Hitting up another of our TrueHoop partners for a look at the upcoming season. This time we hit up a city that is on my short list of places to visit: Milwaukee. These guys have the best name for a fan site: Bucksketball and those of you with a Rudolph fetish might enjoy their banner.
Last season we beat them in their home gym to go 3-0 on the young season and everything was coming up roses. Then, early in the new year we sucked eggs during one game and Bosh thought the ball had the cooties the next time we faced them. Marion arrived and we kicked their asses in the second game of our glorious 6 game win streak. So, a split.
Predicted starting 5:
For the love of god I hope Brandon Jennings is the starting point guard and not Luke Ridnour. But, I’m not optimistic. Ridnour/Redd/Delfino/Warrick/Bogut (fingers crossed on Bogut, hoping he’s over the injury by opening night.
Best offensive player:
For all the problems people have with Redd, he’s still the Bucks most efficient scorer, and it’s not even close. Offense, for the first time in about twenty years, will be the Bucks biggest problem.
Best defensive player:
Andrew Bogut is the team’s defensive heartbeat. If he’s in, they can control the glass and hold their own against most big men. If he’s not, then Dan Gadzuric and Francisco Elson are in charge. If we could somehow combine them into one man they might have the girth to stand up to centers in the NBA, but alone they are too small to deal with the pounding for more than 15 minutes each.
Best new player:
Jennings is the man everyone wants to see. He’s already close to Redd as the Bucks most recognizable player, and judging from his strong summer league performance, he’s closing in on being their most important player on the court too.
Player that will be missed:
Richard Jefferson wasn’t all that pretty on the court, but he delivered offense when Redd and Bogut were out. He also at least was a body on defense, which is more than can be said about Charlie Villanueva. As much as I liked Charlie V. from January on last year, Jefferson’s absence will be most notable.
Weakest link in your top 8 rotation players:
The small forward position provides virtually no offense. Fans still don’t know what to make of Joe Alexander, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute is a terrific defensive player that can fill in anywhere, but offers little in the form of offensive capabilities and Carlos Delfino has been underwhelming in his previous few years in the NBA.
greatest weakness as a team:
Offense. Where will it come from if Redd cannot round into form after ACL surgery last season?
Biggest question heading into the season:
Can Andrew Bogut and Michael Redd stay healthy and improve on last year’s record?
If I was GM for a day, I would…
Have kept Ramon Sessions.
Your opinion of the Raptors:
If the Raptors have finally shored up their swingman position they could make some playoff noise. I’m just not sure that Hedo Turkoglu and Demar Derozan qualify as "shoring up" the position.
If you had to assign a "movie title" to your expectations of the season,
what would it be?:
Groundhog Day. (The Bucks miss the playoffs again)
w/l prediction for your team:
37-45
Our thanks to the guys at Bucksketball. Grab a look at their Media Day recap, their glossary of terms (jacker!), and a great piece on something near and dear to Raptors fans hearts: theme music.
