Andrew Bogut and the Bucks had a frustrating start to their season, but are hoping to turn things around in 2008. (Getty)

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January 7, 2008

MILWAUKEE -- As the Milwaukee Bucks' National Basketball Association season swung into its 2008 segment, it might have been best categorized as an unsolved mystery. The prevailing consensus within the Bucks' ranks is that none of their players or coaches expected to see the team lodged in the 13th position in the Eastern Conference at 11-19 through 2007.

"No, not at all," forward Charlie Villanueva said.

"No, that was never the plan," forward Bobby Simmons agreed.

The team did begin the new year with a glimmer of hope, earning its third road win of the season Jan. 2 in Miami.

"We started off the new year pretty positively," Villanueva said. "I think consistency's the big thing. We have to do what we're trying to do day-in and day-out.

"Can we do it? Absolutely. We've shown it before. We just have to play with energy and we all have to be on the same page."

Pretty much everyone in the Milwaukee camp considered the Bucks playoff contenders back when the season tipped off, and they still can be. Entering their first January home game, they were just 2 1/2 games out of the final playoff spot in the East. That is one bright spot. Another, several of the players point out, is the fact that the team has remained banded together. There have been several players-only meetings called in an effort to steer the team back onto its intended course, but at last check, there were no teammates at each others' throats, no chairs flying across the locker room and no dents in the walls therein.

Simmons believes the Bucks' unity could prove to be one of their most valuable assets.

"It helps," he said. "All of the guys on this team love to win. Unfortunately it's hard for us sometimes to be out there on the floor and figure everything out.

"We just have to stay together and do whatever it takes, whether it's watching more film, having more meetings or whatever it takes. We just have to get it done."

The figuring-out process is taking longer than any of the Bucks' players or coaches anticipated.

"It's not supposed to take this long," Villanueva said, "but it is, so we have to deal with it and overcome it as quickly as possible and get this thing rolling."

Simmons concurs.

"Some of us are still learning each other as teammates, and our coach is still learning, too," he said, "But we're into January now. It's been tough, but we're going to get through it."

During his first preseason camp as an NBA head coach, Larry Krystkowiak stressed defense. And during the first month or so of the season, the Bucks' defensive numbers were better than they were a year ago. Neither coaches nor players expected the team, with the firepower that it has, to have trouble putting points on the board once the newcomers and holdovers became acclimated.

Through Jan. 5, though, the Bucks were mustering just 94.62 points per game, down nearly 5 per game from last season's average. The figure is their lowest since the 1998-99 season and ranked them 22nd in the 30-team NBA.

"When you don't score points ... I think what happens is when you come out and struggle so badly offensively, it sucks the life out of your energy and sucks the life out of your building," Krystkowiak said after watching his team shoot .385 in a 101-77 loss to the Washington Wizards on Jan. 4.

"And that's what people like to watch, is scoring. And this team, probably as much as any, gets energy from scoring."

The Bucks' defensive numbers have suffered recently, in part, because their turnover count has gone up.

"Our field-goal percentage defense has been on a steady climb," Krystkowiak noted. "Some of that's turnovers. Trust me on that. When we're throwing the ball away and they've got numbers going in the other direction, that's a high, high percentage shot, an 80- or 90-percent opportunity. That's what's happened to us.

"It's a concern. If you don't score, you get some of the life sucked out of you. You can only defend and play hard for so long until you're kind of pulverized because you don't see the ball going in the basket."

Guard Royal Ivey would like to see the team continue what it started with the victory in Miami.

"We needed to come into the new year right, with a win, just to get our minds right and stay focused," he said. "We had a couple of meetings, and we told ourselves that we were going to hold everyone accountable and leave it out on the floor.

"In Miami, I think we did that. On the road, it's tough to win no matter where you're playing. They had some guys out, but we still had to bring it, and we did that. We need to continue to bring that effort and energy every night to keep ourselves in ballgames so we can win them in the end."

That effort and energy has to come from everyone.

"It has to be done collectively," Simmons said. "That's what works. It's something you have to do every night you're out there. Hopefully we can do that and change things around."

Ivey hopes the team's unity pays off soon.

"Yeah, that's pretty much what we've preached: to stay together no matter what," he said. "We're a team, we're a family, and we're going to be in it until the end. So we've got to stay together. We can't fight against each other or be on each others' backs. That's not going to help us get to the next level.

"We've been struggling, but we have togetherness, we have the will to win, and we're willing to get better every day. We need to get ourselves in a good position coming down the stretch."

Simmons realizes the Bucks can't simply make a quantum leap into a playoff spot that would give them home-court advantage.

"We've just got to take it one game at a time," he said. "We all know what it takes to win in this league, so we have to go into every single game with the mind-set that we have to win games."

Ivey knows it's time for the Bucks to make their move while the opportunity to get into the playoff picture is still in front of them.

"The East is going to be a battle until the end," he said. "We're only two and a half games out of the playoffs right now, but we're not looking at it like that.

"We've just got to take it game-by-game and piece it together. If we look ahead, that's when we get behind ourselves. We're not too far away, but at the same time, we've got to take it game-by-game."