Monday Bucks Notes

by Alex Boeder on Dec 17, 2007 9:10 AM CST in Daily Notes Comment 0 comments

The latest version of the Blogger MVP/ROY Rankings are up at ClipsNation. Michael Redd didn't make the top ten, but got some votes. And Yi Jianlian is ranked third among rookies. Here's the ballot I submitted:

MVP: 1. LeBron James 2. Dwight Howard 3. Chris Paul 4. Kevin Garnett 5. Kobe Bryant 6. Steve Nash 7. Carlos Boozer 8. Allen Iverson 9. Caron Butler 10. Michael Redd

ROY: 1. Kevin Durant 2. Yi Jianlian 3. Juan Carlos Navarro. 4. Sean Williams 5. Al Horford
Hollinger's Power Rankings: Bucks are ranked 24th.
Marc Stein's Power Rankings: A couple spots higher, as the Bucks are ranked 22nd.
TrueHoop's Henry Abbott interviews Charlie Villanueva. CV is really likable, as usual.

HA: Is there any treatment for you?
CV: No. No treatment for me. I mean, there are medications out there. There is no cure. There are medications that might work. But I refuse to take any of them. I'm real comfortable with the way I look. Everything happens for a reason, and I'm not going to fight this. It does not bother me.
The Bucks are one of the strongest home teams in the NBA at 8-2, as only the Spurs (13-0), Celtics (12-0), Mavericks (10-2), Jazz (9-2), and Pistons (9-2) have better records. But at 2-11, the Bucks have already played three more road games, and they play in Cleveland tonight. Tom Enlund of JS Online writes about the Bucks' early-season schedule away from home.

In the first three months of the season, the Bucks have five "home stands" of two games and only once do they play three straight home games.
While he had plenty of trouble defending Craig Smith on Saturday, Yi Jianlian broke out offensively against the Timberwolves for 22 points on 9-14 shooting. Coach Krystkowiak was impressed with how Yi bounced back after a frustrating, six-turnover game against the Celtics, writes Tom Enlund of JS Online.

"It was a great performance," said coach Larry Krystkowiak. "He had a lot of energy. In transition I thought he was good. He hit a lot of open shots."

Perhaps most important for Yi was that he did not turn the ball over a single time. In a loss to Boston the night before, Yi committed six turnovers.
Yi's offense has really come around this month, averaging 11.3 points on 50.0 % shooting compared to 9.7 points on 41.2 % shooting in November. A couple more interesting notes: Yi has attempted a three in just one of his past nine games, and over half of his 13 three-point attempts this year came in two games, against the Sixers and Sonics, when he shot a combined 2-7.
Paschketball's Saturday update includes some interesting notes about the Bucks' schedule, lane violation rules, and Minnesotans in pro sports.

At the request of Larry Kystkowiak, I discovered an interesting schedule quirk. When the Bucks host Sacramento next Wednesday, they will complete a run of 14 straight games in 14 different cities. When they host Charlotte on the 22nd, they will begin another string of 14 games in 14 cities.