Brew Hoop: FanPosts

Assement of JA summer league Game II

upnorthfan — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 03:41:20 -0000

I thought JA let the game come to him. He did rush a couple of shots, but showed his reknowed "spring" in his legs" on his jump shot. Improved from game one. Had two passes where he led his man on the move perfectly for scores.

Had two "taps" to team mates on the offensive glass that allowed us to maintain possesion. Needs to be more assertive offensively, I mean most of his team mates won't be in the NBA next year, and some of them were just chuckers, yet he deferred to them.

Nice drive and finish to start the second half. Sat out the entire second quarter, played all but two and half minutes in second half. Helped nicely bringing the ball up the court, actually handled that aspect with ease. On an opponents dunk attempt he was called for a foul on a blocked shot where his body made contact, but he difinitely showed "ups".

He shot better in this game (5-9) than in game 1 (2-13).

Overall, a so-so game, but improvement from game 1 is what I was looking for, and he accomplished that.

C.C. Sabathia!...and how it relates to the Bucks

smitty7789 — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 21:19:35 -0000

First of all, happy C.C. Day to all other Brewers fans out there. I know this is a Bucks blog but still, couldn't hold in the excitement of getting a Cy Young winner.

Anyway, this trade made me look back on the Bucks Gary Payton trade a few years back. Like Payton, C.C. has an expiring deal, and it seems likely he could leaave after half a season like GP did. I'm interested if anyone else sees the paralel between this trade and the Bucks former trade. Do you think the Brewers season will end like the Bucks season did? Since it is summer, I thought some Brew crew chat mixed with some Bucks wouldn't hurt.

Wanted: Fantasy footballers

Mitchell_M — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 22:18:24 -0000

So one of my annual fantasy football leagues closed down yesterday. Because I am a FFL addict, I'm planning on starting another league, and I decided than to look to the blogosphere for other players.

Since the two SB Nation sites I visit the most are BrewHoop and Acme Packing Company, it seemed natural to invite people from those sites first.

It's going to be a very casual, ESPN.com-based, 10-team, FREE football league with an online draft sometime in the next few weeks. The only requirement is that people have fun and can take a joke.

If you're interested, either respond in the comments section or e-mail me at mamaurer47@gmail.com. The sooner the better.

Hope I can find 9 other people with a similar obsession with football!

Seattle/Milw - Proposed Trade

K_Ross — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:49:07 -0000

In an effort to address our need at PF and possibly go in a different direction at PG, I think that a trade with Seattle, dealing Mo and Mason for Ridnour and Chris Wilcox would benefit the Bucks.

Wilcox is more of a rugged PF who can rebound and possibly block a few shots, and has some scoring ability if need be.

Ridnour is somewhat of a defensive liability, but is more of pass-first PG than Mo and is a good distributor from what I've seen of him. I think a combo of him and Sessions would be pretty solid at PG.

The trade works according to ESPN. Any thoughts on this trade?

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/features/traderesult?players=1985~1731~518~2178&teams=15~15~25~25&te=&cash=

A three team trade proposal for Milwaukee, Miami, and Memphis

smitty7789 — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 17:09:24 -0000

The Bucks need a power forward that plays defense, gets the rebounds, and basically, one that plays Scott Skiles' ball. The other need the Bucks have is to get a more pure point guard. Looking at the Bucks from this angle, I looked at some other young and rebuilding teams around the league that might be willing to make a deal. I thought of some needs teams might have that also have a few good chips for the Bucks. Let's start with the players involved in my three team deal that works under the ESPN trade machine

Memphis Grizzlies get:

SF- Desmond Mason

PF- Charlie Villanueva

PF/C- Mark Blount

Miami Heat get:

PG/SG- Marko Jaric

PG- Mo Williams

Milwaukee Bucks get:

PF- Udonis Haslem

PG- Mike Conley

SG- Greg Buckner

My Analyzation and why I think it's a great trade for all teams:

Mainly, it provides all teams with position needs. Miami needs a point guard, Memphis needs big guys, and the Bucks need a pass-first defensive point guard like Conley and a bruising 4 like Haslem.

Memphis does gain a lot for giving up only Conley and Greg Buckner. Desmond Mason really is not a bad pick-up. Memphis really only gives up Mike Conley, whom they reportedly have been shopping since they already have a pleathera of nice young and cheaper point guards such as Kyle Lowry who really came on last season. Memphis and Miami basically swap bad contracts, although it is noted Blount's contract does expire one year before Jaric's, thus sweeting the deal for Memphis if only a little. Greg Buckner should never be considered not expendable but with the trade for O.J. Mayo, it seems the SG position is shored up.

