The Bratwurst - Milwaukee Bucks Blog

Now that this season is finally over, it is time to recap the contributions of each player. I’m not a big fan of giving letter grades, especially since when you consider that the Bucks’ record this season was actually worse than last years’ injury-marred one, everybody associated with this team pretty much deserves an “F-“. Except for my season ticket rep, Nick. He has been great this season, always accommodating and helpful.

So I’ve decided to grade each player on how responsible they were for Larry Krystkowiak getting fired.

I’m going to review each player over the course of the next several days in reverse order of their salary, and also am giving their final IPM (data for all players available here). As you may know, typically an IPM greater than 0.9 is borderline all-star level, over 0.8 is that of a solid starter, above 0.7 is a useful player, and below 0.6 means you were probably hurting the team more than helping it. Also, because it is a per-minute measurement, it becomes much more accurate the more minutes you play – so take Ramon Session’s ranking with a grain of salt. He’s not really the 33rd best player in the NBA.

Ramon Sessions ($427K, 0.931 IPM): Thank you Larry Harris for this wonderful parting gift. Sessions was the lone bright spot of the end of the season, as he provided a boost with his pass-first game and eye popping statistics, highlighted by 127 assists vs. only 36 turnovers. The knee-jerk reaction is to jettison Mo Williams and turn the point guard spot over to Sessions, but let’s not get too excited just yet.

The red flag about Sessions is that his impressive play ran counter to his career style. In college and the NBDL, Sessions was a ball-dominating scorer who was hard to keep off of the free throw line, but once coming to the NBA he concentrated on passing first and shooting second. The results, when accompanied by some less-than-intense defense on the part of the Bucks’ opponents, were some excellent box scores (45 points, 38 assists, 15 rebounds and 5 turnovers on 18-29 shooting in the final two games). One has to wonder what will happen next season when he plays against teams that actually want to play defense against him.

The only reason for the Bucks to go into next season with Sessions as the starter is if they win the draft lottery and take Derrick Rose, but Sessions will clearly be a valuable reserve next season. Just think – a bench player who can actually create an offensive set and draw a foul once in a while!

Responsibility for Coach K’s dismissal: 0%

David Noel ($687K): Lost for the season to a shoulder injury, we will never get to see what Noel might have brought to the table this season. With the signing of Awvee Storey, Noel would most likely have been in the D-League or wearing a suit on the bench all season, anyway.

Responsibility for Coach K’s dismissal: 0%

Awvee Storey ($770K, 0.647 IPM): I can only see one reason why Storey was given a guaranteed contract in the first place: because Storey’s agent Mark Bartlestein is Mo Williams’ agent as well, and by helping out another client Larry Harris was trying to enlist Bartelstein to persuade Mo to stay in Milwaukee rather than head for Miami. How’d that one work out, Larry?

After an embarrassing 2006-07 season which saw Storey kicked out of the D-League for putting a teammate into a coma (and then breaking an opposing players’ rib while boxing him out in a German League game) it was amazing that Storey simply wasn’t blackballed out of the league in the first place.

The signing sort of made some sense at the time – Storey was veteran insurance in case Bobby Simmons couldn’t go after missing the previous season and/or the Desmond Mason signing turned out to be a bust (which it would have been had Mason played as poorly as he did with the Hornets). But why, then, give Storey a guaranteed contract? By the time his deal would have to be picked up the Bucks would have known what they had in their top two small forwards. They could have then released Storey before his contract became guaranteed and had an open roster spot to audition young players who may have been worth a shot (such as Nick Fazekas, the Mavericks second round pick who became Sessions’ top running mate for the NBDL’s Tulsa 66ers. Fazekas was released by the Mavs, signed by the Clippers, and would put up a 0.88 IPM in 26 games for them). Oh yes, he was given a guaranteed contract because of his agent.

But it seems that Krystkowiak couldn’t stand Storey’s game anyway. After Desmond Mason got hurt and Simmons simply sucked, instead of inserting Storey into the rotation Coach K continued to trot out Charlie Bell and Michael Redd at the small forward position. Storey wound up only seeing action in 26 games, with 90% of that coming after the season was long lost.

