Bucks 2nd Half Season Preview

The second half of the NBA season is about to begin after the annual All-Star game concluded last night with a 141-139 Eastern Conference victory. Despite being represented by Brandon Jennings in the Rookie-Sophomore game on Friday night and in the Skills Challenge on Saturday, the Bucks have continued their All-Star game representation drought. Not since the 2003-2004, when Michael Redd was named to represent the Bucks, has there been a member of the team participating in the game. However, the draft selection of Brandon Jennings and the continued improvement of Andrew Bogut could prove to change this fortune next year. The second half of the season will give us a further glimpse as to what the Bucks future holds.


The center position and the point guard position, widely regarded as the toughest positions to secure in the NBA, appear to be in great shape for the Bucks. The first half of the season proved Bogut has finally arrived as a big-time player, and his consistency and continued improvement have the opinion around the league growing that he is the second best center in the East after Dwight Howard. This is something that Bucks fan should rejoice for, seeing as how we struggled for years with big men such as Ervin Johnson and a washed up Anthony Mason playing key roles down low for us. Those players simply weren't getting it done, and the Bucks franchise mettled in mediocrity for the longest time. Finally, we have a big man who can play with the best in the league down low.

Then there's John Hammond's selection of Brandon Jennings with the 10th overall pick in this past draft. From everything I had heard about him, I was very skepetical of this pick at first. This was not helped by the fact that Jennings didn't even show up to the draft until way later in the event. However, Jennings exploded onto the scene, and no one was questioning his shooting after the 55 point outburst againt Golden State. He worked hard on making his proclaimed weaknesses into his some of his strengths, and hard work is just what the franchise needed from the two most important positions in the game.


In addition to these two players, fan favorite Luc Richard Mbah A Moute brings a level of defense to the Bucks lineup that has long been lacking. Every night he guards the best player on the other team, outside of the center position. That versatility is something every good team needs. Carlos Delfino, now dubbed "Delthreeno" has brought that same kind of versatility in the offseason trade that brought him here from Toronto. You combine that with Charlie Bell's defense and veteran leadership and the Bucks have quickly assembled a pretty solid starting lineup with a bright future in what was supposed to be on the worst seasons in franchise history. The bench brings in hustle players Hakim Warrick, Ersan Illyasova, and Luke Ridnour, and recently signed Jerry Stackhouse for what is one of the strongest group of backups in the league. Since the Michael Redd injury, the Bucks have play much better as a team, and are rapidly ascending the playoff ladder.


The Bucks should maintain their team play throughout the second half of the season, while the team chemistry has only gotten better and better as the year went on. Jennings has had his ups and downs, and that will be no different in the next few months. Playing against different players and different defenses, in addition to the number of games played, is something he is not used to yet. While there most likely will be no more 55 point scoring clinics the rest of the season due to fatigue, expect Jennings point average to remain around 15-18 per game. Bogut should be even better due to the much needed rest he has gotten. Due to the lack of size for the Bucks, he played a lot of minutes in the first half of the season, and that should remain the case coming up. I fully expect him to average around 20 points and 11 rebounds the rest of the season, while maintaining his 2 blocks a game(he is currently second in the league behind Howard). Mbah A Moute has shown very scrappy play on the offensive and defensive side of the ball lately, and that should be the norm from now on as well.

Defensive-minded coach Scott Skiles has wanted him to be more aggressive, and the last couple weeks leading up to the break he certainly fit that bill. In addition to these 3, the veterans should continue their strong play because they are used to the length of the season and have been playing together fairly well. Overall, the Bucks will claim a playoff seed between 5-8. The trade deadline is coming up, and in my next blog, I will discuss possible trades that might happen and why the Michael Redd injury is a great thing for the Bucks for next year.