| Bucks Need To Make Their Move Authored by Derek Flack - February 28, 2008 - 7:35 pm
Michael Redd's dead eye accuracy from beyond the arc and overall talent to score the ball; Maurice (Mo) Williams explosiveness and ability to hit the open man; Andrew Bogut’s double-double tendencies and precision passing to cutters out of the high and low post; the list can go on and on about the firepower that the Milwaukee Bucks possess, but for some reason they find themselves on the outside looking in as teams begin their playoff push in a relatively weak Eastern Conference.
The Bucks have suffered some injuries but this team has enough skill and talent that they should be in the top eight in their conference and have a much better record than their current of 22-35 mark. Why have they had such failure with a highly talented team?
Coming into the season the Bucks looked like a team that was ready to make a run for the top of the east. Redd was healthy and played a huge part in the success of the US National Team over the summer and proved that he is one of the top shooters in the world. He had lost some weight and was in the best shape he had been in over the last few seasons; unfortunately, he still suffered some minor injuries early in the season.
Redd is averaging 23.3 points a night, but he is only shooting 37% from three and 44% from the field. He is a better shooter than that but he hasn’t put it all together yet this season. Hopefully for the Bucks he will regain his form after hitting a huge game winning three-pointer against the Cleveland Cavaliers as time expired on February 26th.
The point guard position seemed set coming into the season since the Bucks were able to retain Williams after the young guard received some intriguing offers elsewhere, most notably from the now awful Miami Heat. Williams has played well this year but needs to be more consistent at getting his teammates involved. He is an excellent scorer for a point guard, but the Bucks have a handful of capable scorers in Redd, Bogut, Charlie Villanueva, Desmond Mason, and at times rookie Yi Jianlian.
The Bucks are a better team when Mo is distributing the ball and racking up assists because it involves the rest of the team. When everyone is involved they play with more energy and hustle and have a much better offensive flow. When Williams is leading the team in shot attempts the offense becomes stagnant, which then leads to a poor effort on the defensive end of the floor.
When Williams passes for under 5 assists the Bucks only have 2 wins compared to 12 losses. However, when he dishes out 5 or more assists they have many more wins, 14 and 21 losses. Though they are still under .500 when he is raking in more dimes they still have a much higher winning percentage when he is able to distribute the ball.
Another key player for the Bucks, Bogut, is finally showing why the he was drafted with number 1 overall pick in the 2005 draft. He is averaging 13 and 9 and is also blocking some shots to help out his team, but he is not consistent enough. One night he is a beast putting up huge 20 point 11 rebound performances; then he fades into obscurity with 8 and 5 nights the next. He needs to become dependable on a nightly basis if the Bucks are going to charge for the playoffs.
The biggest concern for the Bucks has to be their atrocious defense. Opposing teams score on them like Arena Football offense. The Bucks allow their opponents to outscore them101.5 points to 95 a night. You can’t win many basketball games if you give up over 100 a night unless you’re the Phoenix Suns.
Another thing that has hurt them has been the decline in production of Jianlian. He started the year off playing well but seems to have hit the rookie wall over the last couple weeks. The Bucks have now moved him to the bench and replaced him with Villanueva in the starting line-up. Yi now has the opportunity to come off the bench and be the primary scorer for the Bucks second string, which could spark Yi and get him playing with a little more energy.
The move to starter is also good for Villanueva; he hasn’t played with the same kind of intensity he showed as a rookie in Toronto since he has been in Milwaukee. The change from 6th man to starter might give him more confidence in his shot and raise his poor shooting numbers up from 43.7% from the field and 25.9% from three.
The season is heading toward the home stretch Milwaukee just out of reach of the eighth and final playoff spot in the East. Will the Bucks be shot down like hunting season or will they find greener pastures in the post season? If they improve a few deficiencies they can get back on the track like Joe Gibbs and race towards the final eight in their conference. |
