Milwaukee Bucks Team Preview 2010-2011
By Mike Misek
The Bucks seem well equipped to compete for as high as the third spot in the East behind Miami and Orlando. In many ways, the Bucks fall victim to their small market. They had an incredible offseason, but it has flown under the radar by most league observers. The Bucks are as deep as any team in the East, possibly as well coached as anyone, have great versatility to match up with differing styles of play, get on the offensive glass extremely well, and are underappreciated for the way they defend. Many of the problems that faced Milwaukee last season were addressed over the summer. To deal with that always realistic possibility that Andew Bogut would miss time and leave them without post scorer, the team brought in Scott Skiles favorite Drew Gooden. Part of the reason for Skiles having a falling out with the Bulls was that management wanted younger players to get on the floor, but Skiles thought guys like Gooden gave the team the best chance of winning. Gooden figures to start at the power forward spot, but will also see time at the 5 when paired with either Ersan Ilyasova or Jon Brockman. Milwaukee finished last season 29th in the league in free throw attempts per game. To tackle that deficiency, they not only retained late season acquisition John Salmons, but turned the expiring contracts of Charlie Bell and Dan Gadzuric into Corey Maggette. While Maggette has received his fair share of criticism for being a big numbers guy who plays mediocre defense and doing so often on bad teams, he will fill a void that the Bucks desperately needed to address. The strong offseason should raise the important question, what is Milwaukee missing?
The concern for Milwaukee is that their two best players are not complete certainties. When Andrew Bogut is healthy, he is one of the best centers in the NBA. For years, Milwaukee failed to utilize his ability as a post scorer nearly as much as they should. Last season, he finally gets the kind of touches he should, and rewarded the team with 16 points per game. He simply has had horrible luck staying healthy. The gruesome elbow injury suffered at the end of last year is still not fully healed. This came off a year where he missed more than half the season with back problems. If he misses an extended period of time, their frontcourt goes from talented and deep to just passable.
Brandon Jennings Their other star, Brandon Jennings, is a different kind of worry. Last year, he was a mixture of tremendous and awful. His highs, including his 55 point game in his first couple weeks of the year, were as great as any rookie in the league. His lows got him benched on a semi-regular basis and helped get Luke Ridnour a $16 million contract from Minnesota. While the Bucks will still have a solid backup play with Keyon Dooling and possibly Earl Boykins behind him, they need for a higher equilibrium from Jennings if they are to fulfill their top three in the East potential. If these two can stay healthy and build on their performance last season, it is hard to imagine the Bucks not being towards the top of the East. It just so happens that those are considerable ifs.
While not often delving into issues or players that will have minimal impact during this coming season, it is worth noting that Larry Sanders is an interesting prospect. He has the ability to show flashes of a young player capable of one day developing into tremendous player down the line. Beyond his obvious measureable assets of being just under 6’11” and having a 7’5” wingspan, he has good mechanics on his shot, has great fluidity with the ball, and can be a presence blocking shots as well as on the glass with his freakish length. The problem is that he needs to learn how to play. He took up basketball as a high school junior and played mid-major college basketball. It is an incredibly burdensome task to learn to play at the speed and strength of the NBA when also facing the learning curve of having played organized basketball for only five years. In the summer league and preseason, he has had an incredible ability to have a “wow” moment and a “how is he an NBA draft pick” moment in the same quarter. His ability to amass both block shots and fouls are really quite amazing. For what he is, Milwaukee is a good spot. The Bucks staff has a couple assistants who come from the college ranks in Kelvin Sampson and Bill Peterson as well as former Buck Joe Wolf who worked in the NBDL. With the great depth Milwaukee has up front, his opportunities will likely be limited and his time in practice working with the coaches and veterans on the team will be of upmost importance. It will be how much and how quickly he absorbs the teaching of Skiles and the staff that determines whether Sanders becomes the player he shows flashes of becoming.
Predicted Record: 49 – 33
Bucks 2010-11 Roster
NUM PLAYER, POS, HT, WT, FROM
3 Brandon Jennings, PG, 6-1, 169 lbs, Oak Hill Academy
5 Corey Maggette, SG/SF, 6-6, 225 lbs, Duke
15 John Salmons, SG/SF, 6-6, 207 lbs, Miami (Fla.)
0 Drew Gooden, PF/C, 6-10, 250 lbs, Kansas
6 Andrew Bogut, C, 7-0, 260 lbs, Melbourne, Australia
10 Carlos Delfino, SG/SF, 6-6, 230 lbs, Santa Fe, Argentina
7 Ersan Ilyasova, PF, 6-10, 235 lbs, Eskisehir, Turkey
55 Keyon Dooling, PG, 6-3, 195 lbs, Missouri
12 Luc Mbah a Moute, SF, 6-8, 230 lbs, UCLA
40 Jon Brockman, PF/C, 6-7, 255 lbs, Washington
17 Chris Douglas-Roberts, SG, 6-7, 210 lbs, Memphis
11 Earl Boykins, PG, 5-5, 133 lbs, Eastern Michigan
8 Larry Sanders, PF/C, 6-11, 235 lbs, Virginia Commonwealth
9 Darington Hobson, SF, 6-7, 210 lbs, New Mexico
22 Michael Redd, SG, 6-6, 215 lbs, Ohio State
54 Brian Skinner, PF/C, 6-9, 255 lbs, Baylor