Miami finally gets Mo Williams after reportedly coveting him for years. Losing Haslem does not hurt them as much as they just drafted Michael Beasley. Gaining Mo would allow them to package Jason Williams, Marcus Banks, or Marko Jaric's amazing contract for a quality defensive center giving them a nice balance with Beasley at the 4 (I still don't believe Beasley, at 6'7, will ever be a dominant power forward, but that's another discussion). Miami also cuts 2 million in cap space with the Blount for Jaric swap.

Milwaukee gains a great young point guard who passes first and plays defense, something they lacked with Mo Williams. This allows Michael Redd, Richard Jefferson, and Bogut to get more shots and have a point guard to run the offense. Pairing Conley up with another 7 foot great young center again would be a fun sight. Udonis Haslem shores up any concerns regarding the 4 spot and provides defense, rebounding, and a tough mentality. All three of these were sorely lacking with Charlie V. This allows Alexander to come off the bench for Haslem or Jefferson and allows the Bucks to sub in Alexander once a team brings in one of their smaller power forwards. The loss of Desmond Mason would hurt the Bucks a little but we do cut cap space in this trade; not only this but with this trade I think we finally would see the transformation of the Bucks from a soft finnesse team to a tougher, defensive minded with offensive balance team, one that fits Scott Skiles' playing style much better.

As for the reality of this deal happening, i honestly do not believe the trade is lopsided for any teams involved. I believe it works for all teams involved. Not only this, but it works with all of the players' salaries factored in. I am interested to hear from Heat, Grizzlies, and Bucks fans and see if they would agree to a trade like this if they were the team's manager. Please get on your phone now J Ham.

Premature speculation...

Mitchell_M — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:39:31 -0000

So the Milwaukee Bucks' roster, as of 8:30 EST on Tuesday, 6/24, looks like this:

First string: C - Andrew Bogut, F - Richard Jefferson, F - Charlie Villanueva, G - Michael Redd, G - Mo Williams

Bench: G - Ramon Sessions, F - Desmond Mason, F - Joe Alexander, C - Dan Gadzuric, G - Charlie Bell, G - Royal Ivey

And this is even before their 2nd round pick that will be taken sometime this evening.

Not too shabby, all things considered.

The Bucks are on the clock...

Mitchell_M — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:19:23 -0000

And I am praying to every deity I've ever heard of that they don't take Brook Lopez. Please please pleasepleaseplease don't take Brook Lopez.

Unless Hammond plans on trading the pick, Lopez is NOT a good fit for the team, IMO.

Oh jeez, there's a minute left on the clock. I am nervous.

I really hope I never see Lopez in a Bucks jersey.

...

Whew.

The only thing that concerns me is that now we have Alexander AND Jefferson at the 3 spot. I trust Hammond and Skiles to figure it out.

Assorted Finals thoughts with Milwaukee-related tangents

Mitchell_M — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 12:54:56 -0000

When the Finals first started, I made a big deal about how overly complicated everyone was making the game and used a very simple method to determine my own prediction. I took the Lakers in six. And I was oh, so wrong. So very wrong.

I think its safe to say that if you're reading this, you watched Game 6 of the Finals last night. Here's some thoughts:

