Brace yourselves. Things are about to get pretty crazy in the next few weeks for the Bucks.

As if the team has not had enough trouble already dealing with injuries and a road-heavy schedule to start the year, things are not about to get any easier. Lets break it down real quick.

Must Win Games:

2/15 vs. New Orleans, 2/19 @ New Jersey, 2/28 vs. Washington

Why are these must win games? Well, beside from the fact they are all basement dwellers that the Bucks SHOULD beat, these are the only sub .500 teams that Milwaukee will play in the next 13 games. Because in those thirteen games the Bucks have 10 againstEastern Conference Playoff teams.

The Rest:

ORL (6th): Home-2/11, 2/20 Away- 2/17, 3/03 (4 games!!!)

MIA: (2nd): Home-2/13

CHI: (1st): Home-3/07 Away- 2/22

BOS: (7th): Away-2/29 (leap year!)

ATL: (4th): Away-3/02

PHI: (3rd) Home-3/05

The only Eastern playoff team that we don't see during this stretch is Indiana, but that is about as daunting as you can make it. Personally, I am most worried about the 4 games against Orlando. I have no idea how the Bucks plan to stop Dwight Howard. Drew Gooden has lucked out and only faced two good centers since Bogut got hurt (Bynum, Monroe), but there is no way in the world he can match up at all against the Orlando center...4 times! Our best hope? He gets traded after this weekend to someone that we don't have to play the rest of the year.

There are two bits of good news that we can take away from this schedule:

A. March is just as easy as February is insanely difficult. 11 of the 15 games immediately following the crazy-hard stretch are against teams that are currently under .500 (although 2 of those 11 are against the surging Jeremy Lin-led Knicks). So if we can somehow make it through the first stretch alive, than the rest of the way will be smooth sailing.

B. The entirety of this evil, evil string of games takes place before the March 15th trade deadline. If we end up going 3-10 in this stretch we'll be able to begin the overhaul process, play our rookies, and hopefully get lucky and end up with a top 7-8 lottery pick. Contrastingly, if they somehow end up winning 7 of these 13 games and are in the thick of things during the final run, then they will still have time to make a crucial move, or two, to help them compete and maybe luck out with a first-round matchup that they can handle.

It is clear that this isn't a roster that is going to compete for a championship anytime soon, but winning makes a difference. Winning brings in revenue, winning brings in national media, and winning makes you look attractive to Free Agents. I think our ceiling is a graceful second-round exit in 6-7 games. Our low is probably only as bad as 7th or 8th worst in the league. There are just too many stinkers out there. Meaning another year of mediocrity and frustration.

Livingston had a great game. But noone is interviewing him or even talking about what he did.

So why are we not appreciating what he does, the guy is playing his heart out and he is for real.

If you look at points per game, he certainly is not on the top. That however is not the best measure.

We spend way to much time focussing on plays and players who are not contributing.

Then again, maybe he is not a favorite son???

Just sayin.....

The FSN North boys and Ted Davis apparently get pretty bored of calling the Bucks players by their real names and use a plethora of nicknames for each of the players on the team. The invertible internet audience has their own nicknames for the boys as well. I think it is time that we settle once and for all and focus our collective fan analysis into a concrete and defined set of nicknames.

A few rules:

1. The A-Rod Rule- Ever since Alex Rodriguez acquired this nickname it has become the laziest in all of sports. 'Letter-dot-first syllable of last name' is so played out if it were a cassette tape it would be warped. If it were a pair of Jordan IV's it would have a giant hole on the sole. Therefore I declare all variations of this ineligible.

2. Hype Rule- Allen Iverson lived up to his nickname (The Answer), Mark Sanchez has not (Sanchize). If a player has an undeserved nickname then it is henceforth declared irrelevant. If you happened to be the best player on your team and earn a nickname like Mr. Clutch, but spend your time riding the pine in the next level than a new nickname is at hand. Rookies will be allowed a probationary period to keep their college nicknames in which time it will be determined legit or not.

3.Copycat Rule- Dwight stole superman from Shaq. There are other examples. This shan't be tolerated.

Here are my thoughts. Please include your own below.

Andrew Bogut- Aussie Eraser (alternate: Andrew Broke-it)
Both nicknames suit him, but in opposite fashions. It is in my humble opinion that when healthy he
adhere the name of the Aussie Eraser. ...So obviously we won't be calling him that for 8 to 12 weeks.

Brandon Jennings- Young Buck (disqualified: BJ3 (Copycat Rule))
BJ3 is blatant rip off of a better point guard and Young Buck evokes more of the Oak Hill image that
Brandon projects. From compton to WIScompton baby!

