Richard Jefferson Has The Bucks Movin’ On Up
March 6, 2009 – 11:27 am by Jimmy Shapiro
One of the more surprising deals of the NBA off-season was the Bucks trading Bobby Simmons and Yi Jianlian for Richard Jefferson. It really gave them a strong starting lineup and a good defensive player on the wing. The Bucks also hired Scott Skiles in the off-season to instill some discipline in the team.
I covered Skiles for the 2000 season for XTRA Sports in Phoenix and traveled with them during the playoffs. I’m not the biggest fan of his because he would never look you in the eye when he spoke to you. He does seem to have a track record as a coach where for the first few seasons with a new team (he’s now on his third team) they played significantly harder with better results, but after a few seasons his coaching style grated on his players and they tuned him out. Happened in Phoenix and Chicago.
Right now the Bucks are the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference and already have more wins then they did last year. Despite season ending injuries to their top scorer in Michael Redd and top rebounder in Andrew Bogut, the Bucks keep playing well. Much credit should go to young players Ramon Sessions and Charlie Villaneuva for stepping up their games.
Bucks forward Richard Jefferson joined WSSP in Milwaukee on Thursday to discuss the season:
“We’re extremely confident even though a lot of people haven’t had confidence in us all season. For some reason we’ve been in this spot all season long regardless of the injuries that we had early in the season and then regardless of two of our main players going out for the season we’ve still held on and still have continued to played well.”
On Coach Skiles:
“I think Coach he’s a little different in the sense that I haven’t played for a coach that played. For me it was good to be a part of a coach that has been there on both sides. He’s been a sixth man, he’s been a starter, he’s been the 12th guy on the bench. When he sits down and talks to you or gets pissed off or frustrated you understand where it’s coming from.”
Listen to Richard Jefferson on WSSP in Milwaukee
Tags: Milwaukee Bucks, NBA Playoffs, Richard Jefferson, Scott Skiles