Holy macaroni, what a smackdown. The Celts took Kobe and Co. and beat the Lakers like they stole their cookies. A 39-point victory isn't totally unheard of...in the regular season. In a do-or-die game in the championship round, it kinda is.
Former Buck Jesus Shuttlesworth was on fire. Ray-Ray hit seven 3-pointers in the game, which tied a Finals record, and his 22 bombs from distance were a new record. Yikes.
Is it just me, or is Mike Breen's commentary for three pointers strangely satisfying? "Ray Allen for three...BANG!" I don't know, but it seems to work. If only he could get Mark Jackson and Van Gundy to get that divorce they so sorely need.
Holy Rajon Rondo. He needs a nickname along the lines of 'Cat Burglar', but more witty and preferably non-cat related. So much thievery, I thought I was watching Ocean's 11.
Kendrick Perkins coming back wasn't big on the stat sheet, but it was HUGE in the game. I'm pretty sure he only scored a few points and went to sit after getting his 5th foul, but his presence on the defensive end of the court was enormous. Games 5 and 6 were night and day because of him.
The Celtic's bench stepped up big time. Eddie House, James Posey, P.J. Brown, Tony Allen (!), and even Big Baby Davis got in the action. All of them played great defense (especially Posey on Bryant) and put on a show in the final minutes of the 4th quarter.
Speaking of the final minutes of the 4th quarter, it looked like an intramural game that had gotten completely out of hand. The Lakers weren't even close to trying. Tony Allen's reverse dunk off an alley-oop was proof enough of that.
The crowd was great. I refer you to Bill Simmons if you want to learn how important a home crowd is in a playoff ball game.
Even though they were thoroughly handled in the Finals, I don't expect the Lakers to fall apart. They've got Kobe, obviously. Pau Gasol is still young and extremely talented. Andrew Bynum is coming back, and their bench is young and talented (Farmar, Vujacic, Ariza, etc.).
However, one thing I expect to happen is Lamar Odom's trade and/or release. Look at the frontcourt for next season: with Bynum's return from injury, Gasol can move back to his natural PF position. And unless the Lakers plan to unload Radmonovic (who played pretty much the worst defense ever this series), Lamar Odom is suddenly looking at reduced PT and possibly coming off the bench. Throw in the fact that he sucked for the entire Finals (except Game 5), we can expect Lamar to be elsewhere next season.
I sure hope Paul Pierce's knee isn't too badly hurt. The guy put on a great performance and earned his championship without ever letting on just how hurt he actually was.
Kevin Garnett. Wow. First of all, dude flat-out played some ball tonight. That circus shot in the first half was un-be-liev-a-ble. He came back in a big way in Game 6. But more than anything, I was moved by his emotion in the aftermath of the win. He wasn't overjoyed, he was happy to the point of losing control. He was literally twitching with delight. I implore you to find his post-game interview with Michelle Tafoya on YouTube; it's as raw of human emotion as you'll find not only in sports, but pretty much anywhere. I am incredibly happy for him.

But, this is a Milwaukee Bucks blog, and I am a Milwaukee Bucks fan. So what did we learn from these here Finals?

First of all, it proves that you can negate opposing offense with defense. Between the Spurs' titles, the Pistons' run in 2004, and the 2008 Boston Celtics, there is undeniable proof that building a team with a defensive mindset can win you a ring. John Hammond and Scott Skiles know this, I'm sure. I am very excited to see what they're going to do to bring Milwaukee out of sub-mediocrity and into contention.

Secondly, we learned that one great offensive player can't prevail against solid team defense. Kobe was "Old Kobe" for the Finals, the version of Kobe where his offensive mindset is "mememememememememememeeeeeeeeee" and not much else. I hope that other offensively-gifted players learn from this example and continue making concentrated efforts on involving teammates in the offense.

More than anything, we learned that the 2008 Celtics were an aberration. Boston built itself through two major trades and veteran pickups instead of through the draft and player development. Teams are not usually built like this, and I doubt we'll see a team built like this again in the future. Allow me to explain myself.

Last season, the Celtics had the worst record in the East. They had one good player (Pierce), one emerging good player (Al Jefferson), and a collection of young and skilled but inexperienced players or older players who had hit their ceiling (Rondo personifying the former, Delonte West representing the latter). This team was not going anywhere.

Then the Ray Allen trade came along. This was a fair trade, in my opinion: essentially it gave Seattle a chance at a young prospect in return for a quality veteran who was just starting to slip. Teams make trades like these all the time.

But the KG trade was ridiculous. Am I happy it happened? Absolutely. Do I believe it was fair? Absolutely not. I don't care how you spin it, trading Kevin freaking Garnett for Al Jefferson, etc. and a side of fries is not even. That would be like Milwaukee trading Andrew Bogut, Charlie Bell, Bobby Simmons, Dan Gadzuric, and Jake Voshkul for Dwight Howard. One good player (Bogut) and a bunch of anti-good players for a g-r-e-a-t player. Except for salaries, how is that an even trade? (Note to self: if the Bucks ever get a chance to pull the trigger on this trade, I'm all for it.)

In any case, I'm happy Boston won. I just hope Milwaukee doesn't follow their example.

A Trade Idea with Portland

RudyFTW — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 15:13:18 -0000

Hi Buck fans. I am a long time Blazers fan and also a huge fan of Rudy Fernandez. He is a dynamic shooting guard from Spain. I have spent the last two years watching coach Nate McMillan play inferior point guards in front of Sergio Rodriguez.

