Bucks Vs Timberwolves (10/17/09) Game Thread

[jakecronus8]

Went to the game with GAD, Lockdown, and others. Was fun, and got to meet MouteKicksBoute. I can say Bucks games are a lot more fun to go to when you are with other passionate fans and not the girlfriend. As far as the game itself.

As MKB alluded to earlier, Ersan is thin as a rail and has not appeared to bulk up at all. As far as his game goes, he does not look like an NBA player. I hope I'm wrong.

BJ looked good. Hopefully he can play like that for a majority of the season.

Redd statistically was ok, but to me he seemed invisible on the court, which is probably a good thing. I don't really remember him dribbling or hogging too much.

Bogut looks pretty much like he has looked for the past two years. Solid player, but will never be a threat on offense, and has probably already reached his plateau as a player.

Warrick likes to shoot.

Ridnour really wanted to get T'd up.

Joe Alexander has one of the most punchable faces I've ever seen.

Overall a great night though. Thanks again to GAD for the invite.

[paulpressey25]

Another great thing about the game last night was watching the Flynn-Jennings battle. Those guys went at each other and seemed to make it personal. I think Jennings will be the better player in the end, but both guys are pretty exciting to watch.

It was just nice to finally be in a position where your team's lotto pick looked as good or better than a lotto pick taken a few selections earlier. I'm sure Wolves fans love Flynn and they should, but I'd bet a few watched that game wondering if their team made the right selection or not at #6.

[Wise1]

The Bucks, imo, are a better team than Detroit, Chicago, and Indiana in the central. Admittedly, Indiana may surprise if TJ Ford goes back to his roots and Dunleavy can get healthy and round back into form.

Even though I thought Detroit spent way too much on CV and Gordon, they are going to be improved, and with their normal core + those 2, I think they win 40-45.

The Bulls have Rose. 38-45 wins. 50 if he blows up.

Bucks/Pacers will be battling it out in the low to mid 30s.

Is Derrick Rose more explosive than Michael Redd? Is Rose a better pure playmaker than Brandon Jennings? I'd say no to both. I think the Bucks have a nice deep team with a very good talent mix. Once every player on the Bucks has a clear role and is comfortable in it, I think they'll be better than the Bulls...particularly if Bogut can outperform Noah.

Detroit I think is done with being a shooin for the playoffs. They have a couple of good to very good scorers with no real presence underneath the basket. Losing Rasheed really hurts this team. Sheed is probably underated in the BB IQ department and was a clutch gamebreaker for the Pistons. They will fall back imo.

[Wise1]

Another great thing about the game last night was watching the Flynn-Jennings battle. Those guys went at each other and seemed to make it personal. I think Jennings will be the better player in the end, but both guys are pretty exciting to watch.

It was just nice to finally be in a position where your team's lotto pick looked as good or better than a lotto pick taken a few selections earlier. I'm sure Wolves fans love Flynn and they should, but I'd bet a few watched that game wondering if their team made the right selection or not at #6.

After I'd researched Jennings, he flew up my draft board and was right there with Flynn right behind Evans. Watching the draft, I remember conceeding that Flynn was likely to be gone but not feeling down because there was a chance that Jennings would be there for the Bucks to take. Many had convinced themselves that Holiday, DeRozan, or Hill would be the pick for the Bucks. All of those picks would have been bad ones for this team for a variety of reasons. I continue to thank NY for taking Hill as it was obvious that the Raps would nab DeRozan at 9. We got this one right.

[Chapter29]

Went to the game last night. Had our company seats next to Herb. He looked to have some friends or family with him tonight.

Obviously a good game and great to see a strong showing after getting beat by the Timberwolves pretty badly a couple of games ago.

Good to see our new players. Here's my take.

Jennings. Looked small and very thin (not Brewer thin though....ouch). Good overall game, but very chaotic out there. I like his PG instincts and he certainly can pass. Very fast, very quick and a great handle. He was however completely lost on both sides of the ball. Being that close I could hear/see the constant corrections going on with him in terms of where to be and what he should have been doing. Granted Flynn is a nice player, but he could/can get anything he wants against Jennings. That statement can probably go both ways though.

Ridnour sadly was a stark contrast to Jennings in many ways. He clearly knows the schemes and sets well and looked quite fundamental in his play. Nothing interesting or spectacular, but when you have the Tasmanian devil of a PG, Ridnour actually has a bit appeal as a stabilizer.

Ukic seemed liked an interesting player. Big PG. I liked how he moved and he obviously shot the ball well. Didn't seem to be looking to get his players involved much, but I don't know if that was simply what happened over a short sample.

