Sorry guys, I was just released from the psychiatric ward. I checked myself in after my last visit to EAYOR. I read something that will scar me forever. :shocked:
Anyways the therapy was effective and now I'm back. :chuckles:
TJ Ford - Most astute Bucks fans, including myself, think that TJ's "injury" to his finger is a sham. The Bucks organization, imo, is treating TJ with kid gloves. I don't think that they wanted TJ's first official NBA court action to be against the same talentless clod, Mark Madsen, that knocked TJ out of the league for a year and a half. With that being said, I also don't think that they wanted TJ's first action to be on the road against Chauncey Billups, Ben Wallace, and the rest of the Eastern Conference Champs. I think they are playing it safe in order to allow TJ to make a successful debut at home against Eric Snow, Damon Jones, and the rest of the Cavaliers. To bad Lebron has a sore titty, I'll be at that game. :chuckles:
Jiri Welsch - Jiri has been one of the surprises of the camp. One of my friends, a devout Bulls fan, who went to the Bucks free scrimmage, went out of his way to call me and tell me that "Jiri Welsch is going to help the Bucks...I'll give it to you, this team is deep (Jiri's the 11th man)". This from a guy that loves to run trash at me about the Bucks. He described Jiri as a fluid player that "won't make many mistakes on the floor". Jiri was among a group of players who rallied the Bucks past the Timberwolves in the second half of the exhibition opener. His defense has been a surprise. We'll see if he can keep up his steady, if not spectacular, play.
Andrew Bogut- His passing skills are obvious. Right now he's too willing to defer to other Buck scorers on offense. This is typical of his style of play and the respect and reverence that he's displayed towards the veterans on the team. Very solid opener against Minny. 9/9/3. Against Detroit, Terry Stotts made a tactical error matching Bogut up against Ben Wallace(unless he wanted Bogut to test himself against one of the league's elite, athletic centers). Andrew is tailor made for an explosive athlete like Ben Wallace who only has to wait for Drew to go up for a shot, beat him to the release point, and block the shot. Dan Gadzuric should have been matched up against Ben as usual while Bogut should have had the Rasheed assignment (a less athletic, slower, post up or catch and shoot player). Bogut needs to get more shots (I'd say about 12-14 per game) to be the low post threat that we need. Right now he's putting up less than 10 per game. Only about 4 against Detroit. We'll see how he handles the 7-3 260lb Ilgauskas in the low post. Should be a good learning experience for the young Aussie.
Expect the Bucks to sit key players up until the exhibition finale. They don't want to risk injury to veterans like Smith and Kukoc and key players like Ford and Redd. It's a confident camp and they just want to make it out of camp intact healthwise.
