Brandon Jennings Dream Team forming?

Milwaukee Bucks guard Brandon Jennings wants to build his own "Dream Team". No not to compete at the FIBA tournament or Olympics, but instead to compete with the likes of other NBA teams. Jennings' rationale is that "Everybody's trying to team up now to try to beat Kobe." Ok, so he's got a point there.

According to TMZ.com, Jennings calls out Boston and Miami. The Milwaukee star adds "So I guess me and Tyreke Evans and Stephen Curry should all call each other in the next two years and try to hook up and play on the same team."

Obviously the biggest examples of this are the Old Big 3 and New Big 3. The Boston Celtics brought in Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen along with superstar foundation Paul Pierce. Obviously they needed more players than that, and rookie PG Rajon Rondo blossomed. The Celtics went on to win another title and the first rings for those three stars.

Now we have Miami, who thanks to Lebron James and Chris Bosh, have set themselves up nicely for a championship run. Again, it won't be just three guys winning that title, but more personnel are attracted to a team with three major superstars.

There's been examples of trying to load a team with top notch talent and it not working. For example, the Lakers of years ago were big on talent including Gary Payton, Karl Malone and of course Shaq and Kobe. They were defeated in the NBA Finals but the impressive Pistons team. In 1996-97 NBA Season, the Rockets had a "Big Three" of their own with Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler and Charles Barkley. The team went on to a 57-25 record but lost to the Utah Jazz in the Western Conference Finals.

So does Brandon Jennings really believe aligning himself with Evans and Curry will bring a title to whichever city they join forces in? It takes more than those three, and those three are not near the level of either of the other Big 3's. Give em' five years maybe?

Either way, Jennings "calling out" any team for making big moves is ridiculous. The celtics have reached the Finals twice in three years since their Big 3 was put together, and only once have they won a title. The Miami Heat have yet to go on to a 82-0 season or win the NBA title. Apparently, Brandon Jennings thought his Bucks team had a shot at defeating a team with Lebron James or Kobe Bryant as the major star on it.

Does Jennings have a legitimate gripe, or should he let the season unfold first? Are teams becoming too talent heavy, or has it always been this way?

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Brandon Jennings' 55 - Bucks Record

Brandon Jennings hosted an NBA game last night between Milwaukee and Golden State...

So this kid from Lottomatica can play. Last night, Brandon Jennings put his name into the history books by notching an incredible 55 points. That makes for the most by a rookie since Earl Monroe 31 years ago, and the most by a Bucks rookie in a game ever. It beats the record of another guy you've definitely heard of: Lew Alcindor aka Kareem Abdul Jabbar. Jennings is the third guy in Bucks' history to have a 50+ point game, joining Michael Redd and Jabbar.

In last night's game, Jennings started off slow, with nothing in the first, then 10 in the second, followed by a huge 29 point third quarter and 16 to close out the Brandon Jennings scoring show. His 55 lead Milwaukee past Golden State in a close game. The rookie was the #10 pick by Milwaukee in this past year's draft and seems to be its best kept secret. He skipped a commitment to play college ball at Arizona then headed overseas to play in Europe for a year, which is why he's from Lottomatica. He soon may carry the nickname "Automatica" if he keeps scoring like this. Also playing in the game is another guy who may put in some big scoring performances in his career, Stephen Curry who is the song of retired NBA sharpshooter Del Curry.

So apparently Jennings was reported as unable to shoot by NBA scouts. Point taken, and thrown completely out the window. Jennings has arrived and will keep arriving in the 2009-10 season.

When It Comes To Brandon Jennings, The Hype Meter Just Got Cranked Up To 11

Redd D Rising

According to the November 10, 2008 edition of Sports Illustrated, new Milwaukee Bucks coach, Scott Skiles, has instituted a new policy. No sleeping on the other end of the court. According to the article, Skiles believes the team would just give up when they were behind and stop trying, but he's saying the Bucks will no longer be allowed to do so. Case in point, he benched center Andrew Bogut for 10 minutes after he blew a defensive assignment and fouled Jermaine O'Neal.