Redd looked like Redd. Seemed to be a very willing teammate and from this game I would not have thought he was a player trying to be a star or a ball hog. Moved well. Certainly was paying attention to that knee. Flexing it occasionally, especially after that hard fall. Good to see him get that out of the way. Great to have him back.

Bell. Active defensively. Looked to be in good shape. Moving very well and no brace. Still don't trust that shot of his. Something about it. Seems maybe he pushes it a little.

Meeks. No idea. He looked short and a bit fat to be honest. Didn't get enough time or touches to see much.

Delfino. I have not been a fan of his, though I obviously haven't seen a ton of him, so it was a good opportunity to see if my opinions of him were accurate. Ugh. They really seemed to be. Not a very good player. Seemed fundamental and was very vocal both on and off the court. Definitely appears to have a good rapport with the players. Seemed kind of out of shape and slower than I recalled. Just a very blah player.

M&M looked exactly the same to me as he did last year. Which given his SL that wasn't a surprise. He did looked like his jumper has improved, but offensive he can really just disappear. Very active defensively.

Thomas looked exactly how we would have expected. Very fundamental. Pretty darn old. Solid jumper. Solid defense. Solid rebounder. 15 or so minutes per game.

Warrick to me was the biggest surprise. Again another player that I have seen, though not a ton of, that I really didn't care for that much. Physically and athletically he looked very good. He is exactly what this team needs in terms of an athletic above the rim PF. Extremely active around the basket and can dunk from just about anywhere. His shot selection needs some serious improvement and his post defense wasn't strong, but he brings a dimension at PF that we haven't seen in a while. A very good athlete.

Ersan looked pretty good to me. I would have hoped for a bit more strength from him at this point. Seems to get pushed around a bit, but he is no longer a PF/SF tweener. Certainly a true PF now. Great form on his jumper. He got corrected a couple of times so my guess is that he is still transitioning his game and learning the sets.

Our team is simply a different team with Bogut on the court. He looked pretty darn good and ready to go for the season. Defensively and on the glass he is a stud. His in-the-post decisiveness still needs work. He would try to be quick sometimes and badly miss and then other times he would fall back to his typical mythological telegraphed offense. Needs to find the sweet spot in between. At least you could tell he is working on it.

Sessions. I did not like what I saw from Sessions last night and was a bit shocked that he had 5 assists. Ridnour was all over him and overall I thought our PG's got the better of him. Flynn is a far superior talent.

[Wise1]

Sessions does not make "this" team better. Warrick and company were much better investments. Warrick gets to the line more than Sessions while Jennings is a better playmaker and passer. If he were here, I think he'd be third string at both point guard and shooting guard. You don't want to invest 16 million dollars in that. Letting him walk was the best thing to do since we couldn't re-sign him at our price and length of deal.

[worthlessBucks]

Umm yes Wise, Derrick Rose is more explosive than Michael Redd. The kid has the best combo of athleticism, strength, and body control that I've ever seen on a basketball court.

[paul]

Umm yes Wise, Derrick Rose is more explosive than Michael Redd. The kid has the best combo of athleticism, strength, and body control that I've ever seen on a basketball court.

You never saw Jordan play, really?

Sounds like lots of positives out of this game, the most startling from the box score was Bogut getting so many more rebounds than Big Al, very impressive. Terrific line from Jennings.

[Wise1]

Umm yes Wise, Derrick Rose is more explosive than Michael Redd. The kid has the best combo of athleticism, strength, and body control that I've ever seen on a basketball court.

Well, Gadzuric is more "explosive" than Michael Redd as well. When I used the term explosive, I was referring to production not pure athleticism.

[Newz]

Another great thing about the game last night was watching the Flynn-Jennings battle. Those guys went at each other and seemed to make it personal. I think Jennings will be the better player in the end, but both guys are pretty exciting to watch.

It was just nice to finally be in a position where your team's lotto pick looked as good or better than a lotto pick taken a few selections earlier. I'm sure Wolves fans love Flynn and they should, but I'd bet a few watched that game wondering if their team made the right selection or not at #6.

Flynn started the game off by stripping him and everything... But I was really a lot more impressed by Jennings.

While Flynn made more stand out plays and at times flashed his tremendous talent... Jennings remained calm, ran the team, didn't get caught up in the one on one dual and also showed flashes of being a special player as well with some very nice plays.

Jennings knows Redd is the guy you have to get the ball to if this team wants to score and he seems to recognize Bogut is the second option and Warrick is the guy when those two aren't on the floor. Jennings really feeds those guys the ball and I was extremely happy when Bogut kicked it out to him, he threw it right back to him in the post.

Jennings played like an NBA veteran and has done so in a lot of games, having just a few lapses... He looks much more mature and calm than most rookies, especially at the PG spot.

