Hornets.com’s 1-on-1: Milwaukee’s Charlie Villanueva, Ted Davis
February 8, 2007
Hornets.com’s Cris Quintana and Jim Eichenhofer interviewed Milwaukee forward Charlie Villanueva and radio play-by-play broadcaster Ted Davis, respectively, during the Bucks’ visit to the Ford Center on Thursday.
Villanueva finished as a runner-up to Chris Paul in the 2005-06 NBA Rookie of the Year voting, but was surprisingly traded from Toronto to Milwaukee in the summer, in exchange for point guard T.J. Ford. Villanueva is regarded as one of the game’s most promising forwards, but he has missed 22 games this season due to injury.
Davis is in his 10th season as the radio voice of the Bucks and 34th year overall as a broadcaster. Prior to calling games for Milwaukee, he spent nine seasons as a Dallas Mavericks broadcaster.
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Milwaukee forward Charlie Villanueva
Q: What were your thoughts on tonight’s game?
A: We’ve got to give the Hornets a lot of credit for how they played tonight. We fought hard, but they made some big shots down the stretch and were able to pull it out. They had a lot of guys step up tonight contributing to their win.
Q: The league is very diverse nowadays. How does it feel to be an influence and role model to kids of Latino heritage?
A: It’s definitely a good thing. There aren’t many Dominicans, let alone Hispanics period in the NBA, so just to be in that position, I feel like I’m blessed, and I feel like I give a good name for Latinos.
Q: Tell me a little bit about the Charlie Villanueva Foundation and what inspired you to come up with the concept it supports?
A: I love working with kids, giving them hope. I never had anyone to look up to when I was growing up. I want to make them feel as if they have someone that is looking out for them and is trying to be a positive influence on them.
Q: You play in arguably the most competitive division in the league, what do you think the Bucks need to do to be competitive?
A: Play together as a team; we’re playing without our leading scorer in Michael Redd. We hope to get him back healthy soon. We play in a really tough division, so we have to go out there every night and give it our all and let things fall into place.
Q: What were your initial thoughts when you learned that you had been traded for T.J. Ford this past offseason? What has been the biggest adjustment you’ve had to make?
A: I was a little shocked, because I thought I had a good rookie season… it caught me off guard, as it was something that I was not expecting. It’s a business and I understand that though. Looking at my situation here in Milwaukee, I feel fortunate and feel that it’s a good fit.
As for adjustments, I’m just trying to be healthy. It’s been an up-and-down season for me. Injuries have caused me to miss a lot of games, so I’m just trying to get back in the flow of things. I started off the season pretty good, and then I got an elbow injury, followed by a shoulder injury… so just getting healthy and contributing to the team (is important right now).
Q: You played ball at one of my favorite college programs. What are your thoughts on their struggles and do you ever think back at coming out early?
A: UConn was a great experience for me, and I learned a lot from Coach (Jim) Calhoun. I feel that he is one of the best coaches on the collegiate level. It was an unbelievable two years while I was there. My first year, we won the national championship and in the second year, we fell a little short. I felt that I accomplished everything that I had to do in college and it was time for me to go. They’ve got a young team, but Coach will get them there.
Davis
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Milwaukee broadcaster Ted Davis
Q: In your opinion, which team on the Ford Center floor tonight has been more adversely affected by injuries? Bucks or Hornets?
A: They both have definitely been hit pretty hard. The Hornets’ (injured) guys are back now, while the Bucks’ are not, so that makes us feel like ours are lasting longer. You see a much different team when you lose your frontline guys, and we have found that out. We had Maurice Williams, Charlie Villanueva and Michael Redd out at the same time, and you can’t win games when your top guys are missing.
Michael has missed 16 games, and we’re 3-13 without him. That’s pretty telling. You just don’t go out to the employment agency and find a 28-points-per-game, All-Star-caliber shooting guard. [grins]
Q: Did you believe the Bucks were a playoff team in the East before injuries caused them to slump considerably?
A: I thought we were headed that way. In December, they went 11-6, had a six-game winning streak, and won at San Antonio. We were averaging 107 points a game and were a fun team to watch, a little bit like Washington or Phoenix – we were playing a wide-open style. Then the injuries hit. We just haven’t been the same team since.
Q: How realistic is it to think the Bucks could make a run at the eighth spot in the East when Michael Redd returns and they are closer to having a healthy roster?
A: We’re 11 games under .500 right now, so it might be too late to make a run. We’re five games out (of eighth) with 33 to play. That’s a lot of games to make up, but we have a lot of home games left. That’s to our advantage.
If they can get everyone back and get back to playing the way they were in December, I think they can make a run at it. Now whether or not the hole is too deep to climb out of it… it’s possible that they’ve dug too big of a hole. Once you get Michael Redd back, you probably have a 15-game window where if you get hot, you might be able to get back into the picture.
Q: What was your opinion of the T.J. Ford-Charlie Villanueva trade when it was made? At the time, many analysts said it was a steal for the Bucks because it was a big man-for-guard exchange, but Villanueva has missed nearly half the season with injuries, while Ford has played very well for Toronto.
A: I liked the trade then, and I still do. T.J. was an average point guard in Milwaukee. I don’t think he really got the ‘big picture’ as a point guard. He’s doing a better job in Toronto with that, so maybe the light bulb has come on for him. But I think any time you can trade a small – and T.J. is really small – for a big guy, you go ahead and do it.
As far as Villanueva, he’s missed 22 games, so judging what he’s done for the Bucks has been really difficult. Villanueva is a very smooth, gifted offensive player, and he’s starting to come around the last couple games.
I still would’ve made the trade. And I also think Mo Williams is a terrific point guard, so I don’t think moving (Ford) out hurt us at that much at that position.
Q: Are the Bucks satisfied with the progress of Andrew Bogut? Given that he was a No. 1 overall draft pick, did Milwaukee expect that he would be higher than the team’s seventh-leading scorer right now?
A: Andrew is an interesting study, because I’m not really sure if we know what we have in him yet. He’s very early in his career, and I don’t think we have a complete picture of what he is. Part of it is his fault – I think there are times when his attitude is too passive on the court. He needs to be more aggressive in certain areas.
But we also don’t make him a big part of our offense. There are nights when he gets 15 shots, and there are other nights when he gets four. The nature of how much he gets involved in the offense affects his play. It probably shouldn’t, but he’s a young guy. And I’ve always felt that with big guys, you have to throw the ball and get them involved offensively, because once they become involved, they become a better rebounder and a better defensive player.
There are nights when he is so isolated at the top of the key, and is used as a screener, a passer or a facilitator, that he feels like he’s not part of the game plan sometimes. I think that affects his aggressiveness. He’s a talented player who has offensive skills, but a year and a half (into Bogut’s career), I don’t know exactly what we have with him.