Steven Jackson- Jackson 5 (alternate: Captain Jack) (disqualified: S-Jax)
I know that the majority opinion is with Captain Jack, but J-5 cannot get out of my mind. It can be representative of his multiple personalities on the court or the fact that in his tenure with 7 different teams Milwaukee is the first time he has spurned 1 in favor of a different jersey number. Either way I'm more than happy to invoke the A-Rod rule here on S-Jax.

Drew Gooden- The Big Drizzle (hilarious alternate from the past: Recede Wallace)
I don't really get 'drizzle', but I'm going to assume it is because he makes it rain poorly and/or because he has a problem with his prostate. Back before Drew used to shave his head he had a pretty severe case of MPB levying his teammates into giving him this awesomely cruel nickname. Lets start a campaign for Drew to grow his hair out so he sport a sick horseshoe a la Jeff Van Gundy.

Ersan Ilyasova- Turkish Delight (alternate: Ilya-sorta)
Turkish Delight comes to us from the wonderful boys at BrewHoop and is quite effective. It is a definite go to nickname for Ersan. However, if someone was to ask you a few questions about Mr. Delight you will be surprised to see what your answer would be.

Person A: Hey I've heard about this Ilyasova guy on the Bucks. Is he a good scorer?
You: well, yeah sorta
Person A: Is he a good defender?
You: Yes, well sort of
Person A: Hmm...you aren't helping me here. Can you at least tell me if he's good enough to be a starter in the NBA?
You: well....kind of...sort of
Person A: dammit

Carlos Delfino- Del-Phenom (Alternate: Cabezon) (Alternate 2: Delfino Square)
Del-phenom was gifted to him at his stay in Detroit and Cabezon has been with him since Argentina, but I personally have a mental block with Carlos because of the N64 game Diddy Kong racing. In the game there is a level called Delfino Square and it was pretty hard and it always bugged me. Kind of like Carlos. He gets so many steals (power boosts, speed boosts etc) but commits so many turnovers (falling off of cliff, getting hit with a banana, etc).

John Brockman- Brockness Monster (Alternate: JonBoy)
So Brockness Monster is easily the best thing about John Brockman. Its too bad his name doesn't rhyme with the phrase "Hands of Stone".

Jon Leuer- disqualified: J-Leu (A-Rod Rule)
Mr. Consistent would be a good one. At the moment he is without a nickname to my knowledge and he has most definitely deserved one in the first third of his rookie campaign.

Shaun Livingston- S Dot
This is his only nickname and (Steven A. voice) quite frankly (end scene) I'm okay with just calling him Shaun. I also accept him as an exception to the A Rod rule because it is more of a Jay-Z reference ( S Dot Carter) than it is an A-Rod reference. Hmmm...but it could also be a copycat situation then. Either way I'm just going with Shaun until a better name comes up.

Beno Udrih- Muy Bueno Beno (Alternate: Tasmanian Slovenian)
I'm not thrilled with either of these, but I'll take them. I understand the allusion to the Tasmanian Devil, but shouldn't it logically be the Slovenian Devil? Tasmanian Slovenian mostly implies some form of Equatorial neutrality.

Larry Sanders- Picasso (Very close to having the Hype Rule applied)
Larry Sanders is an exceptionally gifted visual artist. You can check out his stuff through his Twitter handle. Bucksketball put up this drawing that he did on their website. Unfortunately, Sanders is proving to be anything, but artistic on the basketball court. He will certainly be getting his minutes in the next 2 and a half months thanks to Andrew Broke-it (see! isn't this fun?) , but it may be his last chance to live up to his first round hype.

Mike Dunleavy- The Natural (hilarious past nickname: Chicken Man) (alternate hilarious proposal: El Pollo Loco)
Yeah, whatever, the Natural is fine. He has a Redford-esque mystique to him and basketball genes in his family, but I am more concerned with Chicken Man because WHAT?! Apparently when he was with the Rockets they had a promo that if the team scored 135 points or more the fans would win free chicken (no other details found). This happened 5 times in a 3 year period and all 5 times Dunleavy scored the 135th point. Awesome. Anyways, I like taking this one step further and going with El Pollo Loco because Dunleavy is so active on offense that it occasionally looks like he is a chicken with his head chopped off

Luc Ricard Mbah a Moute-The Prince (alternate: any of his awesome anagrams)
The Prince works wonderfully, but isn't "Labia Mud Charm Toucher" or "I'm A Dumb Urethral Coach" more fun? Yes, but I think my head would explode if Telly Hughes or Jon Mcglocklin said this on air. In conclusion, Touch! Bum diarrheal cam.