Probably the most pathetic thing is that Storey finished the season with the Bucks’ 6th best IPM, behind only Sessions, Bogut, Williams, Redd and Villanueva. The guy doesn’t even belong in the league and he was their best per-minute bench player this season!

Responsibility for Coach K’s dismissal: 0%

Royal Ivey ($798K, 0.548 IPM): Iveys’ reputation as a great defender sure got him a lot of playing time this season, and what a waste that was. Ivey must have really shut down Dee Brown and Scoonie Penn in his Bucks tryout, because despite all evidence to the contrary, Coach K kept on using Ivey as his “defensive stopper.�

There were two problems with that strategy – even if Ivey’s defense was absolutely awesome, there was no way it would make up for his own putrid offense (he actually finished with the lowest IPM on the team). However, there is no evidence whatsoever that Ivey’s defense was any good, either. According to 82games.com, the production of the player that Ivey was guarding averaged out to double that of what Ivey produced himself.

I don’t understand how any team could expect to win more than about 26 games if they are giving Royal Ivey 20 minutes a night. Yet, Coach K kept going back to him, probably because his “energy in practice� and “defensive intensity� (meaning: he looks really disappointed in himself when he gets beat) were there.

Responsibility for Coach K’s dismissal: 12%

Michael Ruffin ($1.0M, 0.610 IPM): I really liked the idea of signing Ruffin, because I felt that a team with so much offensive talent on it could use a defensive banger like him. Ruffin is the most inept offensive player in NBA history, but has carved out a nice niche for himself as a guy who comes in, throws his body around, gives some hard fouls, grabs some boards and stays out of the way of the talented players. He’s useful.

The Bucks even played a little better with him on the floor than off, being outscored by 8.4 points per game without him but only 2.2 ppg with him. Ruffin did his job. He won’t help you win, but he doesn’t help you lose, and he makes it all look pretty ugly.

Ruffin, however, was the centerpiece of the Play That Probably Sealed Larry Krystkowiak’s Fate As Bucks Coach. After blowing a 17 point third quarter lead to the New York Knicks, and with the Bucks trailing by one with three seconds remaining, Krystkowiak inexplicably left Ruffin in the game for the final play. Even Isiah Thomas realized this and started coaching long enough to tell the Knicks defense to leave Ruffin open in order to deny everyone else the ball. Ruffin was then left to miss a 6-foot finger roll at the buzzer.

Michael Ruffin has scored 4.2 points per 36 minutes in his nine year NBA career, and Larry Krystkowiak put him into a position to take the final shot in a game. And now Krystkowiak is looking for a new job. Need I say more?

Responsibility for Coach K’s dismissal: 3%

Next up: The mysteries known as Charlie V, Jake V, and Yi.

It’s a common complaint about NBA GM’s that they don’t have the balls to pull off any big trades and that they would rather do nothing rather than take a risk. There may be something to that attitude, but the truth is that NBA trades are very difficult to consummate with all of the trade restrictions and salary cap considerations. The fact is that a big trade now will often completely hamstring you for the future, and if GM wants to trade a guy the chances are that they want to trade him because something is wrong with him.

But that didn’t stop me from trying to put together some trade scenarios for the Bucks. I came up with 14 possibilities, 3 or 4 of which might be considered by both teams. But, honestly, it’s tough to come up with realistic trades that wouldn’t be rejected immediately by one of the parties. But here we go:

First of all, there are so many restrictions on members of the Bucks roster that there aren’t too many trade pieces available. As newly-signed free agents the following players cannot be traded at least until Mid-December: Bell, Ivey, Mason, Ruffin, Storey, Voskuhl and Williams. The Bucks aren’t going to look to trade Bogut, Yi, or Redd. That leaves only Gadzuric, Noel, Sessions, Simmons and Villanueva as potential trade bait.

The other problem is that except for Villanueva the other players would have almost zero trade value around the league based on their talent. Any GM would probably immediately reject any deal for Bobby Simmons until he has proven he is healthy. Gadzuric’s contract is so long that he would be rejected unless the other team is really desperate for a big man or is sending back an even worse contract.

I ran all of the trade ideas through ESPN’s Trade Machine, and they all would work under the cap. Except for a couple of the trades, I didn’t assume draft picks would be included.