Sergio's development has been hindered by Nate's poor coaching and inability to change. I would hate to see the same thing happen to Rudy. I would much rather him go to a team where he can thrive and get playing time. Let's face it, he's not going to get any PT behind Brandon Roy. I came up with a trade with you guys and wondered if you folks think it is fair.

Portland trades: Rudy Fernandez, Joel Przybilla, and Channing Frye

Milwaukee trades: Dan Gadzuric and Yi Jianlian

It works on the ESPN Trade Machine. I should throw Sergio Rodriguez in the trade as well but I could not get the salaries to match because so many of your players have trade restrictions. What do you folks think?

A long winded Finals-related post

Mitchell_M — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 23:32:47 -0000

So I was flipping through the various ESPN channels today (we are getting very close to the real-life launch of ESPN8: The Ocho), and it seems that literally everyone and their mother is gaga over this Lakers-Celtics Finals. I haven’t seen hype like this since late 1999, when everything was all about Y2K. But my issue is with the rampant predictions.

They’re everywhere. Like cockroaches in a frathouse basement, each and every sports writer has their take on who’s gonna win, why they’re gonna win, how they’re gonna win (or at least how they should play if they want to win). After all, it wouldn’t be an NBA Finals without John Hollinger’s three-volume book of calculus and Stephen A. Smith yelling at the camera. Bill Simmons’ anti-jinx is just icing on the penis-shaped shamrock-green cake.

Here’s the thing; everything is too complicated. People are putting way too much effort into trying to figure out the result of a series. If I’ve learned one thing from sports, it’s that simplicity trumps all. For example, this morning I decided to head down to the courts at my local park, shoo away the pigeons, clear out the broken glass and beer cans, and play some roundball. Fortunately for my point (but unfortunately for my self-esteem), I was alone.

Now, I’m not a big time baller by any means. I’m a decent player, if decent can be defined as “doesn’t totally embarrass family legacy in a pickup game”. However, my 5’11” 160 pound self would be a far cry from decent without a fair amount of practice. So this is what I do when I’m by myself: I practice.

Anybody who understands the purpose of practice gets that you have to go through a routine. Do the same thing a certain number of times, and that’s eventually the way you’ll do it consistently. In short, practice makes permanent. That’s why I do the same shooting routine the same way all the time: 10 from the baseline, 10 from the elbow, 10 from the center of the FT line, 10 from the other elbow, and 10 from the other baseline.

Now, I was on my first elbow, and I had made the first two. Then I missed one short. I thought to myself “Okay, that was short, I have to put some leg into it.” I missed the next one off the back of the rim. I thought to myself, “Okay, that was a little flat, I have to put some more arc on it.” I missed the next one to the left. I thought to myself, “That one went off my index finger, I have to center the ball.” Blah, blah, blah, skinny white boy keeps on shooting by his lonesome.

I won’t continue to bore you with my subconscious obsession with practice, but here’s the thing. It wasn’t until I started thinking too much that I started missing shots. That’s the point of my little story, and the point of my gripe with all the predictions. I will channel my inner Bill Clinton when I say (with a bite of the lip, a point of the thumb, and the violation of an intern) “Keep it simple, stupid!”

Basketball is a simple game: put the ball in the hole more than the other team. And while this competitive (and slightly homo-erotic when described as I just did) sport has all sorts of rules and plays and strategies and whatnot, 10 times out of 10 the team that can achieve the aforementioned ball-in-hole objective will win.

So who’s going to win this year’s Finals? I wouldn’t be a complete ass if I didn’t share my own prediction. (See what I did there? I went on a rant against predictions and now I’m making a prediction of my own! LOLOMG I AM SO CLEVER!!1!!one!)

However, I do have a very simple method for deciding who is going to win a bball series. Each team gets to select three players. Those three play one game to 21, ones and twos. That’s it, that’s the method. Sure it oversimplifies the entire game, what with quarters and different scoring and more players and coaches and home court advantage, etc, etc. But who cares, most games are decided by a team’s top three players anyway, this hypothetical is easy to figure out (in most cases; teams like Detroit have too many good players to knock one out and teams like Miami have too many crappy players to pick three decent ones).

So here’s the three for this Finals: Kobe, Gasol, and Lamar Odom against KG, Ray-Ray, and Paul Pierce. Who wins? Well, Garnett and Gasol will be guarding each other, as will Pierce and Kobe. These two pairs will, for all intents and purposes, negate each other (Pierce is a good defender and has the best chance, albeit a tiny one, to contain the Mamba). That leaves Ray Allen against Lamar Odom. Despite Allen’s offensive prowess, Odom simply is too tall and too skilled to not win that matchup. Allen doesn’t play good defense, much less against a 6’10” small forward like Lamar.

