Bucks offseason keeps getting nicer....Sign Boykins

[Roy H.]

It depends on how good New York and Charlotte are next year, but the Bucks are likely to be in a dogfight for the playoffs.

I have them in the playoffs, but I don't see them as having much potential to make any noise. 

[nickagneta]

Color me unimpressed with this Bucks team.

Bogut missed 46 games the year before last and then had his horrific elbow injury that will render him late coming back into this season.

Jennings could be a star but the luster was off his shine after the first couple of months of last season. His FG% plummeted after mid January and it was Ridnour that helped to lead the Bucks at the end of the year. Now, Ridnour is gone replaced by Keyon Dooling and Earl Boykins. That's a terrible downgrade right there.

Salmons has never done it for me as he seems to disappear at the most inopportune times both during the season and individual games. I just get the feeling that he's one of those guys that at the end of the day, his stats look good, but he got them all at the least important times, like during blowouts or early in games.

Maggette is a taller Allen Iverson without the heart and will and desire to win or any of the other intangibles that makes Iverson likeable and great. Gooden is a tool and has never found a home because he he is a tool.

The Bucks had something good going with the Ridnour, Luc Richard, DelFino, Jennings, Bogut and Ilyasova core but the flubbed the off season. They will finish 6th in the East because, well, someone has to. The East after the top 5-6 teams is awful. But I could see Milwaukee stumbling badly due to injury or bad chemistry.

[Snakehead]

I think they could be a sleeper if their new guys buy into the defensive mentality that the team needs.  They are not all historically good defenders.  Jennings should also make a jump, hopefully he will improve his shooting and shot selection now with better offensive players around him.  He was a good defender last year and obviously has a lot of talent.

But yes, they aren't exactly in a great position long term, and they need Bogut.  Bogut brings a lot to the team, he was very strong last year on both ends of the floor. He plays well against us for sure.  GRUSOME arm injury he had, ugh that one still gives me the chills.

I don't think Jennings will go from being so incredibly inconsistent to a star in one off season.

Their lack of Ridnour, Bogut's injury, and their meh signings won't help matters either.

It depends on how good New York and Charlotte are next year, but the Bucks are likely to be in a dogfight for the playoffs.

Well I didn't say star, just a jump.  We'll see how much he improves, but I think he will with better offensive players around him.  He was a good defender last year already.

He averaged a solid 5.7 assists but I think that'll go up via his progression and playing with better offensive players.  His poor shooting should hopefully be remedied by the better offense as well: he will not have to force shots because he will not be one of the only scorers on the floor.  Hopefully this makes him more effecient, and since these other offensive weapons will have to be accounted for by the defense I think he will have an easier time scoring often, or at least have to take less jumpers.  If he takes care of the ball and turns it over less, that's a big jump to me all around.

I could see 16-17 PPG, 7-8 Ast, 3 Reb, 1.5 Steals, 1.5 TO's, and hopefully a FG% above 40% (though it should be noted his Effective FG % last year was .430, not as bad as the regular FG%).  Those are good PG numbers.  Maybe he officially makes the "star" jump the next year after that (IDK how you even define that) but yes I think he'll have numbers around there and that's good from your young PG.

And leadership and the "floor general" development are the big things.  You need to see those out of him because he is their future leader.

[wdleehi]

I don't understand how they jump a 50 win Atlanta team?

[Snakehead]

I don't understand how they jump a 50 win Atlanta team?

I don't think they do.  I don't think things go well for ATL, they probably are again a team that challenges the good teams on some nights and beats up on the bad teams and then flops in the Playoffs against teams that are physical and strong inside (which we will be to a larger extent than ever next year). And eventually they are a team that is paying a 35 year old Joe Johnson a max contract... so I don't like their long term prospects either.

But yes, next season they probably stay around 50 wins.  Though I could see them dropping a bit due to the improvements across the board in the East and if they aren't passed by Chicago or maybe this Bucks team next year, they probably will be soon after.