So, with all that in mind, here go the trade proposals:

Charlie Villanueva and Bobby Simmons to Utah for Andrei Kirilenko. The main reason for Utah to do this deal is money — they would save almost $30 million over the next 4 seasons and would have Simmons and (probably) Villanueva off the books by 2010, which is when extensions for Boozer and Deron Williams kick in. Kirilenko had a bad season last year and didn’t fit well in their system, plus he demanded a trade in the offseason. For the Bucks, this would be a sort of “all-in” big money move that would give them a very expensive, inflexible lineup fpr 4 years. Kirilenko would bring Milwaukee exactly what they need — defense — and his shooting shortcomings wouldn’t be a problem. Ultimately, though, Utah would decline this deal — Kirilenko is too important to their team defense to give up.

Dan Gadzuric to Charlotte for Adam Morrison and Jared Dudley. With Sean May out for the year and Primoz Brezec’s game declining to … well … something worse than Gadzuric, it would depend on how close Michael Jordan feels the Bobcats are to prime time. Would Gadzuric be a good player alongside Emeka Okafor? I doubt it, but you never know with MJ’s eye for talent. Morrison’s contract is only guaranteed through this season (so he would probably never play for the Bucks) and Dudley is a rookie making only $1.1 million this year, so the Bucks would save $20 million over the next 4 years. Dudley is an intriguing player, a combo forward who has already shown a solid nose for the ball and could be a good backup at both forward positions. However, I’m sure even Michael Jordan would turn down this trade, as Dudley is already better than Gadzuric and it’s a lot to ask for him to give up on Morrison so soon (although he probably should).

Simmons to Denver for Nene. This would be a dumb bad-contract swap for both teams. The Bucks would be getting the more expensive, more injury prone player who would be a career backup, while Denver would weaken their frontcourt. I only included this deal because it has been rumored in the past.

Villanueva to Golden State for Brandan Wright. This is an intriguing deal. Wright is getting no court time in Golden State, with Don Nelson preferring to play veterans. Villanueva would fit in perfectly in Nelson’s run-and-gun scheme. While Wright would take at least a season to blossom, at the very least he would provide an inexpensive backup to Bogut and Yi for 5 years. I think this would be a fair trade, and would be a huge boost to Villanueva’s career.

Gadzuric and David Noel to Houston for Steve Novak, Rafer Alston, and Luther Head. A good team with an eye on the championship can never have too many big, active bodies and Houston would probably be interested in getting rid of Alston, who was arrested twice in the offseason. Alston insists that neither incident was his fault, but his reputation around the league has dropped to somewhere between “bad guy” and “guy who bad stuff always seems to find” and Houston has Steve Francis available to take Alston’s minutes. Alston has 3 years left on his deal, so the Bucks would save 1 year and about $12 million in this trade. Head is a solid combo guard who can play some point, play good defense, and hit open shots. He would allow the Bucks to pursue trade opportunities for Charlie Bell, as Head does the same things for 1/3 the salary. Novak would sell some tickets. My guess is that the Rockets would jump at this trade if Head was not included and might take it if he was, but the Bucks would probably be very leery at the trail of problems that have followed Alston wherever he has been.

Gadzuric to Houston for Kirk Snyder, Luther Head, Steve Novak, and Carl Landry. Another version of the same trade that the Bucks would most likely jump at. Snyder is in the last year of his deal and is not getting any playing time, while Landry would throw another Milwaukee native into the mix. Would Houston gut the end of their bench and take on an extra $20+ million in long term salary to add a big man who can’t stay on the floor? I’d like to say so, but I doubt it.

Villanueva to Minnesota for Mark Madsen and Craig Smith. Smith was a steal in last season’s draft who is already the T-Wolves’ second best player while Madsen is one of the worst players in the NBA and has 3 years left on his contract. Smith would fit well on the Bucks, though, as he would bring tenacious rebounding and “bruiser” ability to a team that sorely needs it. Smith has a similar skill set as Al Jefferson, so the T-Wolves might be willing to include him if the reward is talent like Villanueva and getting rid of dead weight like Madsen. More likely, though, they would turn down the deal as they probably think they are set at forward for years with Jefferson and Brewer.