Don’t get me wrong, it would be a close game. But there’s no way the Lakers are losing this matchup. L.A. in 6 games.

Poll

Who you got?

Assistant coaches' deals finalized

Frank Madden — Wed, 14 May 2008 18:32:35 -0000

Per Tom Enlund, the aforementioned Jim Boylan, Lionel Hollins, Kelvin Sampson and Joe Wolf are now officially in the fold:

“I’m excited to be able to assemble this strong coaching staff in Milwaukee,” said Skiles. “Jim, Lionel, Kelvin and Joe all bring experience to the Bucks bench as well as diverse coaching skills. I’m eager to gain their insights as we prepare for the upcoming season.”

On paper the coaching staff is a solid group, beginning with the proven combination of Skiles and his longtime lead assistant (and Marquette alum) Boylan. Sampson is probably the most interesting selection because of his ignominious departure from Indiana, but it's worth noting that Larry Brown wanted him in Charlotte and Gregg Popovich brought him in as an advisor this spring. Those are some impressive references to have on your resume.

Hollins was a longtime assistant with the Grizzlies, but the former point guard's more interesting credentials include two all-defensive teams and a championship ring with the '77 Blazers. We can only hope some of that success rubs off on the Bucks' guards.

Lastly, Wolf returns to his home state after a few successful seasons coaching in the D-League. I'm not sure if the former journeyman center is being viewed as a possible mentor for the Bucks' young bigs, but Wolf's background means he's got experience developing/coaching young players.

Sprewell in more trouble

Frank Madden — Tue, 13 May 2008 15:47:47 -0000

In case you had any doubts, it's not a good time to be Latrell Sprewell, as the Milwaukee native's River Hills home has been foreclosed. Looks like he's been spending too much money feeding his family and not enough making mortgage payments.

The holder of the mortgage, RBS Citizens Bank, told Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge David Hansher that Sprewell owes $320,284. According to River Hills records, the house is assessed at $610,000 and has an estimated fair market value of $667,980. Sprewell bought the house in 1994 for $405,000.

Sprewell, 37, a Milwaukee native and Washington High School graduate, has had other financial difficulties lately.

In January, his 70-foot yacht, "Milwaukee's Best," was sold at auction by the U.S. Marshals Service. The yacht, said to be worth $1.5 million went for $856,000, after Sprewell failed to make the $10,322 monthly payments. In March, Community Bank Group obtained a $72,698 judgment against Sprewell; in September 2007, the state filed a lawsuit against Sprewell for $72,102 in unpaid taxes. Neither judgment has been satisfied.

And yes, expect plenty more "I got my family to feed" jokes in the next few days.

Did anyone see...

Mitchell_M — Tue, 06 May 2008 04:29:26 -0000

...Chris Paul dominate San Antonio again???

I know what some people are thinking: He could be playing for us! We took Andrew Bogut instead of CP3?!

Just remember, Bucks fans, we had T.J. Ford, pre-injuries and needed a big man. Bogut is still worth the pick.

...But part of me just wonders...what would the Bucks be like had we drafted Paul over Bogut? What would have happened?

Anybody want to entertain this hypothetical?

Bucks hire Kelvin Sampson

Mitchell_M — Sat, 03 May 2008 16:17:46 -0000

According to espn.com, Kelvin Sampson has joined Milwaukee's coaching staff as an assistant.

Sampson is best known for his telephone-related snafus at Oklahoma and Indiana. After he left IU, he hung around San Antonio's coaching staff for a while with his buddy Gregg Popovich. Not a bad coach to be connected with.

The guy certainly knows basketball. Between him and Skiles, the coaching in Milwaukee is solid.

Plus, Sampson is a good communicator.

Assorted playoff thoughts and what it means for the Bucks

Mitchell_M — Fri, 02 May 2008 03:57:46 -0000

So far, this year's crop of NBA first round playoffs has been more boring than amazing. The Lakers swept the Enver Nuggets (credit to basketbawful). As much as I love A.I, there's no way that a team featuring Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom, and Kobe Bean Bryant is going to drop a 7-game series. Apparently, they won't drop a 4-game series either. No surprises there.