One player who's made a serious effort to adhere to Coach Skiles new policy is lead scorer, Michael Redd. Redd's been considered one of the deadliest shooters in the league for some time, along with players like Ray Allen, Kobe Bryant and Peja Stoyakovic. Redd put in major work at the Olympics in China, as he was forced to defend Kobe Bryant during practices. Redd admits he then realized just how intense Kobe is on the defensive end, saying Kobe never took a possession off. Since Skiles wants the same from Redd and is requiring him to guard the perimeter players better, Redd also worked with his trainer. David Pritchard helped Redd go from 230 pounds and 20% body fat down to 216 pounds and 7% body fat.

The new Redd should have better footwork, flexibility and strength allowing him to put in the tougher defensive work Skiles asks of him. Luckily he can also now defer to Richard Jefferson as well to help with the scoring load should he tire on the defensive end. The Bucks could be a playoff team should they seriously commit to D like coach is asking, and may take on the look of the Detroit Pistons team of old.

The Bucks Stop with Skiles

The Milwaukee Bucks are now enlisting the coaching services of Scott Skiles. Many remember that prior to the 2007 winter holidays, Skiles was notified he was no longer wanted by the Chicago Bulls. Skiles said he was ok with the decision, while some analysts felt it was in poor taste to fire a guy around the holidays. Skiles now gets a new chance at coaching in the Central Division of the Eastern Conference.

According to Fox Sports:

Skiles, who was drafted out of Michigan State by the Bucks in the first round in 1986, said he has a "fond place" in his heart for Milwaukee. But he has no illusions about the difficult task he faces in turning around a team that began the season with playoff aspirations but finished 26-56.

"It's not going to be easy," Skiles said. "I don't have any magic dust to sprinkle on people. We're going to have to do it by working harder and playing better (defense), and the first step will be getting competitive every single night. The team has not been competitive every night and if we do that, good things will happen."

The 44-year-old Skiles has more NBA head coaching experience than Milwaukee's two previous coaches, Krystkowiak and Terry Stotts, did when they were hired by the Bucks.

Skiles spent nearly three full seasons in Phoenix after taking over for Danny Ainge early in the 1999-00 season. He was fired by the Bulls in December after making the playoffs in three of his first four seasons in Chicago.

So now next season, Milwaukee will have the 44 year old Skiles as they try to compete with the tough Central division which includes Cleveland, and Skiles' former team, Chicago. Skiles will have one of the best shooters in the game in Michael Redd and a few young big man prodigies in Yi, Villanueva and Bogut. Can the demanding Skiles turn the tide and get the Bucks rolling?

No Rice or Tacos

Former star from the Charlotte Hornets, Miami Heat and Los Angeles Lakers Glen Rice was arrested Friday for felony battery charges. The former all-star confronted and beat up a man he found hiding in a closet.

According to allheadlinesnews.com:

"Rice, who played in the NBA 15 seasons with six different teams and retired with a career average of 18.3 points a game, was released on a $5,000 bond after he was arrested for allegedly beating a man he found hiding in the closet of his estranged wife.

Alberto Perez told police Rice punched him several times. He had to have nine stitches to a treat a cut on his forehead."

In other news the Lakers beat the Milwaukee Bucks last night. Charlie Bell scored a 3 pointer in the final 20 seconds to give the Bucks over 100 points in the game. The home crowd for the Lakers was not pleased as they would not receive the free tacos they get if the opponent stays under 100 points.

Yi vs. Yao: The Global Good & Bad

Friday night marked a historic sporting event which may have had over 200 million witnesses, making it possibly the "most watched sports event" ever, according to ESPN's Sportscenter. The game was the Milwaukee Bucks visiting the Houston Rockets, meaning China's two NBA stars were facing off. It was the rookie Yi, vs the established veteran Yao, making it a contest of global proportions.

