Your 2015-16 Milwaukee Bucks

No question this start is putting all of them on notice. When you spend  what they have spent on Monroe and Henson and are still the worst rebounding team in the NBA, there's an issue. 

But G play affects everything. If your Gs are matadoring everything, the bigs have to help and everything falls apart from there. 

And now Kidd is tinkering with the lineup. Mayo starting now, because you're not getting both ends of the floor from your Gs. And MCW has flashed some of what you get excited about, then turns the ball over 12 times. 

The invonsistency is part of youth. They're relying heavily on 20-25 year olds (MCW is 26, but only 3rd year). Since there is no LeBron or Curry in this group (true superstar), you have to have growth everywhere all at once. 

If the Bucks could make a shot tonight they'd be up 25. Only up 9 at the half...

This team is stressful to watch...

The officials don't like the Bucks either... They call a lot of ticky tack fouls inside. Monroe winds up in the 3rd row, no call...

Wow... What a finish! Down 4 with 23 seconds: Mayo 3, down 1. Off a timeout, MCW ties up his man, wins the jump, then off the dribble drops a dime to Moose Monroe for the lead. Then Henson with the big block off the Portland inbound, another foul, free throw, ballgame. 

Nice to see them pull one out like this! Ugly shooting performance, but a W from the jaws of defeat? I'll take it! 

MIL-WAUKEE BUCKS!!!!

Hope you had fun Music City.

Just read they won......how cool is that.  I'm sure they'll be a trivia question.  

The Bucks are streak killers. Ended the Lakers streak in the 70 's too, amongst others. 

Hopefully they can start winning more consistently. 

It's been a long time since that building was that electric...��

A few observations:

- Giannis was featured in the P&R and responds with a triple double. This is why he is superstar material. But he passed up 10 open jumpers, and that's what's holding him back.

- Parker is starting to come into his own. Be more assertive. You put him and Giannis in the P&R and it's going to be awfully tough to defend. 

- Thompson had an off night, but the Bucks defended well last night. But they were executing offensively, and that fed everything else. No 5 minute scoring droughts- Mayo carried them early, MCW was key in the early 4th (hit a lot of really tough shots) when GS started a run, and Moose was the man down the stretch. They didn't have to be perfect defensively because they scored. 

Its what they're capable of. They can beat anyone. But it's also why they've been so frustrating- they have really drunk up the place, too. 

Hopefully a confidence building win to help them have a stronger December. 

They have all the talent in the world to be a really good team.  But they need to learn how to win first.  Maybe this is the type of game that will turn things around.   

I just don't get it... Beat the Warriors, turn around and get run out of the gym by the f**king Lakers??? 

So frustrating...

It's been that way all season why change now 

http://www.tmz.com/2015/12/16/...s-strip-club-lakers/

Well at least they had fun before the game.  Half the team is too young to tag along.

Another poor defensive performance exacerbated by horrific shooting. 

This team is lottery bound. Maybe that's best- but you have to wonder why their commitment on defense has been so poor. They foul too much, they're the worst rebounding team in the NBA, and now they're a sieve defensively. 

Nothing more frustrating than stupid basketball. This team plays stupid basketball... 

That's the thing - they have been playing stupid basketball and it didn't just start this week 

I am really starting to wonder about Jason Kidd as head coach.  It's his job to reign these guys in and if they don't then work with Hammonds to trade their asses 

Music City posted:

I just don't get it... Beat the Warriors, turn around and get run out of the gym by the f**king Lakers??? 

So frustrating...

It's actually a pretty good set up to a let down game...beat the Warriors as a big home dog...receive plenty of press about how they had their "come to Jesus" about playing defense and now have it straightened out....have a couple of days off to keep believing their own B.S. and then a road trip to the West Coast with the lowly Lakers who were glad to be home after a brutal road trip. 

MCW needs to continue his recent play. Control games, tempo, attack but avoid turnovers. 

Giannis needs to play with more confidence. So does Parker. These guys are your future. Stop deferring to Mayo and everyone else and take your shots. I want these guys leading the team in attempts. 

They continue to spiral and circle the bowl...

Long, painful season....

Lotta basketball to play yet

If you can't make 3's and you can't defend against the 3, you're ****ed in today's NBA.  Your 2015-16 Milwaukee Bucks.......

They're capable of playing extremely well; they're long/young/athletic and can be really fun to watch.  Can't seem to do it for 4 quarters though.  Plenty of great role players but no star/go-to scorer to pull out the close games.  Closest thing they have to a clutch player right now is Bayless, Middleton is good but not great.  I sometimes wonder if they got too young and are lacking the experienced leaders (like Zsa Zsa apparently) that  made them competitive last year.

I've put up with 15 years of this since they were last competitive.  At least the outlook is good for the future.  No reason not to be optimistic but this year sucks with all the hype not being fulfilled.  A down year for Wisconsin sports all around, but we've been spoiled. 