Gadzuric and Villanueva to New Jersey for Antoine Wright and Jason Collins. Once again, this is more of a salary dump than a talent upgrade for the Bucks. Wright is a bust who has shown some signs of life early in this season while Collins is a defensive-minded center who is owed $12 million over the next two seasons. This would save the Bucks $13 million in the long run, but the addition of Villanueva would be a big upgrade for New Jersey. This is a trade that I could see New Jersey doing (except that they need Wright with Vince Carter out right now) but the Bucks declining.

Gadzuric to New Orleans for Bobby Jackson. A dumb deal for both teams, except that Jackson only has two years left on his contract instead of 4. Kind of a pointless trade for both teams.

Gadzuric to Orlando for Pat Garrity and JJ Redick. A blatant salary dump by the Bucks, but one which Orlado might consider in their leave-no-stone-unturned efforts to find a power forward. Garrity is awful and Redick has yet to show himself to be remotely close to being an NBA athlete, but this could save the Bucks as much as $20 million. However, with 3 more years of Tony Battie and Howard’s extension starting next year, Orlando would probably rather sign a scrap-heap free agent instead of taking on a long contract.

Simmons and Gadzuric to Washington for Caron Butler and Darius Songalia. I only put this deal in the list because … well … it’s hard to come up with deals. Is Washington serious about blowing up their roster before Arenas opts out? Are the Wizards that anxious to add a big men with Etan Thomas’ season over and career in some doubt? Are they trading an All-Star for two bad contracts? No. Michael Jordan isn’t running the show there anymore.

Simmons to Phoenix for Boris Diaw and Marcus Banks. The Bucks would be adding a lot of salary in this deal and wouldn’t even begin to consider it unless Phoenix threw in lots of cash and multiple draft picks. I think we can write off Diaw’s 2005-06 season that got him his $45 million contract as a huge fluke and Banks has been horrendous for his whole career. The ever-cost sensitive Suns would love this offer, but it would be a bad idea for the Bucks that would send them careening off into luxury tax payment.

Simmons and Villanueva to the Lakers for Kwame Brown, Brian Cook and a #1 pick. Would this satisfy Kobe? Probably not, but it would upgrade the Lakers’ talent level without removing much. Odom and Villanueva in the same lineup would be very intriguing, and Simmons’ shooting would help them as well. Imagine a Lakers “big” lineup (Phil Jackson’s favorite) of Bryant-Simmons-Odom-Villanueva-Bynum that would be able to push around and run past most defenses. The Bucks would only have to suffer through one season of Kwame Brown’s act, and while Cook isn’t the same player as Villanueva he would fit in better as a 15-minute backup to Yi than Villanueva does. I think the Lakers do this deal in a hurry, and the $20 million in savings that it gets the Bucks makes them look long and hard at it too.

But if that deal makes the Bucks too thin at small forward then there is Villanueva to the Lakers for Cook, Sasha Vujacic and a #1 pick. There aren’t any major cap ramifications in this trade, as Vujacic’s deal expires and Villanueva and Cook’s contracts are similar. But it gets Villanueva into a much better position to succeed and adds a future draft pick to the Bucks stable. As a favor to Charlie V, I think both teams would do this trade.

So there you have it — 29 teams to trade with, 14 trade scenarios and maybe two deals that would satisfy both teams. No wonder teams don’t make many trades and fans always complain about teams’ inactivity. Between the salary cap restrictions and the fact that an NBA roster is so small compared to other sports, it’s nearly impossible to come up with good trades. But I kind of like the Golden State and Lakers proposals. At the very least it’s fun to come up with these combos, but the moral of the story is … don’t sign lousy backup centers to $40 million deals.

The Bucks are going to finish in fourth place in the division this year. However, they could be anywhere between the 5th best and 12th best teams in the conference, so there is plenty to think about for this season. Here’s a player-by-player look at what we can expect to see on the court this season (listed in order of salary):

Michael Redd: He is in his prime and has raised his game a little bit every season. Hopefully this is the year that his teammates bring enough offense to allow him to reduce his load a little. Despite his reputation, Redd is more than just a standstill jump shooter — he got to the line very effectively last season, and it would be nice to see him add a wrinkle to his game by dishing the ball off on his drives more often. Redd will never be much of a defensive player, but at least his offense has always been good enough to make his court contribution net-positive unless he has to stick the best opposition (Iverson and Kobe are two guys who have always absolutely killed him). The bottom line is that Michael Redd is a solid star — not someone who can carry you to the championship, but a star nonetheless.

