Bucks Quietly Form Contending Team
The Miami Heat have made all the flashy moves this summer, but through general manager John Hammond, the Milwaukee Bucks are quietly overhauling an already well-performing franchise.
Without any sort of press conferences or self-aggrandizing, Hammond has bolstered the Bucks with the addition of free agent Drew Gooden, a trade for the Golden State Warriors’ Corey Maggette, and re-signed star player John Salmons.
According to Hammond: "Our basic plan was, if possible, not to take a step backward because we had the unexpected success this [past] year. The opportunity to get in the play-offs, the opportunity for [point guard] Brandon Jennings to participate in the play-offs for the first time was invaluable. So we said to ourselves: If we can get back, let's do it."
With the recent strengthening of the Eastern Conference, the Bucks’ off-season moves have favourable play-off implications. Last season they qualified for the play-offs as a sixth seed, one game behind the Heat. Obviously the Heat have become the top favourite for the first seed with the addition of LeBron James and Chris Bosh.
However, the previous top-seeded Cleveland has gotten significantly weaker. The only other team to significantly improve were the Chicago Bulls, who ranked eighth last season. This means that realistically, the Bucks are in a position to perhaps advance a couple notches and even secure home-court advantage in at least the first series.
A major key to the Bucks’ success is how well their centre Andrew Bogut heals from last season’s traumatic injuries sustained in a fall during a game against the Phoenix Suns. Prior to sustaining the elbow, wrist, and hand injuries which ended his seasons, Bogut was a major contributor to the Bucks’ offence with an average of 15.9 points, 10.2 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game.
Team doctors have been optimistic regarding Bogut’s rehabilitation and the seven-foot-tall Australian is expected to be back at full health prior to the start of the season. With the signing of the 6-foot-10 Gooden, pressure on Bogut to immediately produce will be alleviated and he should readily be able to get himself back to total form rather than worry about overexerting himself.
Oddly enough, Gooden has been with nine teams in the last nine seasons. Generally this implies a player is either struggling on the court or a nuisance off of it. Hammond says that his research shows that Gooden is neither of these things and rather just has a contract that makes him easy to trade based on his consistent performance.
Maggette will also be an impact player and his ability to get draw the foul will greatly benefit a Milwaukee team that struggled to get opportunities from the charity stripe. His high shooting percentage, shooting 51.6 percent last season, will also give Brandon Jennings a very stat-boosting target.
"If you look at numbers, we were at the bottom or near the bottom in free-throws attempts per game. We could not get to the free-throw line," Hammond said. "We defend well, we rebound very well, but we shot the three well and began to rely on that too much. The one thing Corey does do for us, he does help us get to the free-throw line.”
With these additions and the promising development of sophomore Brandon Jennings, the Bucks have all the tools to make a deep play-off run. If only their former star player Michael Redd could finally recover from his ACL issues, the Bucks could actually be battling for the top spot.
Last season, the Bucks’ play-off hopes were dashed by Andrew Bogut’s freak injury just before the post season. This year, the Bucks have the pieces in place to easily forget about last season’s troubles.
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