More photos » Alex Brandon - AP

Skiles has Bucks Nation pretty fired up.

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CNNSI: Skiles the league's most underappreciated coach
Frank Hughes gives Scott Skiles some well-deserved respect...no argument here.  If you want to talk about John Hammond's best moves as a GM, I still say it starts with hiring Skiles as his partner in crime.  It's not always ideal for the coach to play a major role in personnel decisions, but Hammond and Skiles seem to have developed a good understanding about what kind of players they need to win games--and how to get them on a reasonable budget.  Thankfully the rest of the league seems to be noticing as well.  Skiles won East coach of the month honors in February and the always-on-point Kelly Dwyer has him narrowly ahead of Jerry Sloan and Scott Brooks for COY honors.

One NBA insider said Skiles comes up with some of the most creative play-calling in the league and has a firm handle on the mismatches that give Milwaukee an advantage. He has handled Jennings masterfully, even as the rookie has struggled with his shot for a while. And Skiles has Andrew Bogut playing so well that he looks like the league's next great center.

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Yes, the Bucks can win close games.

JS: Hammond willing to gamble for the right player
It's been largely assumed that the Bucks won't be players at the trade deadline; that's been my default assumption for a while, and Mike Hunt was of a similar mind in his latest column.  I might just be lazy and unimaginative, but the Bucks have talked so much about payroll flexibility and cleaning up their balance sheet for 2011 that it would seem a bit out of character at this point if they dealt some of those expiring deals (Ridnour, Warrick, Alexander, Elson, Thomas) for expensive talent.  Or would it???

"If the right opportunity comes up for us, the right player with a contract that we may not deem to be favorable, that doesn't mean we will necessarily say no to that," Hammond said. "If it's the right player and a player we think we can move forward with and it might have an effect on our flexibility, we may still do a deal for that."

I wouldn't read a ton into this--even if the Bucks are focused on fiscal discipline, they know that the best deals are often the least expected.  They have the currency to help tax-constrained teams and a couple of their vets (namely Ridnour) could draw the attention of a contending team looking for reinforcements.  None of that suggests a blockbuster is imminent, but stranger things have happened.

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The high top fade is officially back

JS: Alexander returns to practice
After more than two months of rehabilitating his torn hamstring, Joe Alexander finally returned to practice this morning.  Charles Gardner writes that Alexander won't be going full speed quite yet, so I'd guess it may be a while before we see him in game action.  Still, it's a start.

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Let's revel a bit, yes.

Bucks 108 Blazers 101 Recaps: BrewHoop / AP / Blazers Edge / Bucksketball / Journal Sentinel / Oregonian 

After the jump, SLAM declares the most underrated player of the decade... ahh, timing.

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[Don't Believe the Hype predated Jennings by a year]

They say there is no such thing as bad press, but even if there was, Brandon Jennings wouldn't have any...

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More photos » Darren Hauck - AP

Ready or not, the Young Buck era is set to begin

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JS: Jennings will start opener
We all know Skiles wasn't going to start Brandon Jennings just because it would make the Bucks entertaining...even if that's what most of us were hoping. And given the learning curve faced by young points, it would have been perfectly understandable to bring the rookie on a bit more slowly.  So the fact that Skiles is willing to roll the dice with his lottery pick in game one says a lot about Jennings' progress and, perhaps more importantly, how hard he's worked in practice thus far.  Then again, Skiles was pretty vague in his explanation of the move, so maybe he just wants to get the kid on the court to start the learning process.

"I felt like both guys played really well in the preseason in most of their minutes," Skiles said. "It's just my call. Even when I talked to Luke, it's not like I could give Luke five set reasons.

"It's something I'm electing to do, start him from opening night and see what happens. It will then depend on how he plays, how we play all those issues."

Jennings' task was certainly simplified by having only Luke Ridnour and Roko Ukic as competition, but the list of 20-year old starting rookie PGs is fairly short.  Even with Jennings as a starter, it's likely Ridnour gets 20+ mpg on many nights, as you know Skiles won't hesitate to lean on the veteran when Jennings hits his inevitable rough patches.  He certainly had his fair share in the preseason, which you might guess from his 33% shooting from the field and nearly three turnovers/game in 26 minutes.  Jennings' endurance has also been brought up a number of times in Vegas and the preseason, so I'd be surprised if he gets 35-40 minutes in the near term.  Either way, it's exciting to know we won't have to wait for Jennings to get his chance to prove himself.  

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JS: Alexander out 8 to 12 weeks
The news just keeps getting worse for Joe Alexander. He was already facing an uphill battle to earn early season minutes after missing the first week of camp with a hamstring injury. And now comes news that he'll miss at least a couple more months after partially tearing the same muscle while rehabbing last week.

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Ball Don't Lie: Bucks Preview
Kelly Dwyer and co. offer their take on the 09/10 Bucks and the good news (from my perspective at least) is that they predicted even more wins than we did (35 vs. 34).  Good to see we're not chugging the local Kool-Aid.  Admittedly, that's still more than most members of the national media, but then again most of them also think Joe Alexander has the inside track for the starting SF position. I'm looking at you, Tim Legler.  More from KD:

Together, they're either the biggest mess of a forward rotation Scott Skiles has ever seen, or something clicks and they goof their way into the playoffs.

Yes, the playoffs are a strong possibility, especially with Skiles on hand and everyone healthy. I just worry to bits about the point guard situation right now, and the overall philosophy moving forward beyond 2009-10.

I'm officially in love with the idea of "goofing" into the playoffs.

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