Milwaukee Bucks Links: Learning Jason Kidd’s Offense

Every morning, Behind the Buck Pass brings you the reading material you need before you start your day at the office. We bring you the morning’s Daily Dimes — Milwaukee Bucks Links from across the web to get you ready for the day.

Thursdays will always be known as the day before Friday for me. I don’t know what owners and bosses want with us. On the fourth day, the Luddite worker went to the internet — and found great basketball news and coverage.

Why is there always hatred for looking up what’s new about my favorite team?

Don’t worry hoss, I’m going to get the job done.

You know who is getting the job done today? Those hard workin, fast typin’, Milwaukee Bucks writers and reporters that bring us today’s Behind the Buck Dimes.

Let’s dig in.

— We start with the best three point shooter of all time. We told you earlier this week about the Bucks showing interest in Ray Allen returning to Milwaukee. Charles Gardner at the Journal Sentinel confirmed the report with head coach Jason Kidd.

"“We did contact Ray,” Kidd said. “He’s weighing his options to see where he wants to go. But we did have interest.”"

— Gardner also brings us an update on Brandon Knight’s injury. He missed Tuesday’s game with a strained groin.

"Knight did not travel with the team for Tuesday’s preseason game in Cleveland, and his status is uncertain for the Bucks’ visit to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to meet the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night.“We’ll see how it goes,” Knight said after practice. “I’m not exactly sure the timeline. Every day I’ll just keep doing more and see how it goes.”Knight was injured while trying to make a steal in the Bucks’ home loss to the Chicago Bulls on Saturday night.“For what I have, I think there’s a lot of time,” Knight said. “Nothing that I’m really worried about. I had it in high school. It was a lot worse.”"

— Finally, Gardner wraps up his coverage by looking at how the Bucks players are adjusting to Jason Kidd’s new offense.

"Kidd describes his offense as “read and react” and wants his big men to be involved in moving the ball.“We’re looking to not just be an iso (isolation) team,” he said. “Paint touches are key for us. Good things happen. Make or miss, we get a good look. Guys are trying to figure that out right now.”The pick-and-roll is an NBA staple, but Kidd does not want to rely on it too much.“We want to be balanced,” Kidd said. “We’re not afraid to run a pick-and-roll and spread them out. But we also want to be able to get lanes to use our speed, to get in the gaps.“We don’t want to be top-heavy on pick-and-rolls, and we don’t want to be top-heavy on movement, in the sense we can drop some people in the post and create a mismatch so that teams (have to) double-team.”"

–Bleacher Report NBA Lead Writer Jonathon Wasserman wonders how O.J. Mayo went from top prospect to the NBA’s biggest reclamation project.

"That’s what the Milwaukee Bucks were hoping for when they signed him to a three-year, $24 million deal. But in his first season, he never earned the trust of coach Larry Drew, who played him a career-low 25.9 minutes a game. Mayo, 26 years old, was even receiving DNPs like a washed-up veteran.He’d soon find himself backing up rookies and minimum-wage players on a 15-win squad, moving closer and closer to rock bottom."

— What if the Bucks were in the MLS and needed a sweet badge logo? Welp, one fan has the NBA covered.

— Gery Woelfel at the Journal Times believes the John Henson is finally starting to pull his own weight.

"While many of his NBA colleagues spent their offseason staying up late and getting up late, Henson rose at the crack of dawn and went to bed early.He adhered too a strict daily workout program, one that clearly showed his dedication and commitment to becoming a better basketball player.“I would wake up at 7 a.m., get breakfast and then lift weights,’’ said the, yes, still affable Henson. “I did that just because I could to go sleep earlier at night. Sleep actually helps you put on weight. I would go to bed usually around 9, 10 o’clock.“That’s unusual, but at the same time, I had a routine. I wanted to put on 15 pounds and I did, so it worked.’’"

— Dan Sinclair at Brew Hoop says that the Bucks could trade a wing player to help clear up playing time for it’s young core.

"It’s generally risky to call anybody a “safe bet” to be traded (though Gary Neal totally qualified last year), but moving Dudley this season does make a lot of sense. His deal is relatively cheap at $4.25 million with an ETO after this year, and he was a very effective wing scorer with Phoenix before enduring a rough season with the Clippers last year. Don’t expect the Bucks to get too much for him if they do find a taker, though if Carlos Delfino and Miroslav Raduljica can fetch a better player and a future first, anything is possible, right? Having already acquired a future first-round pick for taking on his contract, swapping him for another future asset would constitute some seriously slick cap management from John Hammond and company."

Two for the Road

— Apparently Rajon Rondo is really good at Connect Four? Who in the heck knew this and didn’t pass it on to BTBP headquarters?

— Dennis Rodman has named his successor. It’s someone that doesn’t even play the same position. Welcome to the club, J.R. Smith. Just don’t go off and marry yourself in celebration.

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