- Michael Ruffin will miss four to six weeks after fracturing his left wrist against the Spurs on Sunday. Injuries are due to happen for every team, so on the one hand (or wrist), it would be a lot tougher of a break if it were someone else, as last year showed. Still, it's too bad because Ruffin had provided solid defense off the bench, and with Andrew Bogut and company suffering foul trouble frequently, the frontcourt backups have increased in importance. Get better soon, Mike.
- ESPN.com's Marc Stein in today's Daily Dime writes that Yi Jianlian's name will not appear on this year's All-Star ballot. So that quashes any debate about Yi unfairly getting voted in this year, which is fine because as splendid as he's played he doesn't deserve it yet, and he's criticized plenty as it is. Plus, just think of how frenzied his campaign will be by next year, when, dare I say, he really will be at an All-Star level.
- Tom Enlund of JS Online writes that Coach Larry Krystkowiak plans to use his assistants to help with lineup and rotation changes. The rotations have been somewhat peculiar, with Bobby Simmons going from sixth man to tenth man to sixth man for instance.
Complicating the situation a bit is that Krystkowiak is still tinkering with his rotation. He is considering shortening the rotation, and he wants to go to the bench sooner in the first quarter in an attempt to have a more effective group on the floor at the start of the second quarter, which is when the Bucks have been having problems.
The plan is for the assistants to discuss things among themselves and then relay suggestions through Brown, the No. 1 assistant.
- ESPN.com's John Hollinger is so pleasantly surprised with Yi that he'd vote him Rookie of the Year if it was awarded now. Hopefully his stellar play means this is the last mention about age/minutes, though something tells me it's not.
It probably helps that he's 23 (oh, excuse me, "20"; not one person in the league I've talked to believes that birth date, and neither should you) as opposed to Durant's 19, but Yi has been impressive in the early going. He's still learning NBA defense, but his length and mobility make up for a lot of his mistakes -- he blocks two shots per game. And while his 11.8 points and 5.9 boards per game aren't going to set anyone's hair on fire, he's shown range out to the 3-point line and the ability to put it on the floor and go past bigger players. Suddenly that 25-minutes-a-game promise doesn't seem so outlandish.
- Brett from The Bratwurst writes about how the Bucks have fared after six games.
Desmond Mason (0.625 IPM, #193 overall, #87 forward): Mason has overachieved in just about every way at the start of this season, so I wouldn’t expect this performance to continue. He has shot 58% thus far and is turning the ball over at about 1/3 the rate he did the previous 4 seasons.
- The Court Reporters' Rob Peterson takes to task, how can we put it, certain NBA basketball hoops announcers... Keep fighting the good fight Rob. I've always had the same gripe. To take it a step further, I've always disliked apparel that explains, for example, "Milwaukee Bucks basketball." Just seems a little redundant, that's all. He also mentions he talked to Jim Paschke, so stay tuned for more on that.
Yet, some of that obvious talk has been slipping into the basketball analysts' lexicon -- scoring the ball or rebounding the ball -- as in, "He has to score the basketball more."
What? Really? Score the ball? Rebound the ball? Is that what that is? A ball? It's not a puck? Or a shuttlecock? Or a tiddlywink? That's a BALL?
Filed under:
Wednesday Bucks Notes
By
Alex Boeder
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