Eastern Notes: Skiles, Noah, Winslow

Magic coach Scott Skiles, when asked about his tenure as Bucks head coach, said he considered his time there a failure, Charles F. Gardner of The Journal Sentinel relays. “Any time you’re someplace four or five years, you have friendships,” Skiles said regarding his time spent in Milwaukee. “We have a sailboat on Lake Michigan. We had a good time this summer here — all six weeks of it. That was a fun year [in 2010]. But like all coaches or like anybody in sports, you’ve got to be judged by wins and losses. From a personal standpoint because we weren’t able to sustain that, I look at it as a situation where I failed.” Skiles’ regular season record as Bucks coach was 162-182.

Skiles did add that the lack of All-Star level talent contributed to the Bucks difficulties, Gardner notes. “From year to year, things change,” Skiles told Gardner. “It’s hard. The teams that can sustain it, it’s not a secret why. They typically have two or three All-Stars that stay for a long period of time and a really solid core, and they just plug other guys in. If you don’t have that, it’s very hard, because other teams are getting better. Everybody’s goal is to have those guys, but there aren’t that many of them.” The last Milwaukee player selected to the NBA All-Star game was Michael Redd, way back in 2004.

Here’s more from out of the East:

• Bulls center Joakim Noah has dealt with injuries and having his playing time drop this season, the last on his current deal, but he hopes to show the league he can still be a valuable contributor going forward, Nick Friedell of ESPN.com writes. “It’s not easy, but I know there’s people out there who it’s a lot harder for, so I’m not complaining,” Noah said of his pending free agency. “These are my cards right now. And it’s all about how you bounce back. I just want to prove that I have a lot more basketball in me.“
• The Heat want to continue to expand the role of rookie Justise Winslow and view him as player who can be utilized at multiple positions, Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel writes. Winslow, for his part, embraces the variety, Winderman adds. “I mean, that’s the type of player I was growing up, and at Duke, especially, versatile, just trying to do everything,” Winslow said. “I had a post up [Tuesday], knocking down a 3-pointer and playing a little point, just doing a little bit of everything.” The 19-year-old is averaging 5.7 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.4 assists over his 43 appearances this season.