Empty the Bench

By: Zachariah Blott

Milwaukee on a roll with Salmons: Chicago couldn’t wait to get rid of John Salmons by the trade deadline. He’s making $5.8 million next year, which got in the way of the Bulls’ ability to offer a max contract this summer. So he was sent to Milwaukee for Hakim Warrick, and the Bucks ended up with a good luck charm. Since his arrival, Milwaukee has won 10 of 11 contests. They beat Cleveland. They beat the Celtics. They barely lost in Atlanta. Most impressively, they moved from out of the Eastern Conference playoffs into 5th place faster than you can down a Milwaukee’s Best.

Playing similar minutes as he did with the Bulls, Salmon’s scoring is up from 13 to 19 points per, his assists are up from 2.5 to 3.2 per, and his free throw attempts are up from 3 to 5 per. His FG% and FT% have both increased, and he’s clearly a bigger part of his new team’s offense. Whereas he had trouble getting his hands on the ball in Chicago with Derrick Rose, Kirk Hinrich, and Luol Deng controlling the action, Milwaukee is more than happy to let him share lead scoring duties with Andrew Bogut and ball handling duties with Brandon Jennings.

John Salmons photo credit: AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps

Evans completes third rookie triple-double in a month: Tyreke Evans went for 19-10-10 on Wednesday in a win over Toronto, completing the third triple-double by a rookie this season. Not only that, they all occurred within a month of each other. Exactly 28 days before Evans turned the trick, Stephen Curry blew up the Clippers for 36 points, 10 rebounds, and 13 assists. Darren Collison joined in the fun last week, abusing the Pacers for 18 points, 13 rebounds, and 12 assists. While this season was supposed to be Blake Griffin’s Rookie of the Year showpiece, it’s turned out to be a year belonging to first-year guards (don’t forget about Ty Lawson, Brandon Jennings, and Jonny Flynn).

Yet another rookie PG makes his mark: Dallas selected Rodrigue Beaubois with the 25th pick of the 2009 draft, making him the 11th point guard taken that night (depending on how liberally you classify all those players). The speedster started the year slowly, but he’s really stepped up in Dallas’ last five games. From March 3 through the 10, Beaubois played significant minutes each night, earning pers of 18 points, 3.4 assists, 1 turnover, 0.6 steals, and 1.6 triples. He shot well during the stretch, connecting on 55% from the field, 35% from deep, and 86% from the free throw line. His top single-game performance was on March 6 in a tight 122-116 victory at Chicago, during which the youngster had 24 points (10-17 shooting), 5 assists, and 0 turnovers in a starting role.

Zachariah Blott cannot recommend Rick Telander’s “Heaven Is A Playground” enough.

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