabe Pruitt and Tony Allen. Pruitt apparently looked improved this summer league and I have no idea why Boston would be considering waiving him. Pruitt would give Milwaukee a second young (and cheap) PG to develop along with Jennings, which would make it easier to let Sessions go. Allen will be a full year+ removed from the knee injury and he could be an interesting piece for an athletic team.
on a related note, exactly how much running can the Bucks do with Bogut as a centerpiece of the team? I’m not suggesting he’s a Greg Ostertag-type athlete, but he’s not exactly Amare Stoudemire.
by hunter11 on Jul 30, 2009 9:33 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
I think Bogut's actually pretty consistent with running...
I know very little about Pruitt but the fact that the Celtics are considering cutting him loose rather than pay him a min salary isn’t exactly a ringing endorsement. The bottom line is that I don’t see any deal with the Celtics tangibly improving the team, whereas waiving Bowen at least gives you the flexibility to re-sign Sessions or simply pocket the money for later.
It’s obviously tougher to run when the opponent scores, so a running team can help itself greatly if it can 1) force the opponent into difficult shots, creating more misses 2) rebound the opponents’ misses at a high rate and 3) force turnovers. The Bucks were pretty good at 2 and 3 last year and Bogut is really the key to our defensive rebounding. Without that we’ll have fewer chances to push the tempo, and he’s also a good passer, so off the miss he can outlet the ball better than most bigs. So I really don’t see him as being inconsistent with a high-tempo team.
by Frank Madden on Jul 30, 2009 9:59 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Boston could sign Bowen for min
Teams can always sign players for the minimum regardless of their cap situation, so they could do that with Bowen as well. As a veteran with more than 10 years of experience, his min salary for 09/10 would be $1.3 million.
by Frank Madden on Jul 30, 2009 11:45 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Bowen deal close?
Just heard from a reliable source that a Bowen deal could be close…no idea what, but apparently it would be “something good.”
The plot thickens! Unclear how this would affect a Sessions deal at this point, but it would surely mean something.
by Frank Madden on Jul 30, 2009 1:46 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
I also just saw this on RealGM:
Frank Isola reports that “within one day or two,” Donnie Walsh is expected to decide between making a contract offer to Jamaal Tinsley or Ramon Sessions.
Looks like things may finally start happening and the Bucks roster could be much different after the weekend!
We’re Bucked
by We're Bucked on Jul 30, 2009 2:41 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Tough to piece it all together
Here’s some random rumors:
- Woelfel wrote earlier today that Walsh and Hammond were talking yesterday about a sign-and-trade
- The Knicks are waiting on the Bowen situation to make a Sessions offer
- The Knicks are basically at a standstill with Lee and Robinson
- Hammond spoke highly of Lee a couple weeks back
- It’s really difficult to do a S/T with one or more of Sessions, Lee or Robinson because they’ll be BYC players when they get their raise
by Frank Madden on Jul 30, 2009 3:13 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
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