Tobias Harris- All-Business (alternate proposal: Funke)
All-Business is still in the probationary stage, but in honor of the return of Arrested Development I will be referring to my favorite analrapist (analyst/therapist) from the entertainment world.

Darington Hobson- Butter (alternate proposal: Butler)
Butter is also in the probationary period until he has proven himself. However has anyone had a name more reminiscent of a stuffy British butler in the history of names? Hobson! Fetch me my musket! Darington! Bring around the rolls! Chop chop! I don't know if this is just me, but I like butler.
There we go. Those are my thoughts. We all probably yell different 4 letter nicknames at them while watching the games, but these are some good ones to think on. If you have other suggestions please let me know!

Charlie Buckets

read more @ hoops414.blogspot.com

Canada Bucks just put up a post discussing the possibility of trading Andrew Bogut, and that got me thinking that maybe a move should be made. I started using NBA trade machine, and I'm hooked. So I went ahead and devised some trades that I think make sense for all teams involved, and thanks to the trade machine the salaries all fit to make the deals financially possible.

TRADE #1

This one I actually put in a comment on Canada's post, and got a few replies. Most seemed to like the trade, but were a bit concerned about Lopez's foot, and wanted draft picks to go along with it (Hint: late addition).

It's a 3-team deal, in which Bogut is dealt, as well as superstar centerpiece Dwight Howard. See the trade after the jump...

Continue reading this post »

OK, I am back again and after Jackson. "I was cruisin NY wit..." Last I looked we were paying this professional about 10M a year.

I have an answer. I have images of him playing in green with Paul Pierce. Real GM tells me it would work.

Ray Allen was the classiest Buck ever and I would love to see him back to retire.

He is also scoring from the outside and would help us keep oponents honest and open up the paint.

I understand Boston is about ready to blow it up. Perhaps we can get this piece.

Over the last week or so there have been a lot of posts about tanking, re-tooling or whatever you want to call it as most feel this edition of the Milwaukee Bucks is middle-of the-pack as a best case scenario. I have been quite vocal about my feelings that Andrew Bogut should be the first buck to go because of the following reasons:

1. He could fetch the most in a trade due to the position he plays, his defensive abilities, and his contract

2. His game is in decline, small sample size but every advanced stat is down this year with the exception of drb%, ast% and stl%

3. We need more scoring down low, at the moment, he is not providing that.

I realize that everyone doesn't feel the same way that I do(wouldn't be much to discuss if we had the same opinions)but after the jump I have listed all other NBA teams, my thoughts on their interest in Bogut, and what players on their respective rosters that I might be interested in. This is all predicated on a 2 team trade, there may be other possibilities adding more teams into the mix, but that's impossible to explore.

Here goes:

Continue reading this post »

Joel, who owns a house in Door County, was at the YMCA in Sturgeon Bay today playing noon basketball. A few things he had to say while predictably dominating everyone in the gym:

- Claimed he has had 6 knee injuries and is still not committed to a comeback this season.

- Wants to wait until after the All-Star break (or even the start of next season) to sign with a team due to the compressed schedule and excess of back-to-back games.

- Confirmed that the Heat are very interested with him.

- Yes, he knows the Bucks need a backup center...but he sounded very noncommittal to signing with Milwaukee (can't blame him considering our start).

- Let it be known that he was very out of shape; could tell he was rusty.

-Hasn't played basketball in 8 months (!).

Might be an irrelevant storyline to follow due to the Bucks' struggles, but I thought I would pass it along anyways.

Go Bucks.

This is my first FanPost for Brew Hoops. I've been writing my own blog with blogspot address, but I thought I'd share some of my thoughts with you guys since you all know what you are talking about. Enjoy. Go Bucks.

Keefe

There is a scene between Russell Crowe and Paul Giamati in the boxing biopic Cinderella Man where after spending quite sometime away from the sport Crowe's character, James Braddock, dominates his opponent in his first match back as a professional. Braddock had lost all steam in the heavyweight rankings relying heavily on a right hand that, through a large portion on his fighting, was fractured and virtually useless. Giamati, Braddock's manager who had berated him for his reliance on his right, is amazed at his fighter's return to the ring and, after the fight, continually asks Braddock where it all came from.

Braddock:

I don't know. When my hand was broke...I had to work down on the docks and I had to use my left.

Last season Bucks fans hardly saw Bogut moving to his right.

