Bucks Post-Mortem: Sins of Terry Stotts

(above: Terry Stotts tries to pretend he's paying attention to what's going on.)

1) Not knowing who Charlie Bell was at the beginning of the year, and not realizing he was
better then Jiri Welsch for 2/3 of the year.

2) Refusing to post up Andrew Bogut, hampering the development of the second most important player on the team.

3) Posting up Jamaal Magloire more than anyone else on the team, even though he has no moves that technically "work," and isn't a real strong passer.

4) Never coming up with a set 9- or even 10-man rotation, so virtually every player was pissed off about their minutes.

5) Never established a team identity, because Stotts never figured out what the team was good at.

6) Not realizing the Mo Williams (and even Charlie Bell) is a better player than TJ Ford, especially in the 4th quarter.

7) Not getting this team to play defense (which, I might add, was the same thing the last coach was supposedly fired for).

8) Not using Bobby Simmons properly, and allowing him to become a tenative shell of his former self.

9) Not coaching TJ Ford in any evident way, judging by Ford's constantly making the same mistakes over and over again every game. A blind person watching via braille could tell he was overdribbling just by sound, for pete's sake.

10) Just putting in the same offense that his leader George Karl had 5 years ago, regardless of personnel.

11) Squandering the best and deepest frontcourt the Bucks have had since Kareem by playing a smallball offense.

12) Always smiling and giving quotes to the press that sound good but never go anywhere.

13) Not talking to the players about playing time so they understood where they stood on the team -- this goes along with not settling on a rotation.

14) For the love of all that is holy, HE WASN'T GOING TO START BOGUT AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SEASON. THE ONLY REASON BOGUT GOT HIS 28 MINUTES A GAME IS BECAUSE JOE SMITH WAS HURT!

15) Not being able to motivate his team enough to play hard in the last week of the season against Atlanta and Washington. In fact, let's just say he wasn't able to motivate his team at all.

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Since Larry Harris isn't firing Stotts, I think it behooves H. Kohl to fire Bucks GM Larry Harris, don't you think? I mean, if Harris can't figure out that Stotts is a failure as a coach that's setting the franchise back two years every one year he coaches, then how much of a basketball man can he be? Is this a Herb Kohl money thing? He doesn't want to pay for a real coach? I hear Terry Porter's available, and he got the exact same record two years ago with much inferior personnel.

I'll finish with some quotes from various Bucks people at the end of the year. By themselves they tell quite a story, even taking into consideration the problematic nature of quoting people in print:

"I think that (inconsistency) had to do with youth," guard Mo Williams said. "This was our first year of really playing with each other. Any time there's something new, it's going to be inconsistent."

"The players competed and we did a lot of good things," coach Terry Stotts said. "We were a good shooting team at times. We were a good defensive team at times. We were a good rebounding team at times. We were a good running team at times. But when you look at it throughout the season or through the course of a game, we just didn't have that consistency in one area or another."

Regarding the limited success the Bucks did have against the Pistons in the playoffs, GM Larry Harris said, "The disappointment was we can play with this team. . . then why didn't we show that in times when we really could have helped ourselves?"

"We need some help in some positions, so there could be a lot of movement. We have 10 players under contract for next year and I would have no problem bringing all 10 players back. But I understand that in order to get better, and we need to get better, I may have to use some of those pieces to get there."

"Bogut had an absolute right for speaking his mind after the Bucks were eliminated Wednesday night. All of his complaints - the logjams at certain positions, the disappointments of the season, his misuse by the coaches and his eroding confidence - were 100% legitimate." (Milw. Journal-Sentinel columnist Michael Hunt)

"As for first-year coach Terry Stotts, to an extent he was saddled with the mismatched, underperforming pieces brought in by Harris. But just as Terry Porter was fired because the Bucks would not play defense, this group was nearly as sieve-like. Still, Stotts should be given another season to prove himself." (Hunt again, flirting with a good column but coming up short)

The bottom line, though, will show that they are little more than an average team. Harris promises improvement next season. "Though we finished 40-42, the goal was the playoffs," he said. "We're going to be better next year. There's not (sic) question about that."

Really? Tell that to the hand.

S/S/Bucksy.