The Spurs beat the new-look Suns in 5. Sad, but expected. Timmy D is too good. Manu is too wily. Tony Parker is too much of a pansy (is it possible to call a Frenchman a pansy and not be redundant?) Nothing here either.

Orlando handled its business in Toronto. The Raptors' PG duet couldn't contain the monster that is Dwight Howard. *yawn*

Houston and Utah are battling for the right to get obliterated in the next round. I don't know why everyone's on the Jazz bandwagon. It might be Stockton-Malone II with Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer running the pick-and-roll like they're teaching a clinic. But it doesn't matter. They have Kyle "Aston Kutcher" Korver on the roster. This team is not for real. You can't seriously consider a team featuring someone who resembles the same guy who starred in "The Butterfly Effect."

And I blame Tracy McGrady for the Rockets' inability to beat the Jazz, oil prices, and my jammed finger in a pickup game this afternoon.

The Mavs broke apart like stale cookie...again. Is it sad that that's the expected outcome? Truth be told, Naw'lins is for real, as is the best PG of the decade, Chris Paul. I would love to see him carry his team to the title, but probably not this year.

The Cavs-Wiz series is more hyped than it deserves, as expected. Anyone who thinks Bron-Bron is destined for a title on this Cavs team is either high or should be high. Although D.C.'s antics are amusing, this series is no more exciting than an ant colony.

Detroit finally finished off Philadelphia after letting them hang around for too long. Detroit's skill will be undone by it's complacence, mark my words.

Then we have the Boston-Atlanta series at 3-2. ...wait, what?

How in the world did the team that adopted 'Ubuntu' as its slogan get beat by the Atlanta Hawks...TWICE?! This series should have ended in Atlanta a few days ago. They should've thrown a Boston Three Party in the ATL. No way does a team with this much talent and poise drop 2 games in a series like this and go on to win the title. And I'm a KG fan.

So what does this all mean for YOUR Milwaukee Bucks? Well, not a whole lot at the moment. They've got a new GM, new coach, a draft lottery, and a whole mess of a roster to sort out. There won't be playoffs in this team's immediate future, not even in the bastard cousin Eastern Conference. However, we can take notes.

We can look at how Atlanta stood up to the best team in the league and flat-out took two games. We can look at how Philadelphia took advantage of a good team on two off nights. We can look at how Detroit turned around and tapped into the talent that makes them great. We can look at how Boston woke up and handled a lesser opponent. We can look at how Washington developed a game plan and stuck with it, even if it didn't pay dividends right away, and (at least tried) to contain a superstar.

There's no hard X's-and-O's lessons here. Let Skiles handle those lessons. But there's some basic lessons about competition in these here playoffs, even in the lowly Eastern Conference. I just hope that the team is paying attention.

Brew Hoop in the news

Frank Madden — Thu, 01 May 2008 20:44:13 -0000

So Alex and I have been talking about using FanPosts more often for smaller nuggets of information, so without further ado, here are some random Brew Hoop-centric news to report:

Le Basketbawl has their latest NBA blog rankings up. Brew Hoop ranks #16.
BallHype currently ranks us #12 among NBA blogs.
Our buddies at Hardwood Paroxysm recently had both reader and blogger awards voting. Especially given the number of great blogs out there, we were honored to be the runner-up in the bloggers' choice for Best Central Division Blog (behind Need4Sheed ). Given the Bucks finished fifth in the real divisional standings, I guess that means we're better at blogging than the Bucks are at playing basketball. Faint praise though, isn't it?

In any case, we'll still be putting the big headlines in our main blog area, but we encourage everyone to post their Bucks-related links, multimedia, and master plans over here. Any other tips and suggestions can be sent as always to brewhoop[at]gmail.com.

Welcome to the new Brew Hoop and SB Nation

clockwerks — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 04:24:06 -0000

Hey Brew Hoop,

Today is the big day. We've switched your community over to the new SB Nation sports blog platform. My name is Trei, and I'm here to help you get adjusted to the new home we've built for you. If you have questions or trouble with the new system, post a comment in this thread and myself or one of the team (lovitt, sixfoot6 or odacrem) will try to point you in the right direction.

Before we begin, I want to let you know that Brew Hoop is one of the first blogs in the SB Nation family to make this transition. We still consider this a beta platform, so don't be surprised if you find a few bugs or if everything isn't exactly right yet. We hope you'll take the time to report any problems you encounter at bugreport@sbnation.com.

