Bucks should follow the leaders: Skiles said team could learn from NBA champs

Here is an portion of an article from the Milwaukee Sentinel about how Bucks head coach Scott Skiles wants his team to learn from the Lakers:

To Skiles, watching the playoffs from the sideline offered a reminder of just how hard it is to win in the postseason, which is something he wants his players to keep in mind as the team's building process moves forward.

"You get away from it and start watching the playoff games and if you've been in the playoffs before and now you're not, you're watching them and you see what it takes to play at that level," Skiles said. "You see what it takes to win a series. It's just a constant reminder of how hard it is. It's hard.

"One thing we're continually trying to impress upon our guys is that this should be fun. Everybody would like to have a job where they enjoy it. But still there's a lot of (stuff) you've got to go through to be that type of team and it's hard. There's a lot of stuff you have to play through. The season is long. All the stuff everybody knows. It's very, very difficult and the more we can understand that (the better).

"When guys work out this summer and work on their games and conditioning, sure they should enjoy it and enjoy the game, but they should always have an eye toward how hard it's going to be if we are going to get where we want to go and how everything they are doing right now is pushing them toward that direction."

"I want to try to get back to the promise land"

Recently Pistons all-star guard Richard Hamilton was taken out of the starting lineup and has been given a role off the bench. It is nothing that Hamilton did to not start, it is what he can give to the Pistons off the bench. Coach Michael Curry wants to get away from his three guard lineup and get bigger to start the game.

Here is an article on the transition. Says Hamilton:

"I been here for a long time, and ever since I got here playing with Chauncey (Billups) and (Tayshaun Prince), we all had to sacrifice some for the one goal, and that is to win a championship," he said. "Sometimes, you got to sacrifice. Bottom line, I want to get back to the promised land."

Here is what Coach Curry had to say:

"It allows us to have the two bigs on the floor for the majority of the game where we are better defensively and rebounding wise," Curry said. "We also sometimes struggle to score at the beginning of the second and fourth quarters, and with being able to feature (Hamilton) at that time, we should be able to (score)."

"I wasn't worried about if Rip (Hamilton) wanted to come off the bench or Allen wanted to come off the bench. We just made a decision on what gives us the chance to be at our best," Curry said.