I'm hoping they continue to underperform and finally decide maybe next season or the one after to move Horford to his real position of PF and then we could steal Josh Smith away.

[2short]

You can talk me into Salmons & Magette but Gooden    Anytime he is added to a team you can't argue that it is a good signing or good offseason.  If he is penciled in to start it isn't a good thing.  Comparing them to Atlanta? What is he going to do with recently switched to proper posistion Horford?

[Jon]

The Bucks are fast on their way to becoming permanently mediocre.  All blowing money on Salmons, Maggette, and Gooden does is give them a better chance of making it to the second round.  Still, in many ways this is like the old Walker/Pierce Celtics.  They'll be good and probably for a while, but the team will likely never seriously contend. 

[Roy H.]

The Bucks are fast on their way to becoming permanently mediocre.  All blowing money on Salmons, Maggette, and Gooden does is give them a better chance of making it to the second round.  Still, in many ways this is like the old Walker/Pierce Celtics.  They'll be good and probably for a while, but the team will likely never seriously contend.  

Exactly right, from my perspective.  (Or, almost exactly right.  I think I'd call the Bucks "decent and probably for a while", rather than "good".)  

[Snakehead]

You can talk me into Salmons & Magette but Gooden    Anytime he is added to a team you can't argue that it is a good signing or good offseason.  If he is penciled in to start it isn't a good thing.  Comparing them to Atlanta? What is he going to do with recently switched to proper posistion Horford?

Gooden's not very good but he's okay.  They still have Illysova, so it is just added depth at the position at least (though I did not like the contract).

Who is starting at C for ATL? Jason Collins? I know there was talk of that for the Hawks but I don't think it's happening since they didn't land a legit starting C.  And would Josh Smith be benched?  I don't see how that happens next year, unless they start a bigger C against say the Magic where they really need to, but more than not they probably have the same line up.  It is definitely their most talented one.

[moiso]

The team could eventually be good depending on the development of Jennings/Illyasova and the health of Bogut.  But the offseason signings aren't very impressive and the money is excessive.  I personally think that Skiles had the Bucks overachieving a little bit last year.

[Chris]

I am not a huge fan of this team.  They had a nice run last year, as Skiles got everything out of them, but now they have just brought in more redundant and mediocre players, and it is just going to cause problems.  Instead of playing as a team and overachieving, I think we are going to see whining about playing time, and tuning the abrasive coach out.  They also are really going to miss having Ridnour there to take the pressure off Jennings.

I think the Bucks will be in the discussion for the 6th through 8th spots (which will all be close, IMO), but I don't expect them to make any noise in the playoffs, and could very well miss them altogether. 

[pearljammer10]

The Bucks had something good going with the Ridnour, Luc Richard, DelFino, Jennings, Bogut and Ilyasova core but the flubbed the off season. They will finish 6th in the East because, well, someone has to. The East after the top 5-6 teams is awful. But I could see Milwaukee stumbling badly due to injury or bad chemistry.

The Bucks had a good thing going with Ridnour, Luc Richard, Delfino, Jennings, Bogut, and Ilyasova..... And they still have all those players except Ridnour, plus, they added three players that are better than any of those guys... So how does this make any sense?

And since when is Luke Ridnour the greatest player in the NBA? He is a mediocre point guard at best. With Jennings big minutes there wouldnt be room for him anyway.

Its true they dont have a go to star, but they have four players in their starting 5 that are capable of scoring 20 points a night. If Redd ever comes back from his injury, which is unlikely, this team could make some noise. I still say they will be fighting for home court advantage when playoff time comes around.

[Chris]

The Bucks had something good going with the Ridnour, Luc Richard, DelFino, Jennings, Bogut and Ilyasova core but the flubbed the off season. They will finish 6th in the East because, well, someone has to. The East after the top 5-6 teams is awful. But I could see Milwaukee stumbling badly due to injury or bad chemistry.