Please take a few minutes to read about what's new below. But if you just can't wait to jump in, here are some quick things to check out:

Sign up for your SB Nation network account and claim your old blog accounts
Once you're logged in, press your Z key in any thread with new comments
Explore your dashboard and setup your profile
Read the guide to the new FanPost editor
Install the FanShot bookmarklet and post videos to Brew Hoop from YouTube or images from Flickr
Click the "Rec" button on posts and comments to help other people find the good stuff.

What Has Changed

SB Nation Network Accounts - the Big Change

Readers across all of our blogs told us they wanted one account to use on every SB Nation blog. To make this work, we're requiring that everyone create a new SB Nation network account. In most cases you should be able to keep your old username, but a few of you may have to choose something new, since every other community in SB Nation will be going through this same transition. We tried to be as fair as possible in deciding who gets to keep which name, using a formula that takes into account length of membership and frequency of activity.

We want to make it as easy as possible for you to participate on all of our blogs, but we don't want to encourage everyone to start visiting rival team blogs and initiating flame wars. To maintain friendly communities we ask that you explicitly join each blog in order to participate. It's a two-click process, but it does means accepting each blog's community guidelines. Just as you join each blog individually, you can be banned on each blog individually.

You can claim old accounts from multiple SB Nation blogs, and your new username will be retroactively attached to all your old comments and diaries. So now you'll be able to access all your writings from your single profile page... like magic.

To get started, click here to claim your old blog accounts and create a new SB Nation network account.

FanPosts (the Section Formerly Known as Diaries)

We changed their name. Why? Because we took this major upgrade as an opportunity to leave behind some vocabulary that never made much sense for a sports blog. SB Nation is the network of, by and for fans, and these are the blog posts we make. So we call them FanPosts. When you're at a bar telling someone to check out your online sports opinions, you don't have to suggest they read your diary.

FanPosts are displayed differently on the homepage - we include your avatar to give more credit for the time you spend writing great posts. The new post editor has a WYSIWYG view that provides easy formatting. It also auto-saves drafts so you don't have to worry about losing your work when you compose a post within the web browser. And you can now associate teams, players and games with your posts: these tools promote your FanPosts on our new team, player and game pages - across the entire network.

The new system does not work like the old diary editor. For example, in HTML mode the new editor doesn't auto-create a new paragraph from two line breaks. But it does offer a whole array of new features. Look for the blinking help button on the right side of the FanPost editor for quick tips, and take a look at our full guide to writing FanPosts on the new platform.

IMPORTANT - if you write your posts in Microsoft Word or some other off-line editor, you will get the most reliable behavior if you cut & paste your post into the HTML view of the FanPost editor. And if you do that, remember to wrap <p></p> tags around each paragraph so your text doesn't run together.

Visual Redesign

This one is probably the most obvious change of all. Like other major websites working to improve readability for their audience, we've adopted a fixed-width layout optimized for the 1024 x 768 resolution used by the majority of Brew Hoop and SB Nation network users. Use the switcher below the user menu if you prefer the wider layout designed for 1280 monitors. We've introduced a top navigation bar with quick links into old and new sections of the site. We also polished a few edges, made some things larger, others smaller and moved a few boxes here and there. More changes and adjustments to come.

Search

We've completely replaced the old search engine with a new one. We're excited to make it easier to find old posts and comments, but we've only taken our first pass on the tools we're offering. We're focused on making search even better than what you had before, so please know that we're aware search is missing key features and we're working on it.

What's New

Schedule, Scores, Stats and Roster

Brew Hoop now has all the basic information about the Milwaukee Bucks and hundreds of other teams. During games you'll see a regularly updated line score, and as the season progresses we'll track team stat totals and leaders. This is just our first step, so look for us to publish more detailed and archival stats in the future. The best part about all this sports data is that we've integrated it directly into the blog so. We now have special pages that aggregate all blog posts written about games, players and teams.

Recommending FanPosts

Some writing deserves more attention and more conversation. If you want to bump a FanPost up to the top and keep it there for awhile, just click the 'Rec' link under the body of the post. When a FanPost receives enough recommendations it will make the recommended list.

Auto-refreshing Comments

You no longer need to refresh the page to see new comments. If you're logged in, new comments will automatically appear on the page every few seconds. When you post a comment, the page will not refresh either. If you want to quickly cycle through all the new comments, you can press the C key on your keyboard. Unmark a new comment after you've read it with the X key. And use the Z key if you want to umark comments as you're cycling through them.

As you use these shortcuts to cycle through comments, press the R key to reply to the current comment. All these helpful keyboard shortcuts are listed at the top of each comments section for reference.