Bobby Simmons: Hopefully the real Simmons finally shows up this season. When healthy, he is a tough, physical defender (think a sane Ron Artest with 80% of the ability) and an excellent three-point shooter. Simmons played hurt for most of his first season with the Bucks and never really got on track, but he’s an important part of the puzzle this year. Simmons is the only starter who can be considered a plus-defender and he is also a good rebounder for his position, so getting him back into the lineup addresses the Bucks’ two major weaknesses.

Mo Williams: I’ve never really bought into the whole “pure point guard” vs. “shoot-first point guard” thing for two reasons: first, the most important thing is for the team to score more points than the opposition and, second, there isnt really any good way to objectively measure how good a passer a player is. Assists, for example, has as much to do with the point guards’ pass as it does with the finishing ability of the recipient and the decision of the official scorer. So does Mo shoot too much? Last season he took the 5th most shots per 40 minutes of all point guards (behind Arenas, Parker, Cassell and Davis) with 16.87, but the difference between him and the #21 point guard (Stephon Marbury) was only 2.81 shots per 40! That’s less than 1 per quarter! Also, Mo had several games where he was the only starter in uniform, so his scoring was necessary. No, his shooting was fine. Mo’s new contract is reasonable given his production and age, and he still has room to improve. Point guards often take years and years to reach their peaks, so while Williams will most likely plateau as a slightly below-all-star level player, there is always the outside chance that he could have a Chanuncey Billups-like career.

Desmond Mason: Don’t expect much production from Mason, as his game has really slipped in the last couple of years and he’s no longer good enough to be a full time starter. However, this signing provides good value for several reasons. He fills an important role as the backup small forward, and may be needed for as much as 25 minutes a night depending on Simmons’ health. He wont complain about not starting and should provide bursts of energy off the bench. Also, his contract is only two years, so he could be a valuable trade asset next season. Finally, he is a quality person who wanted to sign in Milwaukee. As long as the team doesn’t ask him to do too much on the court, this was a good signing. Should they wind up needing for him to start … that’s trouble.

Dan Gadzuric: After being misused by Terry Stotts and suffering through a simply awful season, it was hard to believe that Danny G was even an NBA player at all at times. It seemed like everything he touched bounced off his hands last year (making me wonder if he was playing with some kind of lingering finger injury) contributing to a lousy shooting percentage, high turnover rate, and dropoff in his rebounding. He also fouled too much, but that’s typical for him. I’m glad to see that Coach Krystkowiak is thinking about playing him at power forward, where his rebounding will be a big plus and maybe matching up with players closer to his size will help him rush less and concentrate more on holding onto the ball. He can’t possibly be as bad as he was last season, but he’s never going to play up to his contract, which has 4 years and $25 million remaining.

Andrew Bogut: While it’s pretty clear by now that he will never reach the level of some other young centers like Amare Stoudemire or Dwight Howard, hopefully Bogut will make the leap this year to a sort of “best of the rest” category. Bogut is younger than many people may realize — still 1 year younger than Patrick Ewing was in his rookie season — so there is still time for Bogut to mature physically. He is bigger this season and looked very good in the preseason, and hopefully that will transfer into a more agressive, physical game — because that’s what this team needs. They are depending on him to be their best rebounder, and an extra one per quarter would make a huge difference. I would also like to see Bogut shoot more. He shot 55% from the floor, which for a good offensive player (except for Shaq) means he isn’t shooting enough because he passes up too many difficult shots. At some point, Bogut’s game will have to make a big jump to justify being the #1 pick in the draft, and hopefully that jump comes now. But if he only improves his rebounding, then that will be enough to make him one of the best non-all-star true centers in the game.

Jake Voskuhl: Should Danny G drop the ball again this season then Voskuhl will see some playing time, but hopefully that wont happen. He’s not very good defensively, an okay shooter, not a particularly special rebounder … well, he’s a #3 center. What do you expect.

