The Dribble

Quietly going about his business in Milwaukee has been Jamaal Magloire. After a breakout 03-04 season in New Orleans where he averaged 13.3ppg 10.3rpg and 1.23bpg followed by a injury ridden 04-05 season, Jamaal Magloire, the former 19th overall pick in the 2000 draft (Charlotte Hornets), finds himself with a new team this season, the Milwaukee Bucks. Playing in his 6th season, the native Torontonian is averaging 10.1ppg 10.1rpg and .98bpg in 30.1 minutes per game (sixth among centers in mpg this year) and among all players has stats like:


The one thing Magloire can be counted on for the dwindling Milwaukee Bucks [dwindling because they stand in 7th place in their conference one game over .500 (34-33)] is the rebounding but will/would he be able to carry more of an offensive/leadership role as his team must now fights for playoff positioning is up to him as the Bucks (haven't been past the first round since 2001- lost to Iverson and his 76ers in conference finals) seem to be searching for an identity and still just cannot beat those Western Conference teams (24-17 vs East 8-16 vs West). It's gonna be an interesting stretch drive for the Bucks to say the least. So I turned to Sam Kirchner at 5 point Bucks for some insight and his breakdown of what's in store for Milwaukee while Chris Clarke at End of the Bench joins him in blaming Terry Stotts for the team's mediocre performance to date despite the talented roster.

So while the coach is partly to blame, the lack of anyone consistently stepping up in the frontcourt in Milwaukee is in my view the reason for the Bucks disappointing showing so far.

Time to step up Jamaal, this could be the season that will go on to define your career.

It's nice to see the Pat Riley of old is stirring up old ghosts. The situation that has arisen in Shaq-land/south Florida to the the streaking Heat, who have won 9 of their last 10 and have solidified their 2nd spot in East with a record of 41-21 (with "the Diesel" sitting in the fourth quarter of the Heat's last home win against the Cavs) may be a revelation of some scheming by the "Rilester" heading into the final stretch of the season. But then again:

It looks like the Grizzlies have decided to go with 7'2 Jake Tsakalidis as their starting center for their playoff push, maybe as a way to rest Gasol. Jake was the 25th pick in the 2000 draft (KMart/Nets, Stro/Grizzlies (cough*VANCOUVER*cough), Miles/Clippers were 1-2-3) other big men/centers that were drafted ahead of him include:

Mihm/Cavs-#7 now with Lakers
Przybilla/Bucks-#9 now with Blazers
Moiso/Celtics-#11 (where is he now???)
Etan (poet) Thomas/Mavs-#12 now with Wiz

When Memphis failed to make a move at the deadline I figured something was up. I wonder if they're hoping that Tsakalidis can give them production similar to hmmmm... let's say .....Chris Kaman numbers. Looks like he's gonna get the chance to show what he's got, but for how long. Memphis is 4-6 in their last 10 and experiments like this are not exactly what Jerry West is known for especially with their upcoming games are at home (even more p...p...pressure this time of year):

• Denver
• Boston
• Utah
• Indiana
• LA Clippers
  

With a center the size of Jake you're looking for boards and if you look at his numbers he'll give you 12.5 reb/48min which is better than:

• Wilcox 11.9 reb/48min
• Mihm 11.6 reb/48min
• Randolph 11.5 reb/48min
• Ilgauskas 11.5 reb/48min
  

but not quite as good as:

• Camby 17.4 reb/48min
• Foster 16.7 reb/48min
• Chandler 16.4 reb/48min
• Dampier (hmmmph who woulda thought to see him here) 16.2 reb/48min

but if he can show a little game to go along with his 2.32 blocks per 48min (45th in the league) it might change the face of the Grizzlies what with Lorenzen Wright pulling a disappearing act and all.

Looking at his scoring ability per 48 minutes he compares to Bogut, Lafrentz and Haywood who are all around 15pts/per 48min

....so juggle the line up Mr. Fratello and give us some different looks.

When reading boxscores the only thing missing from the ledger to really get a feel for the game is what I guess could be descibed as "personal time of posession". Who's handling the ball? Who has the franchise (coach and GM) chosen to carry them, to make the on court decisions?

Field goal attempts and free throw attempts will tell you the scorer but usually the assists reveal the engine and direction the team has chosen but then you have to take into consideration the minutes played, the assists and turnovers.

Scouts must probably already take this statistic down as an invaluable tool to give them a plan of attack, a target to concentrate their defenses on: the primary ballhandler.

Including -PTOP- 0:00 in boxscores would make it that much more interesting and descriptive.

Jgurney at lowpost.net/blog has an interesting forecast at what kind of a future most NBA teams have in store for us in terms of future salary commitments going until 2010.

The chart quickly tells you which teams have a lot of money to spend, who will be spending big dollars in the free agent market and which teams are gonna have to make a run at the championship with the players that they have.