The Bucks had a good thing going with Ridnour, Luc Richard, Delfino, Jennings, Bogut, and Ilyasova..... And they still have all those players except Ridnour, plus, they added three players that are better than any of those guys... So how does this make any sense?

And since when is Luke Ridnour the greatest player in the NBA? He is a mediocre point guard at best. With Jennings big minutes there wouldnt be room for him anyway.

Its true they dont have a go to star, but they have four players in their starting 5 that are capable of scoring 20 points a night. If Redd ever comes back from his injury, which is unlikely, this team could make some noise. I still say they will be fighting for home court advantage when playoff time comes around.

Chemistry and desire.  They had the perfect storm last year with a combination of hungry young guys, and wily vets buying into a system.  They became significantly greater than the sum of their parts, because of it.

Now, they have improved the parts slightly this summer, but on the surface, I have my reservations whether they can recapture the chemistry they had last year. 

There are a ton of parallels with Skiles Bulls teams of a few years ago.  He got the young team (sprinkled with the right vets) to completely buy into their system, and they became the next big thing (even though they really were just overachieving).  But the success went to their heads, and suddenly the players were not interested in saying "how high" every time Skiles said jump.  Along with a couple questionable moves, this basically killed the team (a long with the value of many of the young players), and they went right back to the bottom.

Now, the Bucks may not fall into the same trap...but it is certainly there, and I don't know if bringing in guys like Maggette and Gooden is the best way to avoid it.

[the_Bird]

You always start worrying when you add veteran guys to a coach like Skiles.  Skiles' hard-nosed approach seems to work best for young, less-established players.  Maggette and Gooden...  not exactly two players I think of as killing themselves for their coach. 

Wasn't a fan of the Maggette trade.  Not a fan of the Gooden signing.  Salmons, overpaid but they needed someone to score.

Overall, though...  meh.  Hard to see how they break through to the next level, with the core that they have.

The Boykins signing...  he's fun to watch, but he was basically irrelevant on one of the worst teams in the league last season.  He's also what, 34?  He's an old-man's Nate Robinson.

[Who]

The Bucks had something good going with the Ridnour, Luc Richard, DelFino, Jennings, Bogut and Ilyasova core but the flubbed the off season. They will finish 6th in the East because, well, someone has to. The East after the top 5-6 teams is awful. But I could see Milwaukee stumbling badly due to injury or bad chemistry.

The Bucks had a good thing going with Ridnour, Luc Richard, Delfino, Jennings, Bogut, and Ilyasova..... And they still have all those players except Ridnour, plus, they added three players that are better than any of those guys... So how does this make any sense?

And since when is Luke Ridnour the greatest player in the NBA? He is a mediocre point guard at best. With Jennings big minutes there wouldnt be room for him anyway.

Its true they dont have a go to star, but they have four players in their starting 5 that are capable of scoring 20 points a night. If Redd ever comes back from his injury, which is unlikely, this team could make some noise. I still say they will be fighting for home court advantage when playoff time comes around.

Chemistry and desire.  They had the perfect storm last year with a combination of hungry young guys, and wily vets buying into a system.  They became significantly greater than the sum of their parts, because of it.

Now, they have improved the parts slightly this summer, but on the surface, I have my reservations whether they can recapture the chemistry they had last year. 

There are a ton of parallels with Skiles Bulls teams of a few years ago.  He got the young team (sprinkled with the right vets) to completely buy into their system, and they became the next big thing (even though they really were just overachieving).  But the success went to their heads, and suddenly the players were not interested in saying "how high" every time Skiles said jump.  Along with a couple questionable moves, this basically killed the team (a long with the value of many of the young players), and they went right back to the bottom.

Now, the Bucks may not fall into the same trap...but it is certainly there, and I don't know if bringing in guys like Maggette and Gooden is the best way to avoid it.

Yeah, I thought the Bucks played above themselves in the second half of last season too.

I thought their offense was performing well above their talent levels. Their defense was in line with their personnel though. That offense was going to fall back down to earth next season.

Closer to a .500 team than a mid to high 40s win team.