Charlie Bell: This is the exact opposite of the Desmond Mason signing. His contract is for very reasonable dollars but way too long (some other time I’ll write about why matching his contract was really, really dumb). If anything, Bell deserved even more money up front (considering how well he played the last two years for the minimum) but a 5 year contract to any role player, especially one who is 28 years old, is not a wise move. In the other anti-parallels to the Mason signing; Bell is effective on the court, doesn’t want to be here and showed up to camp out of shape (logically, though, he didn’t work out in the summer lest he injure himself while he had no contract, so that’s not a problem, and he is a quality person who just doesn’t want to be on the Bucks any longer). If Bell plays like he did the last two seasons he will be a valuable backup to both Williams and Redd who pulls his weight on the court and also who’s ability to play multiple positions allows a great deal of roster flexibility. However, I wonder what happens if he struggles on the court and never stops playing this whiny “I hate the Bucks” game. We don’t need the backup guard to be a distraction. I’ve been knocking Bell for a long time now, and I really do want him to succeed, but I just can’t shake the feeling that his head isn’t all here.

Yi Jianlian: Superstar or bust? 19 or 23 years old? The questions don’t end with this guy, and I think that finding out what we have here will cause some major growing pains — and some losses. I’m afraid that Yi’s rookie year will look a lot like Adam Morrison’s: he gets force-fed minutes, he has a few scoring outbursts but is lacking in other facets of the game, and his defense will be so bad that he costs them games. Hopefully Yi shoots better than Morrison. Yi had one 12-rebound preseason game, but also one where he was repeatedly beaten for baskets and boards by Kenyon Martin (he of the microfracture surgery on both knees). Hopefully Yi has enough of a mean streak that he will brush off the bad games, toughen up, take advantage of his size and deliver some punishment. I hope he’s not too soft for that.

Charlie Villanueva: It’s tough to figure out what to do with guys with Charlie V’s skill set. Such a tantalizing combination of shooting and distributing ability but too weak to play power forward and too big/slow to play small forward. Toronto dumped him because they couldn’t use him with Chris Bosh and now they have the same problem with Andrea Bargnani, and Lamar Odom has bounced back and forth between the forward positions with multiple teams. Villanueva is a double-double machine when he’s healthy and motivated, and one wonders if the force-feeding of minutes to Yi will hurt Charlie V’s attitude and intensity. Because of all the question marks — some of which are beyond Villanueva’s control — it’s tough to say that the Bucks can depend on him. hopefully he can play 10 mpg at small forward, get 35 mpg overall, and put to rest the questions about who won the TJ Ford trade.

Michael Ruffin: I’m glad to see the Bucks kept him instead of Samaki Walker. Ruffin is one of the most comically bad offensive players in NBA history, but at least he knows it and stays out of the way. He can rebound and play tough D, and given the amount of offensive talent on the team he fills some needs. Gadzuric will always have those occassional nights where he gets 5 fouls in 4 minutes, and Ruffin can step in as the third power forward or (undersized) center for a few minutes at a time. He’s a good signing as an 11th man.

Royal Ivey, Awvee Storey, David Noel, Ramon Sessions: If any of these guys are playing much than things have gone awry. Ivey will be at the end of the bench for defense at the guard spots, and Storey was signed as a #3 small forward in case Simmons can’t go and Mason is pressed into the starting lineup. David Noel would be best served spending the season in the NBDL trying to fill out his game. The same could probably be said for Sessions, as he would be better off playing 25 minutes a game somewhere else rather than 2 mpg here.

The best-case scenario for this team is that Bogut turns into a big-time rebounder, Yi brings high-percentage scoring and Charlie V becomes a multi-position threat. In terms of overall talent, this team could be the second deepest in the East (behind Chicago), which is exciting because the top 8 players are under 30 years old and under contract for at least 3 years. However, if the rebounding doesn’t sort itself out and Yi struggles, then the team’s lack of defensive presence could cause it all to fall apart. This team can win anywhere from 35 to 45 games. They could even win a playoff series (in a perfect world, I could see them beating Detroit or Cleveland). But they could also really collapse. So, here’s my fearless prediction: 42 wins, 8th seed in the playoffs.