Continue reading this post »

Haven't been back here on Brewhoop since draft night, I swore I was done with this god forsaken franchise forever and there I was again the other night watching the first half of the Sac game thinking how great the Bucks looked. Then the second half of futility happened and I had all the flashbacks of pain.

Watching the cratchety Stephen Jackson gingerly move about forcing bricks and throwing balls away and getting blown by on defense, only made me pine more for a bright young athletic SG like one Marshon Brooks. In case nobody has been following his progress lets compare the mighty captain Jack to the rookie Hammy passed on

Brooks 14.1 pts 3.4 reb .7 ast .9 stls .3 blks .458 FG% .773 FT% in only 23.3 minutes per game!

Jackson 12.5 pts 3.7 reb 3.3 ast 1.3 stl .3 blks .333 FG% .842 FT% in 30.2 minutes per game.

not too mention Jackson is throwing in around 5 TO's per game and makes 10 times more money and Toby Harris can't even make it through training camp. I could go on and on and on and on. I guess Hammy figured this roster needed another tweener guy in the 6'8" range that is too small to be a PF and not athletic enough to be a SF because the roster just doesn't ahve enough of those guys.

Anybody seen Bogut lately, he has officially been passed by on the center ranking list by Spencer Hawes, I know he jacked up his arm but how has he gotten so slow and glued to the floor compared to two years ago??? Anyone remember all the crazy dunks and blocked shots, he moves like a 40 year old version of that guy nowadays. And don't even start me on what is going through Skiles shiny little head, is it going to take him 40 games to figure out what we all know already, Jon Leuer is better than Ersan Ilysova in every freakin way possible on the court. Which brings me full circle to Mr. Marshon Brooks because even if Bucks had drafted him, he would be buried on the bench or already sent to the D league so I guess it doesn't even matter:) Jennings is really balling though huh at least we got that going!!!

From Melbourne newspaper The Age........

NBA star Andrew Bogut expects to return to the court in the coming days after taking leave to deal with a personal issue.

Bogut missed the Milwaukee Bucks' clash with Utah on Wednesday (Melbourne time) to turn his attention to the matter that is believed to involve people close to the 27-year-old.

His Australian manager, Bruce Kaider, said Bogut did not want to publicise the ''personal problem'' but Bogut's teammate, Brandon Jennings, had told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel Bogut had returned ''home''.

Kaider would not disclose whether Bogut had returned to Australia or just to Milwaukee.

''It's personal so we are certainly not going to make it public, but Andrew needed to deal with it and will be mostly likely back on court in a couple of days,'' he said.

''The Bucks were really kind in giving him time to get this resolved. It was one of those issues that if it's not dealt with could become bigger than needed.''

Kaider did not say what game Bogut expected to return for.

''It was nothing physical, Andrew is 100 per cent and could play tomorrow,'' he said.

The Bucks have missed Bogut's presence, losing to the Utah Jazz 85-73 on Wednesday. The team plays in Sacramento today.

Jennings told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel he only found out about Bogut's absence on the bus to the Utah game.

''He said he had a personal problem going on back at home,'' Jennings said. ''You hope he's OK. I think it caught everybody by surprise.''

As of yesterday afternoon, Bogut, a prolific user of Twitter, had not tweeted since late on Tuesday.

Bogut is averaging 14.3 points a game and 10 rebounds from four matches this season.

Kaider also represents Australian point guard Patty Mills who was cut by Chinese Basketball Association side Xianjing Flying Tigers earlier this week after the side attempted to force him to play while recovering from a torn hamstring.

The Flying Tigers had accused Mills of faking the injury but Mills staunchly defended himself, saying he had sent two different X-rays to his Australian doctors who confirmed his hamstring was torn.

Kaider wouldn't comment on Mills or any negotiations between the player's representatives and the Flying Tigers because they were continuing yesterday.

But The Age understands Mills' camp may make an announcement about his playing future as early as today.

Under CBA rules, teams don't have to sign clearances for players, even if cut, until the end of the current season, which concludes in March.

Mills will need such a clearance to play anywhere else in the world. He expects to be fit to play in the next week and looks likely to attempt to return to the NBA where he spent last season with the Portland Trail Blazers.

He is unlikely to return to the NBL unless all NBA opportunities are exhausted.

Mills had averaged 26 points a game in 12 matches for the Flying Tigers, who had also sacked American coach Bob Donewald and released former NBA forward Kenyon Martin.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/sport/basketball/bogut-ready-to-return-after-a-timeout-call-20120105-1pmvi.html#ixzz1iac79I8D