Yao got the better of the stats matchup and the Rockets won the game. Apparently fans in China were tuning in during early morning about 9AM or so there to check out the live game which was quite exciting for them. Globally this represents a great thing for the NBA, as it has attracted a very large foreign fan base. It's been the talk of NBA for several years now too, the global expansion and how more European players have started to take over. Cases in point are Germany's Dirk Nowitski, Canada's Steve Nash and Spain's Pau Gasol. Yao and Yi bring even more appeal on a foreign level with a large fan base coming from overseas.

The interesting thing will be to see if this will tarnish the All-Star game even more. While Yi is having a respectable rookie season (even better than Yao's), he is definitely not one of the top 5 players in the East and probably will not be (think KG, Bosh, O'Neal, etc). But with China's population and so many people rooting him on, you'd have to think he will get a lot of their votes come All-star time. Yao has definitely benefited from this and Yi will as well, possibly ousting a more deserving player from the East lineup.

NBA - "Where Amazing Happens"

The new advertisements run by the NBA for the 2007-08 Season are a thing of beauty. They are backed by the moving piano music of "Everyday" by Carly Comando, the ads display still pictures of various NBA players and situations with inspirational quotes. There also appears to be a commercial done for each NBA team, which airs in its respective region. The Celtics version aired here a few times during their game Wednesday night, and most likely the Nets and Knicks versions will be showing as well.

You can check out several of the new ads over at YouTube. The first 4 are legitimate, they come from the NBA's YouTube channel. After that is anyone's guess, but the last two are definitely fan created. You'll see in the final link below, a fan was a bit crude in terms of NBA basketball love, but it may give you some laughs.

NBA - Where Amazing Happens

Where Amazing Happens: Heart

Where Amazing Happens: Anticipation

Where Amazing Happens: Immovable

Where Amazing Happens: Milwaukee Bucks

Fan Created: Where Amazing Happens

Fan Created: Crude but comical version

Buy an NBA Team for $350 Mill

For a cool 350 million dollars you could be the proud owner of the Orlando Magic. It seems a bit cheap if you think about it, adding up the ticket sales, merchandising and salaries of all their players, staff, dancers, employees and executives.

Sports Business Radio has an August 2006 article which lists 5 teams out you can buy each for under 350 million. They include the Portland Trailblazers, Orlando Magic, Milwaukee Bucks, Philadelphia 76ers and Memphis Grizzlies. Not too bad at all. Particularly appealing, and probably now selling for a much higher price, are the Trailblazers with future prodigy, Greg Oden, considered a franchise/cornerstone player.

In related news a website called Make Money with Super Affiliate Zac Johnson discusses how a woman sold the rights to the internet domain name "bobcats.com" to the Bobcats for $50,000 which just might be nice for most of us, but could have been a bargain sale for the Bobcats.

Yi Signs With Bucks

It appears NBA fans and analysts are now on track to start discussing the great Yi vs. Yao debate. Yi Jianlian fro, China and #6 pick of the Milwuakee Bucks has signed a contract and will be part of training camp in October. From NBA.com:

"The Milwaukee Bucks announced today that 2007 first round draft pick Yi Jianlian (EE jee-AHN-lee-AHN) has signed a multi-year contract. The Bucks 6th overall selection in the 2007 NBA Draft, Yi Jianlian signed his contract in Hong Kong following a negotiating session with Mr. Chen Haitao, owner of the Guangdong Tigers. Bucks owner and team president Senator Herb Kohl, General Manager Larry Harris and Bucks Vice President Ron Walter were able to meet with Mr. Chen, as well as Yi and his family, as part of the process.

Yi Jianlian is expected to join the team for training camp that begins on Monday, October 1 at the Bucks Training Center in St. Francis, WI." (Full Article here)

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There's already been discussions of whether Yi will become a better player then Yao Ming of the Rockets. I say give it at least a season or 2 to see what he's got, but for now I'd put smart money on Yao to finish his career with the better stats and possibly an NBA title.