I’ve been getting emails left and right asking me how I felt about the Bucks chances this year. In fact, someone even stopped me at a keg party last weekend and wanted to know what I thought. The fact that drunk people are asking about the Bucks I think is a good sign that people care about this team and that they honestly are confused about this team (because drunk people generally know everything). Instead of answering those individually I thought I would break it down on here player-by-player.

Let me say something before I start. Lots of people want to say they were terrible for all of last year. Not true, without Bobby Simmons ever playing a game, they were struggled out the gate and then put it together until Michael Redd got hurt on that meaningless dunk. Everything went downhill from there.

Charlie Bell: I’m glad he’s back, we didn’t really have anyone to replace him. I don’t think he’s as great as a defender as everyone says he is, but he’s definitely solid on offense in small doses. He provides a welcome punch off the bench to spell Redd or Mo. His contract is too long, but that’s what happens with restricted free agency. He’s going to produce worse numbers than he did last year, but play a more important role off the bench. Don’t look to see the Bucks use that three-guard lineup much anymore with the return of Bobby Simmons, a healthy Charlie V, and the addition of Yi.

Andrew Bogut: He’s been getting knocked a lot for not contributing enough in terms of numbers, but I don’t think he’s been asked to do a lot. The team was pretty good when he got here. If he was an Atlanta Hawk his numbers would be a lot better right now. That said, I think he improved last year without Jamaal Magloire taking up space. He took the summer off for the first time in a long-time and I hope that will help ease the problem of him looking so tired running up and down the floor late in the season. I think he’s building a hunger for winning and I think he’s going to be a better rebounder and defender this year, but I don’t expect to see huge improvements.

Dan Gadzuric: Most dissappointing player. He hasn’t really gotten any better. He still looks nervous out there with his out of control style. Apparently he doesn’t have any trade value because of his huge contract. At one time looked like he had a huge upside, now he just looks lost on the end of the bench. Could be a great cheer leader in close games. Worst signing of Larry Harris’s tenure.

Royal Ivey: I don’t expect him to play a lot. Upside, he gets some garbage minutes and shows some promise. At least he’s cheap. Downside? He plays a lot because someone is hurt.

Yi Jianlian: Upside? He’s good. Downside? He’s bad. No one really knows what to expect, but I would imagine he’ll look better than he did in those summer league games because he won’t be getting double-teamed and will be surrounded by better players.

Desmond Mason: Understanding the fact that a Ruben Patterson implosion would have been much more likely with a reduced playing time role with the addition of Yi and return of Simmons, I think it was a good move to swap him for D-Mase. I see Desmond being brought off the bench to stop 2’s and 3’s that Redd and Simmons are having trouble containing. Expect to see him score a lot in up-tempo, transition games and put up nothing for numbers in half-court offense games. I consider him a fair swap for Patterson, whose numbers only looked so good because there wasn’t anyone else around to put anything up because of injuries. As long as he brings energy and hustle I’ll be happy.

David Noel: Wouldn’t be shocked to see him spending time in the NBDL putting up good numbers as long as everyone else is healthy. He showed flashes of brilliance last year, but looked lost at other times. I think he’s a diamond in the rough find, that’s going to take another year to get polished.

Michael Redd: Lots of points, lots and lots of points. He needs to improve on his desire and making that desire wear off on teammates, but I don’t think he is far from that.

Michael Ruffin: He’s on the team purely for rebounding. Brett thinks he’s pretty terrible on offense, so my money is on Samaki Walker getting more playing time.

Ramon Sessions: They would be wise to put him in the D-League and let him develop, people from Nevada have been emailing me all summer telling me of his potential and if they’re even 50% right about what they say I think he could develop. You hopefully won’t see him on the court for the Bucks a whole lot this year (which means we have a healthy team).

Bobby Simmons: The most misunderstood of all Bucks players to put on a jersey in recent years. At the start of the 2005-2006 campaign, he was attacking the basket, the team was winning close games, he was playing good defense, and he looked worth every penny. Then he got some weird foot/ankle/joint injury, nagged him, he quit attacking the basket, and the Bucks quit winning close games. That problem led him to having surgery and missing all of last year. If he were to count as an off-season pickup, he’s easily the best one we’ve got and is going to have the biggest impact of any player that didn’t wear a jersey last year. I fully expect him to earn his keep this year, unlike everyone else in Milwaukee.

