Empty the Bench

They weren’t more than a sub-.500 team to begin with. After losing their two best players in Andrew Bogut and Michael Redd for the remainder of the season, the Milwaukee Bucks were expected to take an even deeper plunge into the dark recesses of NBA irrelevancy.

A long-depressing franchise that’s failed to make much headway in a mediocre Eastern Conference or move forward with a solid blueprint for the future, the Milwaukee Bucks haven’t gotten past the first round of the playoffs since their Eastern Conference Finals defeat back in ’01 at the hands of the Philadelphia 76ers. Since then, the Bucks have an average regular-season win percentage of .452, and it looks like they’ll further solidify that trend this season with a record that currently stands at 29-33.

Against all odds, however, the Milwaukee Bucks have somehow kept their heads above water in the race for swift first-round elimination at the hands of the Cavaliers or Celtics in the 2009 NBA Playoffs. Now, securing the East’s 7th or 8th seed will truly be a boobie prize, and there’s truth in the argument that the Bucks, Knicks, Bulls, Nets, etc. are better off heading to the draft lottery. But if (and that’s still a big “if”) the Bucks were to earn a playoff berth, that achievement would need to be recognized as one of the league’s surprising success stories of the 2008-09 season.

Even with Redd and Bogut out of the lineup for most of the season, the Bucks have already surpassed last year’s win total of 26 games. He has a habit of eventually wearing out his welcome and alienating his players, but give a lot of credit for this turnaround in Milwaukee to new head coach Scott Skiles. He has this depth-strapped group overachieving on both ends of the floor and has not allowed them to hang their heads in resignation after the loss of their two best players. We’re still miffed about his mishandling of Ramon Sessions in the season’s early going, but if the Bucks make the playoffs, Skiles will likely get a few votes for Coach of the Year (but won’t win).

And how about that Ramon Sessions?

The Bucks’ 2007 second-round pick has developed into one of the league’s most intriguing young talents. After Saturday night’s 109-93 win over the hapless Wizards, Sessions had averaged 18.5 points, 7.4 assists, 4.1 boards, and 1.6 steals over his past 11 games. That includes a masterful effort against the Detroit Pistons on February 7 when he went for 44 points and 12 assists on 72% shooting and 21 free-throw attempts.

Monster games aren’t anything new for Sessions, though, if you recall:

By the time he was through, the youngster had established a new NBA season-high in assists with 24 “dirty dishes,” as the Bucks’ broadcast crew said, and become the first Buck to ever go for 20 and 20 in a single game. Oscar Robertson never did it. Neither did Sidney Moncrief, Bob Lanier, or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Michael Redd still hasn’t either. His final line: 20 points, 24 assists, 8 rebounds, 1 steal, and 1 block.

He’ll turn just 23 years old in April, and I like that at this early stage in his career Sessions seems to play to his strengths and not get carried away too often with forcing it. To that end, he knows that the three-point shot isn’t one of his strong suits yet, so he doesn’t take many, averaging just 0.5 attempts per on the season after not attempting any in his past six games; that restraint is a good sign.

The play of Sessions isn’t the only reason the Bucks are still alive in the playoff hunt, though.

More about the Milwaukee Bucks and their hunt for the 2009 playoffs after the break…

It feels like Charlie Villanueva has been around a lot longer than he has been, but this is just his fourth NBA season since being taken 7th overall by the Toronto Raptors in ’05. His early career has been characterized by injuries, bouts of offensive brilliance, and spells of dreadful inconsistency. Now entrenched in a permanent role this season with the Bucks, though, he’s in the midst of his best season yet.

Over his last 19 games–all as a starter–he’s averaged 22.6 points and 7.8 rebounds, including seven double-doubles and a season-high 36 points last week against the Nuggets.

With the Bucks sorely in need of somebody to fill the scoring void left by their injured stars, Villanueva’s role as a primary offensive option who has the green light to shoot is absolutely the perfect situation for him. God knows Richard “Peanut” Jefferson and his 43% shooting can’t do it all by himself.

On top of his tangible contributions, though, Charlie V also seems to be taking on somewhat of a leadership role, or at least trying to. I thought his comments after the Bucks’ hard-fought loss to the Pistons on February 7 said a lot. “We played great. They just beat us,” Villanueva said. “We’ve got to hold our head up high because we left it all on the floor.”

And that, really, sort of sums up how the Bucks have been able to keep pace in the East without Redd and Bogut: leaving it all on the floor. They’re not a great rebounding team, they’re not a great three-point shooting team, they’re really not that great at any one thing. But on most nights, they hustle, they don’t quit, and they walk off the court, win or lose, with their tank empty.

You see it in unheralded rookie Luc Richard Mbah a Moute’s swarming man defense. In the way that the thoroughly unspectacular center tandem of Francisco Elson and Dan Gadzuric combine to somehow keep things semi-respectable in the middle without Bogut (at least on defense). In the gutsy play of Luke Ridnour, a Scott Skiles favorite who’s won teammates over with his determination to play through or at least quickly get over a serious of nagging injuries. And in Joe Alexander’s… well, okay, you don’t see a whole helluva lot from the Bucks’ 2008 lottery pick except bricks and garbage time.

Yes, I know: we’re talking about a 29-33 team here. Whatever. Far too often we see NBA teams sleepwalk their way through a game, and though the Bucks are as guilty of that as anybody else is from time to time, more often than not the effort is there. And that effort just might be good enough for the Eastern Conference door prize of a meeting with the Cavaliers or Celtics in round one of the playoffs.

Related Reading:
- Whining Sessions – Which Sophs Are In The Rookie Challenge, Which Should Have Been
- Rookie Ramon Sessions Makes Milwaukee Bucks History
- Late-Season Revelations: Seven Guys Who Didn’t Emerge Until After the All-Star Break

Charlie Villanueva and Ramon Sessions Photo Credits: Icon SMI

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