Recommending Comments

Now you can reward those folks who take the time to look up stats and make smart arguments in the comments. Next to each comment there is an 'actions' link that you can click to find the recommend and flag options.

Flagging Comments

To help the moderators on a site, we've built-in tools that let you flag comments that are spam, trolling or just plain inappropriate. Only moderators can see those flags.

FanShots

Many members of the community just want to post that one link, video, photo or quote, but don't need a full FanPost. We've got you covered: FanShots let you share YouTube videos, Flickr or PhotoBucket photos, quotes from articles, portions of chat transcripts, top 5 lists and simple links. If it's a video or image we'll put a thumbnail on the homepage when you post it.

For those of you who are experienced internet hunter-gatherers of Milwaukee Bucks material, install the bookmarklet onto the links bar of your browser and share FanShots with the community from wherever on the web you find that killer quote or photo.

Avatars

Upload an image so folks can see your custom avatar on your profile, your FanPosts, and all your comments.

Network Profiles

Now that we have unified SB Nation network accounts, your profile will be your central hub for all of your activity on any blogs where you are a member.

Network bar

The top bar stays with you on all SB Nation blogs. It's a quick way to login and logout. When you're logged in, you'll see your avatar and screen name which links to your profile. The icon to the right leads to your Dashboard area where you can edit your settings, profile, account details and any FanPosts or FanShots you've published. As we add more blogs to the new SB Nation network, the My Blogs menu will be a handy way to navigate between the blogs you've joined.

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There are plenty more small changes and additions we've made, so please take a careful look around and explore this new system. We appreciate your patience and hope you'll help us improve the new platform for this and all the other SB Nation blogs.

And in case you missed it, you'll want to start by claiming your old blog accounts and creating a new SB Nation network account.

Entry the first

Mitchell_M — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 23:26:48 -0000

First of all, this is by far the most complicated and comprehensive user-diary-thingy I've come across. It makes MySpace look like a pile of puke (which I realize doesn't mean all that much...but my sincerity is there).

I've taken steps myself to further the cause for hiring Bill Simmons, an idea so crazy it HAS to be good.

http://rutgers.facebook.com/group.ph...

Anyone with facebook, please join in the fun. It's not much, but it is a start.

I am the 1st person with a Brew Hoop Diary!

Philip Fitzsimmons — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 18:15:52 -0000

I am Fred Benson,and I am proud to say that I am the 1st person to do a diary in Brew Hoop,SB Nation's blog for Bucks fans. I have checked out http://www.bucks.com and Mke Bucks Diary (http://bucksdiary.blogspot.com) and the predecessor to Brew Hoop,Just Another Bucks Fan (http://bucksfans.blogspot.com) and I have just found a new Bucks blog site that I will really like! All I want to say is:Thank you,frank,for bringing Bucks fans coming to SB Nation with Brew Hoop! Go Bucks,let's kick some arse!

Diary Guidelines

Frank Madden — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 14:57:32 -0000

Diaries are one of the unique features of SB Nation, so here's a brief primer.

So what are these things? Well, they're a chance for readers to become more actively involved in the content of our site. While comments are great for one-liners and specific ideas related to a front page posting, diaries enable you to post links to new stories and add your own commentary. But quality counts, so be mindful of that. Matt at Blog-a-Bull put together a good primer here, so that's the best place to start. Here are the keys according to Matt, who knows a lot more about these things than we do:

So I thought I'd write up a quick tutorial on how to make your diaries sparkle with substance. I like everyone having the chance to write up their own say, but this isn't going to turn into some two-bit message board, damnit. So some pointers:

Format your diary: Nobody wants to read a bunch of garbled unorganized text. Brother site Bleed Cubbie Blue has a nice write-up on the formatting tags that this site uses. Keep in mind you can also use standard HTML tagging if you know that syntax.

Link your sources: We're all part of one big happy internet family, so if you're going to quote a source, please provide a link to it. And learn the formatting so you can effectively quote and link the sources.

Don't duplicate ideas: If you see someone already posted something similar to what you were thinking, just add a comment to that post instead of creating another separate diary. Similarly, if you have an off-topic point feel free to start a new thread.

Use a relevant title: That way people can more easily follow the conversations happening on the site. Don't use vague diary titles like 'I have an idea', and 'trade'.

Aside from that, keep it clean and on point. We're not looking to censor anyone, but foul language and mindless drivel won't be published.