The Pearl and Bogut Show

Who the hell is this guy playing center for the Milwaukee Bucks? He's got the same number he had a month ago, but he can't be the same player. Last month he appeared to be nothing more than Steve Stipanovich redux... if that... suddenly now his play recalls the spirit of '77, Blazermania, the Grateful Dead, riding bicycles in victory parades... in other words, the salad days of Bill Walton. Is it all a dream?

Remember, the Bucks have played some pretty weak teams in their last three games. Nevertheless, Bogut has been spectacular. Last night's performance was a poor man's version of Bill Walton's perfect game. He scored 42 efficiency points in 38 minutes. That's incredible production. That's a Chamberlin like Eff48 of 53.05. More than one efficiency point per minute of action. Astounding!

And its simply a continuation of what we have seen from this man for more than a month now. Bogut has been rebounding, assisting, scoring, blocking shots... just doing some extreme ballin, to paraphrase Ruben Patterson. He looks so much more determined. And its paying off. In the last 10 days (or 5 games), Bogut has the highest Eff48 score in the entire Association. His score over that stretch is a sensational 41.21. I love it. Keep it up Big Man.

Dawn of The Pearl

Speaking of ballin, how about Earl the Pearl? 30 points last night? As that moron Borat would say "Niiiice". This guy, at 5'5'' can just flat out score. He uses his quickness to compensate for his height. Because defenders fear his ability to "blow-by" they give him extra distance, thereby negating their height advantage over the Pocket Rocket. He has to be licking his chops. He could really put up some huge numbers from now until the Bucks starting backcourt returns.

I just hope he remembers to mix in some dimes every once in a while. He is the point guard, after all. At the moment though, I must admit points are at a premium.

Adam Morrison cannot be the ROY

The Bobcats have some nice young talent. Okafor is tough... Felton has some game... I like Sean May. That said, Adam Morrison is wildly overrated, and he is definetely not the Rookie of the Year. Those who promilgate such notions are just being lazy, or allowing themselves to be deceived by hype.

Morrison is actually playing poorly. He's fooling people with raw numbers. Last night, for instance, he scored 11 points and grabbed 7 rebounds. Not bad for a rookie, you say, right? Well consider that he needed 34 minutes to produce those numbers, and more importantly, he needed 17 shots, more shots than anyone on the Bucks attempted. That's awful. A guy shooting 38% from the field should never get anywhere near 17 shots away. Yet he did.

That's been the story of his season. He puts up decent looking numbers, but they are merely volume numbers, not productive numbers, and thus he is hurting his team... those extra shots he is attempting should be taken by more proficient shooters. His Eff48 last night was a mere 12.70. And last night was, by his measure, a big rebounding night. (He only averages 3 boards per night.) Had he been on his average, his numbers would have been microscopic.

He shoots way too much, he misses too many of the shots he takes, he's mediocre from the free throw line, he really doesn't pass the ball at all, he's a very spotty and generally ineffective rebounder, and he is, by everyone's account, a laughable defender. All this adds up to an Eff48 that is a miserable 11.88. It is the lowest score amongst all players averaging over 30 minutes a game. Its bad.

I admire Morrison's tenacity and the determination he shows playing through his medical condition, but the bottom line is he's playing poorly. All this talk about him being the leading candidate for Rookie of the Year has to stop. Its ludicrous.