| Bogut's Injury A Major Blow To Bucks Playoff Hopes Authored by Serge Yusim - October 10, 2006 - 11:52 am
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Tuesday, there was a certain buzz that could be felt
among the players and the coaching staff. Granted, there's always some optimism about the upcoming season that is shared by any team in the league, be it the San Antonio Spurs or the New York Knicks. However, this time the Bucks actually had reasons for their excitement about the 06-07 campaign.
Larry Harris completely reshaped the identity of the team by
trading away two of the team's starters from the previous year in Magloire and Ford. The moves were made to allow Andrew Bogut, Milwaukee's 1st overall draft choice in 2005, to return to his natural center position and to surround him with capable outside shooters. Mo Williams, a 38% shooter from behind the arc last year, was to replace Ford in the starting lineup, and Charlie Villanueva, acquired from Toronto in the Ford deal, was slated to start at power forward to help stretch the defense.
At the center of it all was Bogut - his tremendous passing ability and high basketball IQ was going to help transform the Bucks into a high-powered offense in which the Aussie could operate down low and score with either hand, hit a
cutting teammate for an easy bucket at the rim, or
kick the ball out where Michael Redd, Bobby Simmons,
Mo Williams, and Charlie Villanueva are all more than
capable of draining the jumper.
To top it all off, the Bucks revealed their new logo and uniforms at the season-ticket holder party on Thursday, September 28th. And, with the Brewers missing the playoffs for the 24th consecutive season, and the Packers mired in a
1-4 start, it seemed like it was finally the time for the Bucks to shine in the sports spotlight of the city of Milwaukee. Then it happened.
On Saturday, the Bucks held an open scrimmage at the
Bradley Center to let the fans have their first look
at the newly assembled roster in action. During one of
the plays, Bogut was late coming out on a screen and
collided with Steve Blake. While initially the injury
was diagnosed as a lower left leg sprain and deemed
not serious enough for him to miss any portion of the
regular season, on Monday the injury status was
upgraded to a torn ligament that will sideline him for
6-8 weeks. Not only will this result in Bogut missing
the first month of the season, but it will also rob
him of a chance to mesh with his new teammates in the
weeks leading up to season opener in Detroit.
When he does come back, it will take some time for Bogut to
acclimate himself into the offense and get back into
playing shape. All in all, this injury will push back
Milwaukee's summer plans for a traditional half-court
offense to somewhere around New Year's. Unfortunately,
by that time, it might be too late for the Bucks to
catch up in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
With all due respect to Dan Gadzuric and Brian
Skinner, neither one of them comes close to Bogut in
terms of offensive abilities nor fueling the team's
scoring with pinpoint passing. As such, it will be up
to Stotts to keep the team afloat as a perimeter-based
offensive squad led by a star shooting guard Michael
Redd. Yet, to say that the Bucks are incapable of
remaining competitive would be incorrect.
They do have a talented squad with numerous players capable of lighting up the scoreboard on any given night.
However, when the team's offense was meant to center
around a certain player who, in most likelihood, won't
be 100% until the end of the calendar year, one has to
wonder if the team will struggle early on to overcome
the loss of that player. Much of Bucks playoff hopes
will now lie with how well the team does in the first
two months of the season.
Here's to hoping that Michael Redd and company will overcome adversity and emerge competitive through that tough stretch. The city of Milwaukee will be watching.
You can e-mail Serge Yusim questions or comments at
SergeYusim@yahoo.com |
