Skiles Employed Once More

Bucks problems are roster related not coaching related

Not to say Coach K did a good job, he certainly did not. Just that the Bucks aren’t winning with that roster.

The NY Post had the story this morning, I’ve been thinking about it on and off since and I can’t make up my mind whether or not I like the move. It’s not a bad move. I don’t love either.

Well I guess we’ll wait and see how Skiles handles those selfish guards. Especially Mo Williams. A controlling coach might be good for Mo, less thinking, less time to hurt his team, just non-stop marching orders. Am I reaching?

Skiles might be good for Yi. Yi has to come back with some defensive abilities next season. I’m not talking Jermaine O Neal like, Pau Gasol like would be fine. Steady defensive rotations. Use his length to block some shots, to alter some other shots. Help out his earth bound centre. That types of things that Bogut can’t do. Do a little more work on the defensive backboards.

I was looking at Milwaukees stats today after the hire. They’re a suprisingly good rebounding team. Especially on the offensive boards, then again it’s not like their big men are being passed the ball on offense … what else would they do but hit the boards?

It’ll be interesting to see what Skiles does offensively with Bogut. He never really used Ben Wallace’s passing ability or Joakim Noah’s. Tyson Chandler and Curry had no passing ability back then, still don’t. Does he turn the game over to the high post? Or does he allow the guards to continue making decisions?

Lot of decisions. I don’t have a clue what he’s going to do. Hard to decide on whether he’s a good hire without that.

Bucks problems

(1) Defensively. One of the 5 worst defensive teams in basketball last season. Only one perimeter player can described as mediocre or better defensively. Only one interior defender can be described as mediocre or better defensively. Lack of one-on-one defenders. Lack of help defenders.

(2) Selfish play from their guards. Mo Williams is the worst. He has no idea how to run a basketball team. He’s not a floor general. Routinely the Bucks go possessions with only 2-3 players touching the basketball. He has no idea how to involve teammates or keep them involved. He has no idea how to help his teammates without the ball in his hands, he does not trust his teammates to make a play. Just a terrible starting point guard.

We saw it four years ago when TJ Ford got injured. Milwaukee went from a playoff team to a 26 win lottery team back to a playoff team. Difference was they had a point guard that understood how to run a team instead of a muppet. History is just repeating itself like I thought it would when they traded TJ. Then they pay him $52 million, smart decision, lunatics.

Milwaukee’s offense is going to continue to be disjointed and disorganized until he isn’t the point guard.

(3) No real help offensively for Michael Redd. Mo is by far the next best scorer. The situation gets scary if you remove Mo. Their offense is too easy to stop. It isn’t versatile, by that I mean they don’t score in enough different ways.

(4) Their young big men are their greatest asset, their greatest hope for the future, and one of their biggest problems. That’s just difficult.

Yi and Charlie Villaneuva get in each other’s way. They’re limiting each other’s development. They’re too similar, they have similar strengths and more importantly similar flaws. The Bucks don’t get anything different when they go to the bench, so they can’t change things that don’t work. Neither is strong defender, rebounder or interior player. They can’t play together either. Doesn’t matter whether they’re at forward or the bigs, they just get smoked defensively.

Neither Yi or Charlie, at this point in their careers, is a good player to have next to Andrew Bogut. That last one is the scariest for Milwaukee. That’s their future right there, they’re banking on it, and it doesn’t work now and might never work.

There’s a lot more problems, especially with their bigs (and guards), but they’re the highlights.