[Newz]

Is Derrick Rose more explosive than Michael Redd? Is Rose a better pure playmaker than Brandon Jennings?

I would rather have Derrick Rose than Jennings, Redd and Bogut... I think he is going to end up on the same level as the guys like Deron Williams and Chris Paul.

[Wise1]

Is Derrick Rose more explosive than Michael Redd? Is Rose a better pure playmaker than Brandon Jennings?

I would rather have Derrick Rose than Jennings, Redd and Bogut... I think he is going to end up on the same level as the guys like Deron Williams and Chris Paul.

He does have that kind of potential, but he's not there yet. Right now, I think the Bucks are better. I also like Jennings' upside a little bit too.

[Wise1]

Hoping to see more comments like this from the opposing fans once the regular season kicks off...

well...we seem to be getting run off the court by the Bucks...more specifically Brandon Jennings.

[Newz]

He does have that kind of potential, but he's not there yet. Right now, I think the Bucks are better. I also like Jennings' upside a little bit too.

I like Jennings a lot was well. Bogut has been playing at an all-star level in the preseason thus far and Redd looks just as good as he has ever been...

But I just think Derrick Rose (while maybe not there yet) has a higher upside than all of those guys with a pretty good chance to live up to it.

[Newz]

Hoping to see more comments like this from the opposing fans once the regular season kicks off...

well...we seem to be getting run off the court by the Bucks...more specifically Brandon Jennings.

Baddy Chuck FTW!!!

[Wise1]

There's no question that Rose has prototypical size and athleticism at the point guard position. I don't think he'll be as good as Jennings will be as a passer/general in the halfcourt and transition offense though. Rose will be a better scorer because of his size and athleticism. Probably a better defender too. I prefer larger point guards when all other things are equal though.

Agreed on Bogut. He's another that should benefit tremendously from having Jennings on the court. Once Jennings masters Skiles' offensive and defensive schemes, feeding Bogut in scoring positions should be second nature. Redd represents that security blanket on the perimeter that should give Jennings an extra boost of confidence passing the ball and racking up the assists. Hakim above the rim adds another dimension to Jennings' passing game and the Bucks overall diversity on offense.

[Badgerlander]

Hoping to see more comments like this from the opposing fans once the regular season kicks off...

well...we seem to be getting run off the court by the Bucks...more specifically Brandon Jennings.

The only problem is that we are running in transition out of great D, but when Bogut comes out we can't defend the post. Then we turn into a jump shooting team, and when the shots aren't falling it's ugly. Not to temper everyone's enthusiasm, but the T'Wolves are an awful team with no depth and even worse without Love who dominated the boards the last game we played against them. That and they played the night before.

[worthlessBucks]

You never saw Jordan play, really?

Sounds like lots of positives out of this game, the most startling from the box score was Bogut getting so many more rebounds than Big Al, very impressive. Terrific line from Jennings.

No mention of Jordan at all, not sure why that was brought up.

Rookie PG with the characters I mentioned above makes any comparison to Redd rather laughable. I guess you could say that Rose is Jordan and Redd is Redd. There, now that's bringing Jordan into the conversation.

[Wise1]

Hoping to see more comments like this from the opposing fans once the regular season kicks off...

well...we seem to be getting run off the court by the Bucks...more specifically Brandon Jennings.

The only problem is that we are running in transition out of great D, but when Bogut comes out we can't defend the post. Then we turn into a jump shooting team, and when the shots aren't falling it's ugly. Not to temper everyone's enthusiasm, but the T'Wolves are an awful team with no depth and even worse without Love who dominated the boards the last game we played against them. That and they played the night before.

True. Noah and the Bulls worked the Bucks on the glass as well, but the Bucks were almost able to pull that game out. Encouraging.

Hammond has to find insurance behind Bogut. That remains a HUGE hole on this team. The Bucks need someone to maintain Bogut's production once he leaves the court. Even a Big Baby Davis can help us if the Celts want to swing a deadline deal. Surely we'll need to address the center position in next year's draft if the blue chippers (top 5) are not available.

[Badgerlander]

Hammond has to find insurance behind Bogut. That remains a HUGE hole on this team. The Bucks need someone to maintain Bogut's production once he leaves the court. Surely we'll need to address the center position in next year's draft if the blue chippers (top 5) are not available.

I'd prefer to find a FA next year like a KT since a rookie C usually takes a few years to develop on the defensive end.
As far as pulling out the win against Chicago, it's tough to judge a preseason game like that since it's usually backups on the court at the end of a game. Plus they didn't have Rose, and I am assuming at this point that Rose+Hinrich>BJ+Ridnoir.