Tag Archives: Tracy McGrady

NBA playoffs: Tied 2-all with the Celtics, Bucks eye first playoff series win in 17 years . . . Whatever happened to Indianapolis?

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Glenn “Big Dog” Robinson drives on Charlotte Hornets forward P.J. Brown in the 2001 playoffs. License: Standard-non-commercial use.

The Bucks dumped the first two games of the series in Boston; Jabari Parker talked about his lack of playing time and role on the team; and Bucks fans lost their minds on twitter and everywhere else in the city. The knives were out in Milwaukee between Games 2 and 3.

The Bucks won the next two games in Milwaukee (with Parker’s playing time doubled), but Giannis Antetokounmpo couldn’t get timely service at trendy East Side restaurant after tipping in the game-winning shot in Sunday’s Game 4. The fans lost their minds again in shock, awe, disbelief.

Welcome to Milwaukee, where we’re far out of practice and shape for this NBA playoffs thing, and so starved for a winner that all faults and slights, real and imagined, are met with outraged howls of indignation. The last time the Bucks won a playoff series was in 2001, when the Bucks prevailed in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the original Charlotte Hornets, who would end up in New Orleans a couple of years later.

Seventeen years is a long time. The Big Dog Glenn Robinson was barking in those days, out-dueling Hornets All-Star forward Jamal Mashburn to lift the Bucks to the Eastern Conference Finals. In the first round series, Robinson lost the “Wee-Mac” (Tracy McGrady) vs. “Puppy Dog” challenge — but the Big Dog had the last laugh as the Bucks took the series 3-1 and would run all the way to Game 7 of the East Finals, a controversial defeat to Allen Iverson and the Sixers.

McGrady’s in the basketball Hall of Fame now, as unlikely as it seems given his notable lack of success in the playoffs. And the Bucks haven’t won a playoff series since the days of Wee Mac and Dog and Mashburn. But they’ve got the momentum against the Celtics heading into Game 5, and the best player, Giannis, averaging 28 pts – 8.5 rebs – 6.5 asts per game in the series.

Khris Middleton has been shooting the lights out all series long (15 of 24 from three, 40 for 65 overall — 73% true shooting!!). Parker has found his playoff game. Eric Bledsoe, Malcolm Brogdon, Thon Maker — everybody with a job but injured John Henson — are playing well and on the same page.

What could possibly go wrong?

Whatever happened to Indianapolis?

Still from the 1975 film, Rollerball. James Caan as Rollerball hero Jonathan E.

The question was raised in the original Rollerball film. Our hero, Rollerball sensation Jonathan E., and his assigned companion, Mackie, relax in between Rollerball matches with Jonathon’s trainer, Cletus. As they recline on floor pillows sedating in the glow of synthetic drugs, they talk of the harsh and uncompromising corporate realities of their world. Indianapolis has apparently disappeared from their sphere of knowledge or understanding. The city is gone. As Cletus drifts off into his high, he wonders again, “Whatever happened to Indianapolis?”

As the Pacers prepare to face the Cavs in Cleveland tonight (Wednesday) in pivotal Game 5 of their first round series, they may be asking the same question Cletus did. Or more specifically — what happened in Game 4? The Pacers had it all — a 2-1 series lead and playing on their home court in Indy, a golden opportunity to put Lebron James and his inexperienced new teammates in difficult 3-1 hole, where there would be little room for error to avoid defeat. The Pacers even had the lead in Game 4, 92-89, halfway through the 4th quarter. But not all of Lebron’s teammates are so inexperienced. James made plays, Kyle Korver hit threes, and . . .

“Just like that, it was 101-95. From there, it was a few more bricks from the Pacers and too much Stephenson sideshow, wrestling Cleveland’s Jeff Green to the floor in yet more antics gone too far.” —  NBA.com’s Steve Aschburner on Pacers-Cavs Game 4.

That says it all, it seems. Now the advantage is back in the King’s court, and while the Pacers may battle and Lance Stephenson and Domantas Sabonis may scrap and claw and bully and earn their Ts, Lebron and his Cavaliers will prevail. Sorry Pacers fans — many of whom truly believed, even when it was tied 1-1, they would win the series and end James’ 7-year reign in the East,

But then Pacers fans truly believed not such a long time ago in Paul George‘s stardom.

Now they don’t.

