Initial Impressions of the 2008-09 Milwaukee Bucks

As I watch the Milwaukee Bucks opener against the Chicago Bulls, these are a few of the observations I have of this year's squad.

- Michael Redd does not play defense. This is not a new fact, but you can see early that guys are making a conceited effort to play hard on the defensive end. Redd is a liability. He loses sight of the ball and doesn't committ to that side of the floor. I've seen him on at least two different occasions not get back all the way on defense either.

- While I'm ripping Michael Redd, I will throw out that through the first 20 possessions, he hasn't made a pass yet I don't think. I understand that he is a great shooter, but the Bucks cannot be a great or even good team without getting everyone involved, have everyone feel that they are a part of what they are doing on the offensive end. Redd dribbles into traffic, forces shots consistently and ruins the flow of the offense. The problem is that he makes shots, but I feel like they are at a cost to the team. To make matters worse, I think he's a good passer. I think if his scoring average fell to 16 a game this year, it would be a positive for the Bucks.

- Andrew Bogut plays hard. He was well worth the contract extension and while he may not seem like he panned out as a number one pick, he certainly is one of the building blocks for this team going forward and was a solid, if not spectacular pick. He needs to be more involved offensively. He has to work so hard to get any shots for himself. Run the offense through him from time to time.

- In a very small sample so far, good things seem to happen when Malik Allen is on the floor. Garbage buckets and defensive stops so far since he's been on the floor. He seems to be able to move to the right place for dumb-offs on penetration. Charlie V is a talented offensive player, the two might be a very good combination. Might be interesting to see them on the floor at the same time. My only complain about Allen is his quickness. He is getting beat to a lot of balls by Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah. I'm assuming that's one of the things that has kept him from being a regular rotation guy for other teams. Hopefully his effort and intensity rub of on Villanueva and Alexander and those better athletes can develop and play with that kind of intensity.

- Interesting that Luc Richard M'bah Moute is the first rookie off of the Bucks bench. If that isn't an indication that Skiles is committed to get this team to play defense, I don't know what is. A lot of people seem to have labeled this kid as a defensive genius, even comparing him to Bruce Bowen. Let's give him a little time before we do that. He just picked up his second defensive three second call, so it looks like the learning curve is steaper than people thought. He certainly hasn't looked shy on the offensive end. He's taken open jump shots and looked to penetrate from time to time, including a couple of nice moves in the paint. He looks very much like a rookie tonight making some great plays and making some very dumb mistakes as well. But the upside definately looks to be there.

- I think one of the frustrating things watching the Bucks last year was their lack of toughness. It looks like Allen and Richard Jefferson might help with that.

- The Bucks were better in the first quarter as more subs came in. Allen, M'bah Moute, Lue gave good minutes. Obviously it's early, but maybe the bench is more solid than the "experts" say it is.

- They haven't been rewarded for it yet, but they seem to be trying to take a lot of charges. That's a good sign. I think that's a big indicator of a team's toughness. Watch a team when one of their player's take a charge. If all of them are going to pick him up, patting him on the butt, and picking up their intensity, that is a good sign that a team is buying into that toughness mentality. It's the 6:57 mark in the second quarter and the Bucks have tried to take four charges. Two of them should have been for sure, if not more. It hasn't stopped as the game goes on either. They have continued to try and have been rewarded with one or two charges. The bench seems to be on their feet when it happens which is a good sign.

- I think a lot of people were misled by Ramon Sessions big assist night last year and believing that he was ready to be a point guard in this league. If the first 8 minutes of Tyronn Lue's play tonight doesn't tell you that it's ok to leave him on the bench to develop longer, then watch closer.

- Quick Bulls note... Luol Deng is really good

- Michael Redd continues to be a black hole... Jefferson and Redd have both taken 9 shots so far in this game, but to me it just feels like Jefferson's have been more in the flow of the game. Redd has taken 9 shots because he wanetd to take 9 and RJ has taken 9 that have come to him.

- So far, way too many fouls. A lot of them are dumb reach fouls as well. I can handle the ones where they are one step out of position because they're working on getting it right, but a lot of them are just dumb. Those have to be eliminated.

- Dan Gadzuric gave some good minutes in the first half. He's banged a few jumpers, blocked a couple shots and grabbed a few rebounds. He will be a serviceable backup if he can continue to knock down those 12 foot jumpers.

- Right away to start the second half, Redd spotted up on the perimeter and let someone else do the dribbling and setting up the offense. And he drilled three threes. If he let's that happen, he could be deadly and the Bucks could be tough to defend.

- They look like they are going to make a concerted effort to get the ball down in the post. These guys are such better shooters on kick outs. Run the offense through Bogut and good things will happen. Not only that, but it creates opportunities to get other bigs in foul trouble and take them out of their game plan. I feel like the Bucks on the last couple of years would have that idea, but they would go away from it as the game went on. A big part of that was Redd and Mo Williams and their dribbling shows and forced shots they had a tendancy to do.

- I haven't talked at all about Luke Ridnour yet. To this point, I feel like it's good to see a point guard who doesn't need shots to validate himself on the floor. Of course he needs to take them when he's open, which he's doing, but he isn't forcing anything, he's running the offense which is what a point guard should do. He has turned the ball over more than you like to see though. I'm sure it will take some time to get on the same page with his teammates and those numbers should go down.

- A forced three by Redd without making one pass and an immediate hook from Scott Skiles. I hope that is the reason he was pulled from the game. If it was, great coaching.

- To this point there seems to be less defensive breakdowns or wasted defensive possessions like we got so accustomed to seeing last year. It will be interesting to see as the possessions get more intense to see if the Bucks can get stops when they need it. There seems to be hands getting into shooters faces. Over the long run, hands in faces on shots, will result in a lower opponent shooting percentage. That wasn't the case all the time tonight, the Bulls got red hot for a stretch. I think there were closeouts and hands up, but not enough.

- The intensity of the game picked up with about 3 minutes left in the third quarter. It seems to me like the Bulls raised it and the Bucks weren't able to match it. Their offense got very rushed and out of sync and the Bulls beat them to a lot of loose balls. As I type, Ridnour re-entered the game to try to control it. Immediately they pound it back in to Bogut and good things happen.

- Dumb fouls killed the Bucks tonight. Not only was their a wide margin of scoring at the free throw line, but it's kept the regulars off of the floor. They needed Bogut and Jefferson on the floor, but couldn't use them because of their foul trouble. Like I said, hustle fouls are fine, but reach fouls and out of position fouls can't be tolerated going forward. By the time they got back on the floor, they couldn't match the intensity the Bulls were playing with and as a result, they got run off of the floor.

- Michael Redd was 7-7 on catch and shoots in the flow of the offense or on rebound kick-outs for 19 points. He was 3-12 for 6 pointes when he tried to create his shot himself.

- Game one is a loss. For two and a half quarters, the Bucks seemed like the could compete, but they just couldn't match Chicago's intensity from that point forward. It didn't help that the Bulls made everything. I think there were some positive signs for the Bucks, but it's obvious they have a long way to go. They had some good defensive possessions, I'd say more than we're used to seeing. Offensively, they have a long way to go. They can't foul as much as they did obviously and I'm sure that will be addressed. I saw enough good things to watch them again tomorrow night. I'm on a game to game basis this year. I think it only took me about 12 games to stop watching them last year, but I have a feeling i will get much deeper into the year this year.