Bucks wild about offense

Sporting News, The, Nov 29, 1999 by Greg Beacham

Ever since stars Glenn Robinson and Ray Allen came to realize that coach George Karl knows what he's doing, the Bucks have been on a roll.

With a potent, up-tempo offense and three proven scorers getting all the shots they want, the Bucks are leading the NBA in scoring average (106.9). Robinson, Allen and Sam Cassell are healthy, well-conditioned and making the most of their playing time. All three are among the league's top 16 scorers.

Robinson says the Bucks began making progress last year only when he and Allen bought into Karl's substitution system, which was nothing like what they were used to under former coach Chris Ford.

"Ray and I were used to playing 35, 40 minutes a game, and we were used to dragging at the end of games," Robinson says. "Coach Karl keeps us fresh, and since we're getting fewer minutes, we want to make the most of the ones we have."

As he did in Seattle, Karl uses 11 players regularly, keeping his starters fresh for the dosing minutes. Robinson and Cassell say they were in the best shape of their careers entering the season, and the conditioning improvements have shown.

But the Bucks' success is even more remarkable given their lack of a post-up threat. Almost all of their points are scored on jump shots and drives.

Two- or three-pass possessions are frequent for Milwaukee, with Cassell and Allen creating the play almost every time down the floor. Through Saturday, Cassell is third in the league with 8.8 assists per game, and supporting players like Robert Traylor and Dale Ellis also are thriving.

"This is a lot of fun," says a grinning Robinson, who's averaging 21.4 points. "It may look like we're just taking a lot of shots, but there's strategy and discipline behind it. We're not just throwing it up. We're getting good shots, and we're not missing a lot of shots."

The offense seems built for the slashing, crashing Cassell, who has been close to unguardable at times in the first 10 games. The NBA's first Player of the Week this season, Cassell looks even better than he did two seasons ago when he averaged 19.6 points for the Nets.

"George lets me express myself, just like Ray and Glenn express themselves," Cassell says. "We've got a lot of firepower over here, and people are starting to realize they'd better D-up when they play the Bucks."

On the other hand, the Bucks haven't shown much interest in playing defense, and they're allowing 104.2 points per game, 26th in the league.

But Karl says the defense will improve when the team has played together longer--only five players remain from the group he inherited last January.