It's been a scary few days for the Bucks. Michael Redd went down. Scott Skiles went down. Brandon Jennings is not down, but he seems worn down.
Suddenly, a team that began the season swiftly and surprisingly, with a whole new identity and a different buzz than before, is wondering what the rest of the season will hold. While Skiles is back from a brief heart scare, the Bucks will be without Redd this season (and maybe forever) and must be patient while Jennings deals with the usual fluctuations that come with being a rookie.
They're still in the playoff picture in the East, which is weighed down by mediocrity, and the Bucks seem like a plucky group that likely won't go away easily. Plenty depends on whether Jennings can bounce back from a December dip and his current shooting problems, and if the Bucks can tap into another offensive source to ease the burden off Jennings and center Andrew Bogut.
There's nothing they can do about Redd. He faces a second surgery on the same knee he tore up two years ago. He made an innocent move against Kobe Bryant Sunday in Los Angeles and felt a pop. He went straight to the bench and motioned to Skiles. Right away, they knew it was bad. "I don't know why it happened," Redd said.
It's a tough blow for the Bucks, for performance and financial reasons. They were hoping Redd could bounce back from the first injury, which he was struggling to do; his shooting (35 percent) and scoring average (12 points a game) were drastically below the levels he had prior to tearing his anterior cruciate ligament. Before the first injury, Redd could shoot with range and easily was the Bucks' best scoring option, someone good for 20-25 points a night. This season, he didn't show the same lift or lateral movement. He wasn't the same player and dropped very few hints that he'd ever be.
Then there are the financial ramifications. Redd said he intends to rehab and play next season, the last of the max deal he signed four years ago. It will cost the Bucks $18 million. That's money better used to reduce the payroll and provide some cap relief. Plenty of players never recover from one major knee surgery. What's the chance of Redd being a productive player after two? And $18 million-productive at that? That's an easy answer: Fat chance.
But that's an issue for next season. As for now, the Bucks are trying to climb back to .500 and retain the measure of respectability they worked hard to earn in November. They will lean on Bogut, a former No. 1 overall pick who apparently has settled into a comfort zone; the Bucks can expect roughly 15 points and 10 rebounds and perhaps some decent interior defense from him a night. But aside from Jennings, nobody else on the roster scares anybody. There's not another big threat, at least offensively. The Bucks are mainly a blue-collar, hard-working team without any real star appeal, which is why it's so important for Jennings to flash signs of being that player.
"My main goal is getting my teammates involved and be a true point guard," Jennings said. "I'm a better passer than I am a scorer, which is great, because I love to pass. But whatever helps us win games."
The fear is Jennings could break down from the burden. Maybe he already is. After a breakout November and his epic 55-point game against the Warriors, Jennings followed with a December where he shot 37 percent, and a January where, so far, he's shooting 25 percent and averaging 10 points. This is to be expected. After all, he's barely out of his teens. He's not strong physically. He's still learning how to use his right hand (he's left-handed). He's learning. It's probably unfair to lean on him too heavily, but at least for scoring, the Bucks really don't have any choice. Ricky Pierce is not coming off that bench.
"For us, we need him to score some," Skiles said. "We want him to score. He's in a tough spot, trying to balance everything. It's much easier for a young point guard to come in and just be a point guard who goes out there and moves the ball around than it is for a guy to bring balance when he's just 20 years old."
Jennings is fortunate in one respect. He plays for a former point guard. Skiles has been there and done that already. He's getting a good education in being an NBA point guard from someone who knows, which makes the transition from high school (via Europe) to the bigs a lot smoother if not simpler.
"He's good to have around, easy to relate to," Jennings said. "He's been through it already."
Well, after experiencing a few bumps recently, Jennings and Skiles are about to go through something else. What exactly it is, we'll know in the coming weeks.
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