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Overall
Win/Loss Record : 31-35 third place Central division
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Last Season’s Rank
19
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Projected 2012/2013 Finish
16
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Last season’s
Team Statistics and League Rank
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Returning
Individual Statistical Leaders
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Projected Starters Based on Last Season’s Performance, Veteran Seniority and Projected Impact
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Key Reserves Based on Last Season’s Performances, Veteran Seniority and Potential Impact.
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2012/2013 Projection: 45-37 third place in Central Division,
looking to make a playoff run and to possibly shock the world.
Read this now and believe it later, but the
Milwaukee Bucks will be headed to the playoffs and possibly be the most
dangerous team in the NBA. Their
roster does not necessarily shout “Championship,” but they will certainly
give elite teams such as the Miami Heat, Los Angeles Lakers, and San Antonio Spurs a run for their money. They will
certainly put a scare in their Central Division rivals, the Indiana Pacers
and the Chicago Bulls who many expect to remain at the top of the
division. Upon a closer look at the
team, the Bucks have a roster that resembles very closely to the Oklahoma City Thunder—a team that took the league by storm last season to reach as far
as the NBA Finals. Some may be rolling
on the floor laughing as they read this paragraph aloud; however, the joke
will be on them as they see a team that has virtually been ignored reach the
upper echelons of the NBA.
To elaborate how good this team is going to be, let
us take a look at the team that they have been compared to being, the
Oklahoma City Thunder. Similar to the
Oklahoma City Thunder, the Bucks’ starting five consists of two players who
will dominate the ball on the offensive end while the three other starters
consists of essentially “ cleanup men” whose prime purpose are playing
defense, forcing turnovers and rebounding.
In the case of the Thunder, those three players consist of Thabo Sefolosha, Serge Ibaka, and Kendrick Perkins whereas the clean up men for the Bucks
will consists of Samuel Dalmbert, Ersan Ilyasova, and Luc Richard Mbah a
Moute. The Bucks also share a common
similarity with the Thunder in the second unit in which they have an adequate
scoring punch along the rebounders and role players to maintain the defensive
intensity; however there is one minor difference. The Thunder only have one player who
provides a major offensive punch off the bench in James Harden whereas the
Bucks have two—namely Mike Dunleavy and Drew Gooden.
Last season the Bucks could not really hang on in
the standings due to their inability to find someone that can consistently
make a basket, especially in the clutch.
That has drastically changed with the addition last season of Monta
Ellis, who was acquired along with promising big man Ekpe Udoh in exchange
for the disappointing Andrew Bogut.
Ellis adds that element that the Bucks desperately needed—someone who
was ready, willing and able to hit crucial shot and fill up a stat sheet
allowing his teammates to do what they know best which is defend, rebound and
force turnovers. He is the perfect
complement to Brandon Jennings who was forced to take a multitude of the
shots due to his inability to find a teammate that could make a basket. Watch for these two players to form one of
the most lethal one-two punch combinations in the NBA.
Some may be skeptical of viewing the Jennings/Ellis
combination as the next Durant/Westbrook; however, the facts supporting this
assertion are quite strong upon looking at the current evidence. In fact, the combo of Ellis and Jennings will
prove to be an even more effective combination that that of Kevin Durant and
Russell Westbrook upon closer examination of last season’s numbers. In OKC, Durant and Westbrook may have
produced close 60 point and 11 assists per game, but their assist turnover
rate was horrible at approximately 10:11. On the other hand, although Ellis’
and Jennings’ scoring numbers were far lower at about 42 points per game, but
they produced the same assist rate as Durant and Westbrook at 11 per game along
with one major difference. Unlike OKC
where Durant and Westbrook together had a 10 to 11 assist to turnover ratio
last season, Ellis’ and Jennings’
ratio was 10 to 5—a sharp contrast to that of the dynamic duo for the
Thunder.
If Scott Skiles has the common sense as his coaching
counterpart Scott Brooks of Oklahoma City Thunder, he will allow Jennings and Ellis to
dominate the ball provided that they play the defense that will provide the
turnover to make their scoring possible.
Unfortunately like the Thunder, Skiles runs the risk of his team
ending up like Oklahoma City where two plays do everything while the others
are relegated to mere spectators. That
did not help the Thunder in the last season’s NBA Finals as the Miami Heat
simply adjusted putting their best defenders on the Thunder’s two stars
whilst their own stars simply coasted on the defensive giving them the energy
to dominate the game on the offensive end.
The Milwaukee Bucks may see the same happen to them as many teams
witnessed how the Thunder fell apart simply by adjusting their lineups to
focus defensively on their two stars while the others lazily defend the three
other players knowing full well that they offer nothing in terms of offensive
production. Nonetheless, with current lineup the Bucks have, they can
certainly raise some eyebrows and shock the league enough to finish strong
once the regular season ends.
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Wednesday, September 19, 2012
SDH's 2012/2013 NBA Worst to First Previews and Predictions: 16. Milwaukee Bucks
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