Sunday Bucks Notes

"The offense wasn't ran through me,'' Redd said. "It was nothing they did, I just stood around, pretty much, patient, just waiting. They didn't do anything special at all.''

This was supposed to be Redd's breakout year as an all-around player, and to his credit he's still posting career-highs in assists (3.3 apg) and his best rebounding numbers in five years (4.7 rpg). But unlike earlier in the season, he's now being used as the second banana on offense, which he surely doesn't prefer. Last night Redd still got 15 shots in the first half by playing more opportunistically with the starting five and then taking over in the second quarter while Bogut was on the bench. But the Bucks' offense got sloppy in the third quarter, as Bogut showed inexperience in handling the Warriors' double teams. Make no mistake, basing the offense around Bogut isn't a miracle tonic for this season, but the Bucks stand to benefit in the long term if Bogut develops the confidence to be a consistent low post threat. Whether Redd is around to see it will likely be the biggest question for the Bucks this summer.

Resuscitating this deal would require an about-face from Bucks owner Herb Kohl, who is ultra-conservative when it comes to team-building, as discussed here last week. He'll undoubtedly see Randolph as a much bigger gamble than Patterson because of the nearly $50 million over three seasons remaining on Zach's contract after this season.

From behind the 3-point line, he shows good vision and solid play-making ability, but he lacks the same vision on his drives to the basket—seeing only thing and one thing only, the hoop. Sessions lacks the ability to finish inside over big men and struggles with perimeter shooting at this point in his career, which limits his scoring to pull-up mid-range jumpers and floaters (which he does make with very good accuracy).

On the plus side, Sessions plays hard on the defensive end and rebounds the ball extremely well for a guard his size. The rookie shows great strength with his upper body and uses this as a defensive asset against bigger guards. To last in the NBA, he needs to again focus on running an offense effectively. At Nevada, he looked to be an above average floor general, and did a much better job of distributing earlier in the D-League season. Improved outside shooting would also increase his chances to someday make an impact in the NBA.

"For Green Bay’s sake, I hope they win because there’s going to be a lot of suicidal people out there if they lose.’’

Pretty much.

Is he a future superstar? I don’t really think so, mostly because I think he is closer to 24 years old than 20, so he may be closer to maximizing his talent right now than people may care to believe. But is he becoming a good, well rounded player who is going to help this team for years? Definitely.

I'm in the Yi camp that assumes Yi turned 23 this fall--aside from his documents saying he's 20, I don't think there's ever been real evidence he's anything but 23--and I agree with Brett's guarded optimism. That said, Brett does compare Yi's tendency to get swatted to Elton Brand as a rookie, but let's remember Brand averaged 16/8 in his very first month, 18/10 before the all-star break, and 20/10 for the season. Anyone who thought he was going to be a bust because he got blocked down low occasionally didn't have a clue. Yi meanwhile hasn't come close to that sort of production, but but he's also in a very different role playing for the Bucks.