The return of Michael Redd: Steve Aschburner feature at NBA.com

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Bucks erstwhile shooting guard Michael Redd is “on the brink” of a comeback after 14 months of rehab from major knee surgery.  But is Redd, ever the source of fan debate about personal scoring vs. team basketball, relevant to the 2011 Milwaukee Bucks?

NBA.com feature columnist Steve Aschburner wades through the psychological dilemmas for the team and for Redd, who is expected to return sometime this week (Friday, the Bucks say).  Along the way, Aschburner makes some welcome and refreshing notes about Redd’s former play that are not often aired in Wisconsin media.

Redd has been a volume shooter, averaging 18.3 field goal attempts in his five full seasons scoring more than 20 points per game for Milwaukee. His career numbers in both true-shooting percentage (.560) and effective field-goal percentage (.505) rank down the list from the game’s most efficient marksmen. So as desperate as the Bucks need buckets, Redd — even the old version of Redd — might not be [able to] slip so easily into a team that has had to play without him.  LINK to Aschburner article.

Actually, those insights have been aired often here, and occasionally at Brewhoop and other Bucks fan blogs.  But such analysis of Redd’s game has been absent from the daily, mainstream coverage of the Bucks.

There is that $91 million contract still on the books for a few months, and, well, it’s difficult enough for the Bucks to sell tickets in the small Milwaukee market without a pile of negative press about the player and absurdly horrendous contract the team shackled itself to five summers ago.

At issue is that old “scorer vs. team offensive efficiency” that was dealt with in “Basketball by the Numbers” and other sources, wherein there is a “too selfish” line that gets crossed by NBA scorers.  Joe Johnson’s regularly over that line, and Kobe Bryant certainly crosses it from time to time, with great purpose and intent.  Lebron?  How about the Cavs problems in the 2009 and 2010 playoffs.  This season, not so bad as the Cavs postseason meltdowns, but the Heat have had their share of ball movement problems, especially when trying to close out games.

Michael Redd was over that line almost every night for five years, and the Bucks were never able to put a winning product on the court with their volume shooting guard as the number 1 scoring option.

Meanwhile, the dominance of Redd generally impaired the development needs of the team and caused conflicts with coaches (Larry Krystkowiak, Scott Skiles), until the last three years under coach Skiles, with Redd missing 180 of 231 Bucks games.

It’s strictly regarded policy here at The Bob Boozer Jinx that Redd can only serve to retard whatever the Bucks hope to accomplish this season or next.  He may prove me wrong, but his history suggests that he can’t and won’t.

But enough out of me.  Please take some time, if you have some, to give Aschburner’s feature a read.  Here’s another excerpt.

The NBA has a shadow squad of once-electric players forever altered by injuries, guys such as McDyess in San Antonio, Tracy McGrady in Detroit and Gilbert Arenas in Orlando. Redd got to watch Arenas up close Wednesday as he shuffled through a five-point, 2-of-6 shooting night for the Magic. They aren’t who they once were, their teams aren’t organized around them and it can be a humbling, difficult experience.

That’s good stuff.

“Roundball Revolution”: Rip Hamilton vs. John Kuester

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What’s going on with the Detroit Pistons?  And why can’t the Bucks beat them despite the ongoing turmoil between the Rip Hamilton cadre of veterans and coach John Kuester?  Those questions (and a lot of others about the Bucks) are nagging this week as the Bucks prepare to play the Pistons Tuesday.

At the brink of the trade deadline last week, Hamilton rejected an $18 million buyout offer from the Cavs, who were willing to take him off Detroit’s hands with a draft pick.   The buyout would have allowed Hamilton to, ostensibly, go play for the Bulls who were looking for a shooting guard to run with Derrick Rose in the playoffs.

Rip said “No,” he and the veterans were rumored to be hatching a “roundball revolution” against coach Kuester, a shootaround was missed by many, players were fined and benched, Kuester may soon be fired, the fans just want the lunacy to end and the team may be up for sale.

They’re 2-0 against the Bucks this season.  Go figure.  I can’t.  What a mess.

So I’m listening to the Need4Sheed blogger Natalie Sitto’s PODCAST with Associated Press Pistons reporter Dave Hogg, who knows more about these things than just about anybody, except of course for that inexplicable 2-0 record against our Bucks.

“Two more years of this” in Detroit, they sigh in Detroit over Hamilton – who is owed $25 million over that time.   Rip, Tayshaun Prince, Big Ben Wallace and Tracy McGrady (the veterans) may have been operating under the assumption that Kuester is on his way out the door.  They may have been wrong:

“Because of the sale issue, I don’t think [the Pistons] will be firing [Kuester] anytime soon,” said Hogg.  And after Friday [the “roundball revolution”] I don’t think you fire ‘Kue’ now.”

