One Fan's Take On The Bucks

Here is my early take on the Bucks' roster. I have slotted the players in
the positions I believe they'll play this season so some guys will be included
in more than one position:
POINT GUARDS (T.J. Ford, Mike James, Maurice Williams): Ford's health is the
key to next season. With him last season, the Bucks were one of the top four
teams in the East and were unbeaten against the team with the best record.
Without him, they were an also-ran and easy pickings for the Pistons in the
playoffs. Ford's amazing open-court ability and tremendous half-court
creativity and passing skills make him invaluable and if healthy, he has the
potential to be one of the NBA's finest point guards. He isn't the Bucks' best
player, but he may be their most indispensable at this time. James was a
terrific off-season pickup by Larry Harris. James is a massive defensive
upgrade over Damon Jones and isn't a downgrade in any aspect offensively. He
has plenty of big-game experience from playing with the Pistons last season and
should do a solid job of starting if Ford isn't healthy. If Ford is healthy,
this position will be dynamite. Williams is a young, athletic albeit erratic,
backup with nice potential. He is a poor shooter (all 3 of Milwaukee's PGs
struggle with their outside shots), but is explosive. The Jazz clearly did not
want to lose him, but Harris' offer sheet left them no choice but to part with
him. Williams may not be Brevin Knight's equal on defense, but he'll be an
upgrade offensively. If the Bucks open with James and Williams, I would view
that as an upgrade over Jones and Knight.
SHOOTING GUARDS (Michael Redd, Desmond Mason, Erick Strickland, Maurice
Williams): This is a very strong position. In Redd and Mason, the Bucks have
two fine young talents whose games should continue to get better. Redd is the
Bucks' best offensive player and only go-to scorer at the moment. I fully
expect him to continue to improve and learn from his first season as a starter
and go-to guy. I don't think we've seen the best of Redd by any stretch. His
biggest key this season is improving his recognition of double teams and
finding the open man. If he does that, he's going to be a real force. Mason is
a high-energy guy who, like Redd, embodies the team concept to the highest
degree. He is one of the NBA's premier players at getting to the line, but he
needs to become more consistent with his FT shooting, his perimeter game and
his ballhandling. If he does that, his potential is scary. Oh, he's a pretty
decent dunker too. Strickland provides a hard-nosed veteran on the bench who is
always ready to play even if he hasn't played for 10-15 games in a row. If only
Marcus Haislip had these three guys' motivation. The Jazz used Williams at SG
last season and if the Bucks go that route, that could make Strickland
expendable. It would also potentially give the Bucks a fiery fast-break attack
for a few moments a night if Ford's healthy since they could put two quick
guards on the floor who can both trigger an open-court game.
SMALL FORWARDS (Keith Van Horn, D. Mason, Toni Kukoc): Another strength of
the team. Van Horn was the Bucks' best player before his finger injury last
season and while his defense is atrocious, he's a consistent scorer who should
provide a nice complement to Redd offensively. Mason has proven to be a fine
small forward in addition to his shooting guard ability. Both of these guys are
deserving starters, but only one (Mason) has excelled off the bench. Because of
that, don't be surprised if he's the sixth man at the start of the year. Kukoc
provides a veteran presence on the court. His game fell way off last season
(especially his perimeter shooting which was horribly inconsistent) and his
skills are starting to decline, but he is still a great passer and he is
someone the Bucks can run offense through in the low post. He'll play, but
Porter would be smart to closely monitor his minutes.
POWER FORWARDS (Joe Smith, Keith Van Horn, Toni Kukoc, Zaza Pachulia, Marcus
Haislip): Smith is a rock. He was rejuvenated by the trade to Milwaukee last
season and had a fine year. He gives maximum effort on both ends of the court
and is clearly well-respected in the locker room. He's a warrior in every sense
of the word. I fully expect to see Van Horn and Kukoc log minutes at the four
spot although personally I think they can only do it against certain matchups
because neither player is effective defensively. But in order to get Redd, Van
Horn and Mason on the floor together, that means Porter will have to go small
quite often. If the Bucks have a shotblocking presence at center, that will go
a long way toward helping this lineup become more effective defensively.
Pachulia is a great unknown. He has skills, but his motivation was questioned
in Orlando. He'll definitely have a chance to make an impact this season and
I'm starting to get the same vibe on him I had on Skinner last season. Keep an
eye on this kid. If Haislip is ever going to be a player in Milwaukee, this is
the season he has to do it. He's in a contract year so hopefully that will
provide the motivation he clearly has lacked so far. We'll see if he's prepared
to do more than be a fixture on the end of the bench.
CENTERS (Dan Gadzuric, Zaza Pachulia, Daniel Santiago, Zendon Hamilton,
Lonnie Jones): OK, there isn't a Shaq or a Ben Wallace or even a Jamal Magloire
here, but that simply makes the Bucks like virtually every other team in the
NBA. The Bucks are going to miss Brian Skinner's low-post scoring ability, but
have the potential to be better defensively. In fact, if guys like Hamilton
and/or Jones pan out, they should be much better. Also, if Gadzuric can make
strides and improve his conditioning, that also will help since he is a solid
shotblocker. I like the Hamilton signing since he has good rebounding skills
and is a hard worker. He could also see time at power forward. Jones is
intriguing because of his shotblocking skills. He's a flyer, but I'm anxious to
get a look at him to see if he could become a defensive stopper. Pachulia may
be the only offensive player here so that could lead to him emerging with the
most minutes and maybe even starting. Santiago has some offensive ability, but
is stiff and really needs to work on his upper-body strength so he's not pushed
around so easily on the defensive end. I fully expect to see a
center-by-committee approach this season and I don't have a problem with that
since the Bucks appear to have a group of guys who are best-served playing no
more than 15-20 minutes a night.
OVERALL: At worst, this team should be on par with the one we saw at the
tail-end of last season. That puts the Bucks squarely in the playoff picture in
a conference filled with plenty of suspect teams. The 4-8 spots are wide open
and there isn't a single team competing for those spots markedly better than
Milwaukee. In fact, most of them (like New York, Philly and Boston) look very
ordinary. It's logical to assume Redd and Mason will continue to improve and
Van Horn should be more comfortable with a full camp to work with everyone. So
those are positives in the Bucks' favor and should help the team improve next
season. Ultimately, though, the success of this team will hinge on two factors:
1) Ford's health and 2) The play at the C position. The Bucks badly need Ford
healthy and they need players like Gadzuric to step his game up and players
like Hamilton and Pachulia (and maybe Jones) to show something and become
important parts of the rotation. The positive is the Bucks have more depth up
front than a season ago and Porter should have more options to utilize. I don't
see this team being any worse than .500 this season and certainly the potential
is there for a much better season.