Two in a row hardly constitutes a winning streak but they seem to be playing with more confidence and swagger 

The Bucks have been a frustrating team to watch, but OJ made a point last night in the Bucks win in Minneapolis:

"A player of ours gets his tooth knocked out, no call," Mayo said. "I felt like I got fouled. I definitely made a poor decision to get kicked out of the game on the road.

"Frankly, I think we're getting tired of not getting calls. We work really hard on our game. We're No. 1 in the entire league in points in the paint.

"I just picked the wrong time to get kicked out of the game. I'm happy we won, though. But a poor decision of mine to misrepresent the Bucks, myself and my family, obviously my teammates."

I agree OJ. The Bucks don't get the calls. And often at critical times the call hoes the other way. When players like Draymon Green can flop and bang and bull their way to the FT line 10-15 times a game and the Bucks lead the NBA in pints in the paint but never seem to go to the line, it's hard to understand. Those billionaire owners should be sending nightly lowlight reels to the NBA al a Mark Cuban. 

If it's like hockey they play so fast.

Bucks win, Bucks win!  (And the Greek Freak has been scoring well.)

Good article on the Bucks. 

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_...ng-two-steps-forward

Basically, none of their 3 cornerstone players - Giannis, MCW, and Parker can shoot consistently enough. The article talks about how defenders play 10 feet off of all of them. 

I'm not sure MCW will ever shoot well enough to be a star. Giannis still has a chance. 

They're coming around. Middleton has (finally) emerged as the wing option that they can run sets for, and he's responding with 20+ a night. 

MCW is an enigma. I still like his future, but the turnovers. Good grief the turnovers! The article suggests he may be a second unit guy- maybe, but if that's the case it won't be in Milwaukee, I'm guessing. But the shooting is there- he made a monster step-back 3 against Atlanta. 

Giannis and Parker are simply too young to be expected to be consistent. And both are too unselfish to try to "get theirs" at the expense of others or the team's success. But it's all there. And the only thing that can help them is NBA minutes. Parker does need to start hitting the jumper more consistently though...

The guy I can't figure out if I like or not is Monroe. He's awful on D- and he plays below the rim. He gets double double numbers, but the Bucks are a bad rebounding team so isn't helping? Zaza is rebounding about the same for Dallas. He is strong in the paint as a scorer, though. When the shooting improves he'll get more one on ones. I just don't know yet. 

I think the article is way off talking about trading Monroe. And it forgets that Vasquez was brought in to be a valuable 3 point threat. When he returns, he'll add more bench shooting punch. 

The guy that's done is Mayo. When your job is to knock down jumpers off drive and kicks, and be a primary scorer off the bench and  you don't make the shots like, oh, EVER? Yeah, you kinda need to go. I think the young guys respect him, and in that capacity he has value, but dude... You just aren't that good a player. 

Seems like they're starting to play better ball though. Home wins against Chicago and Atlanta this week... Not too bad really...

Don't look now...

What is that 5 out of the last 7 ? 3 in a row ? Keep it going !! 

Oakland/Cleveland, Oakland/Chicago. So, who ya got in the east wot can play Oakland?

Not saying that the Warriors purposely avoided the Bucks.

After the Bucks pounded the Heat the other night, Spoelstra commented that they're "positionless". The way this team is comprised is of gaining interest around the league. They'll still be limited so long as the can't shoot, but if the roster continues to evolve and players develop they could overcome it...

Let one get away last night. Gave up a big run late in the 3rd to get too far behind to come back. Teams that hit 3s continue to haunt the Bucks. 

Rinse, repeat...

Bucks overcome a slow start defensively and get the win. Magic started missing the 3s, but a much better effort in the second half chasing down the ball reversals. Offensively they attacked the paint over and over. 

I just don't understand- every team in the NBA knows that the Bucks simply don't stop dribble penetration and they cannot defend the 3 (these 2 issues are directly related). 

I'm sick of it. The Bucks backcourt sucks. 

I've said it before but MCW is a major problem.  He might be talented, but he is wildly inconsistent and his effort is seriously lacking.   In retrospect, dealing Knight was a complete disaster.  

Bucks are 18 games under .500 since the MCW trade.  I didn't get the dealing of Knight when it happened, bought the financial and long term explanation that was given   Deal your best offensive player for a guy that can't shoot .  Nice 

Jared Bayless would be a nice bench PG, problem is, he is the Bucks best  PG  

Disappointed in Monroe in the few times I've watched. Guy Is good offensively, but he really is poor on defense. Not much of an effort player either.  

Henson is stealing from this team. 

Really need a 3 point shooter  

It has been a disaster. It was rationalized, and if it works out it makes sense. It hasn't. 

Suns are in purge mode now- maybe they'll deal Knight back to the Bucks for MCW? Lol... SMH....

From all reports it looks like Kidd was the one that pushed for the MCW deal, and it's not like he's been doing a great job this year on the coaching front either.