The last time Hamilton played for the Pistons, he scored 15 off the bench in Milwaukee Feb. 5 as the Pistons sent the Bucks to one of their sorriest losses of the season, 89-78.

Detroit shot 51.5% for the game.  The Bucks point guards were terrible.  John Salmons was sluggishly back from his hip injury.  Andrew Bogut scored 18 but the Pistons looked almost like the Pistons of old, running Rip off of staggered screens for open mid-range jumpers and the occasional 3-pointer.  The Bucks failed to take advantage of great defense in the 3rd quarter, when they held the Pistons to 14 points.

The Bucks scored just 13 in that 3rd quarter and resorted to fighting the refs under their basket, who were absolutely horrible, nearly as bad as the Bucks shot selection.

Hamilton hasn’t played since, leading to last week’s “revolution.”   Why did he play that night against the Bucks?

Such are the mysteries that have perplexed the Bucks all season long as they have failed and failed again to get a streak going.  Tuesday may be the Bucks last chance to start one.

Michael Redd set to return to the Bucks on Monday

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Michael Redd will return to the Bucks Monday, after All-Star weekend.  By all accounts, he won’t play right away, but will work to get himself “in a position” where he could possibly play.

Redd’s in the final year of a contract that pays him $18.3 million this season, more than Carmelo Anthony, more than anybody on the Celtics not named Kevin Garnett, more than anybody on the Lakers not named Kobe Bryant.

This makes Redd very valuable to any team looking to cut costs next season, including the Bucks, who could use some payroll breathing room after last summer’s flurry of contract activity (Drew Gooden, John Salmons, Keyon Dooling).

Nobody in Milwaukee media has bothered to ask GM John Hammond, with the trade deadline eight days away, whether a trade is a possibility.  Those questions will surely arise once Redd is back in camp.

Currently, the Bucks insurance is reimbursing the team 80 percent of the cost of the contract, due to Redd’s long rehabilitation from a second knee surgery.

$18.3 million! For Michael Redd?  It’s insane, but there was very little the Bucks could do to avoid it back in 2005 when the deal was struck.  Such are the NBA economics that spun out of control in the last decade, as teams wrote ridiculous agreements with All-Star players such as Redd, Tracy McGrady and Gilbert Arenas, not so much because they were forced to, but because the ethos of the league and the setup of the league’s collective bargaining agreement said that superstars bring in the fans, and that every team should have one — a superstar, that is, not a fan (even the Clippers had a fan or two before Blake Griffin).  Even very good, borderline All-Star players such as Richard Jefferson got similar deals (RJ’s still working off his final year down in San Antonio).

The justification for Redd’s contract points most directly to the five-year, $85 million contract that Ray Allen signed with the SuperSonics in the summer of 2005.  Redd, of course, was effectively replacing Allen as the Bucks star shooting guard and had been an All-Star in 2004.  The Bucks:

1) Didn’t want to lose Redd in free agency. He had courted some interest (about 5-yr/$70 million) from the Cavaliers, on the hunt for a second scoring option after Lebron James; and

2) Wanted to reward Redd with a contract comparable to Allen’s $17 million per season deal.  The market dictated that Redd should not be paid quite at Allen’s level, so the Bucks basically made a 5-year, $14.5 million per year offer (exceeding what the Cavs were able to offer over five years) and tacked on the outrageous sixth year “player option” to exceed the total of Allen’s contract.

Was the sixth year necessary?  Probably not, but five-six year agreements with the final year an option for players were in vogue back then, and, well, nobody in the Bucks organization wanted to see Redd suit up alongside Lebron James, unless it was for an All-Star game.

So here we are, the 2011 trade deadline fast approaching, the Bucks needing a shot in the arm and Redd (probably) nowhere near playing shape.

This may be little more than an insurance check to upgrade Redd’s status and handle the legalities of his sunsetting disability status.  It may mean the Bucks have brought him back into the news to draw trade interest.  It may mean that Redd has rehabbed his way into shape to play.  It almost certainly means that Redd doesn’t want his career to end, and wants to show the NBA that he can play next season.

On Monday, the elephant returns to the Bucks locker room.

(Special thanks to Bucks fan Sidney Lanier, the originator of the altered New Yorker artwork above).