Hornets 92 Bucks 89: The Sting Of Marco Belinelli

Two years ago, Miami surged past us for the fifth seed. And that was before Lebron and Bosh. But the East may be too strong this year. Hammond shouldn’t wait much longer, and the next four games will probably add at least 3 losses. He may also have been duped by that recent surge.

Brandon could really use a tip from Aaron Rodgers and close the twitter down during the season. Seems like it’s starting to become a very serious distraction. He’s using it as a cry for help.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Jennings read the blogs because he responds to the media. The contract statements were in response to

RT @imBWonder @BRAND0NJENNINGS Legler said you can’t make the players around you better and you aren’t worth MAX money. – cool enough said
Feb 14 @BRAND0NJENNINGS What was said on NBA coast to coast? And who said it!!

He can care what Legler said, but he shouldn’t feel like that needs addressing immediately after a game where he loses and says that he’s hasn’t been playing hard and will have to see if he’s up for it going ahead. He’s being too emotional.

The Jax aka stack 5 part is just throwing unnecessary instigation in the direction of the fans and organization. He knows what the fans and media are saying about him and Jax by now. Jax just had the interview saying that Jennings is “his own man.” It’s well known by both of them. He wrote the same thing after the PHX game which are two of the most discouraging losses for the fans and org where he got post game questions directed at his effort levels. Chillin with stack 5 was a very snide remark. He’s feeding the flame and he knows it.

I like his game on the court, I’d be one of the 1st to say rebuild around his skill set on the court, but I’m not sure that we should keep Jennings for a rebuild anymore. Whether the infliction has come from Jax, Skiles, Kohl, Hammond, fans, the city of Milwaukee, or Jennings himself, he’s been inflicted and has a lack of respect for this franchise and it’s fans. You can’t rebuild around that.

"the Ersanator Riddle"

Like most (all?) of our roster, Ersan is an incomplete contributor. Does some useful and distinctive stuff, and not infrequently comes up short in toughness and self-confidence. It was clear at the end that missing the short shot was bothering him. 2 or more teammates consoled him about it. But he still hung on to the disappointment. Hope he learns to avoid that.

Gooden also I think cares about how he plays and how the team performs. I don’t think he’s coasting on his contract. I think he has hunger to do well. I’d put that on the positive side of the ledger. Skiles said Gooden was a bit banged up (wrist?). Maybe we’ll see more of Leuer.

“a split basketball personality that walks a fine line back and forth between charming and bewildering.”

I sure agree that the Bucks have a split basketball personality. Is that common in the NBA? I’d say not — but maybe I’m too close.

The second half of that phrase puzzled me. I wouldn’t have called it a fine line, just like I wouldn’t call the transformations of Dr. Jeylll & Mr. Hyde a fine line. Unless of course your fine line is a wire stretched across a yawning abyss with storms and monsters on one side and sun, flowered fields and fair maidens on the other. Plus, “charming” and “bewildering” are such polite, genteel words that your Ma & Pa must have raised you to be a fine young gentleman. I might have gone with “satisfying” and “maddening” but taste is taste, and understatement often can make a better point than loaded words.

Honestly in listening to interviews with Jack, he doesn’t come across as irrational. Maybe that talk about an extension was whack, but hey of you don’t ask, you don’t receive.

All in all the Bucks are perennially disappointing and irrelevant. Nobody seems to care about the team except for people like ourselves. Skiles has zero charisma and a perma-scowl.

that when I woke up, BrewHoop, RealGM, Hoopsworld, etc were all headlining “Bucks fire Skiles”, I was thrilled, then I woke up and saw nothing close.

The Team and the Coach. Both bring out the least in each other. If the players could hold on to a belief in the game that is religion to Skiles, he could care about them and give them everything he has. Which is quite a bit. But because the Team is within the context of the dysfunctional Franchise, the players have lost belief. Skiles can’t respect that — so he doesn’t really support them. He makes demands. He’s arbitrary and stubborn.

It isn’t working. But I suspect the Franchise is too dysfunctional to do anything about it. Unless the owner wakes up.

Why not? There’s nothing to see right now. List the qualities that make a team worth watching and the Bucks currently have none of them. The fans should turn away. The team should act boldly.

You say: “for a while…….” To me that suggests that if the Bucks change and become watchable, you’ll watch. What could be saner?

Guys like Dampier, Solomon Jones who we saw last night, just keep slipping through his fingers. Bogut may be back mid March.

But I generally agree that it is mostly Hammonds and Skiles. They both have to go; we need people in there you can build a team with young talent.

Kohl gets credit for keeping the team in Milwaukee. And for having more never-say-die spirit than most men could muster.

But he is said to meddle in the trades and signings. And those have not gone well. And he has a loooong record of poor hiring decisions. He either hires people who can’t do the job, like Larry K. And perhaps Hammond. Or he hires strong competent people (like Don Nelson and George Karl) that for some reason he can’t get along with. Maybe it’s the meddling. The strong ones leave.

Whatever his skills as a businessman, as a Senator, or in any other area, I believe his record shows that he has a low basketball IQ.

Since Kohl hasnt brought in anyone good in a decade…

Cowens was player coach for Boston just before Larry Bird and they won 29 games. He also coached Golden State, don’t remember how he did there.

I grew up watching him, albeit not on my team, as he was with yours. A sad story, so young.