Awvee Storey: I don’t expect him to play a whole lot since I see D-Mase stealing any minutes that would be his. He gets the award for “Player Most Likely To Be Released When Herb Kohl Gets Mad”. As long as he doesn’t punch Yi in the face and cause an international incident, I’ll be happy.

Charlie Villanueva: He better still have that huge chip on his shoulder that he supposedly had at the start of last year. He seemed to drift all too often last year, most likely due to his nagging injury. When he’s playing the 4 (and I don’t know where he’ll line up with Yi on the court quite yet), he better find himself closer to the basket unless we’re spacing for Bogut to go 1-on-1 or isolating for someone to drive. Jury is still out on him, but if I had to make the TJ Ford trade again I would still do it.

Jake Voskuhl: I don’t know a whole lot about his game, but I dearly hope he has some drive to rebound because we’re going to need it. He’ll get more minutes than Gadzuric, I have no doubt. In fact, I think his signing signifies the end of any faith in Danny G getting better. Look for him to get key minutes in games when Bogut gets in early foul trouble. I don’t think anyone is looking for him to score, and that’s a good thing.

Samaki Walker: He’ll be better than Michael Ruffin, but they’ll both spend their fair share of time on the inactive list. Injury insurance as far as I can tell, better than Jared Reiner last year.

Maurice (Mo) Williams: I think he’ll be better this year than he was last. Everyone keeps talking about him and using the term “All Star”, either that he is or isn’t, but that’s irrelevant as far as I’m concerned. All Star numbers aren’t needed from Mo. Solid, consistent production, fewer turnovers, and a drop in forced shots are what will make him worth his money. He might not make as many stupid mistakes now that he’s not pushing things in a contract year, but he might not play as hard on defense either, which would be hard to swallow for an already bad Bucks defense

Earl Boykins: Isn’t on the team anymore, but a lot of magazines and online articles are missing this fact so I thought you might want to know the truth. Brian Skinner isn’t a Buck anymore either.

Larry Krystkowiak: He’s a huge improvement over Terry Stotts, who never should have been the head coach. Larry got into an actual fight with Shaq, Terry Stotts probably wouldn’t fight the ball boy. I’m not advocating tall men throwing down, but I think it speaks volume about the intensity of the two. Terry Stotts wasn’t to blame for last year’s failure, but might as well fix the steering wheel while the car is in the shop.

Larry Harris: I think he’s done a pretty good job building the team. He’s eliminated all of his mistakes other than Dan Gadzuric. Jamaal Magloire? Gone. Steve Blake? Gone. Earl Boykins? Gone. Yi’s play will going to be the make or break point in his time with the team, but there wasn’t anyone I really would have drafted ahead of him. To his credit he managed the Yi stalemate, talked down Charlie Bell, and made Desmond Mason like him again, and kept Ruben Patterson out of any trouble. I think he would have looked pretty smart last year had everyone stayed healthy, and I think he made a lot of moves this year that should help improve the team. I still think the team needs a bruiser down-low to push the team into true contention. My only complaint is that he seems to spend too much time tinkering with small roster moves for players who might never play a minute, but I guess you have to do something to keep busy.

I would pleased if they made it into second round of the playoffs. I would say they’re playing to expectations if they exited after winning a few games in the first round of the playoffs. If they don’t make the playoffs or are more than a game away from getting that 8th seed? I would say they’re underachieving.

Health is obviously the greatest concern for this team, as last year proved. If Bogut develops into a great post player, I think they’re instantly a contender in the East. If he doesn’t they’re probably stuck in the same mediocrity they’ve endured for the past couple of years.

NOTE: Brett probably thinks something completely different, and he uses numbers to back up his claims. Don’t trust solely what I say.

The Bucks have given one year minimum deals to a pair of veteran, limited power forwards. They added Samaki Walker and Michael Ruffin.

Walker’s career has had two highlights. One was being the number 9 pick in the 1996 draft, taken ahead of Kobe Bryant, Peja Stojakovic, Steve Nash and Jermaine O’Neal. The other was the fact that he wore one of the greatest draft-night suits ever. Every so often I like to attend a black-tie function, but I have yet to find one where a white bowler hat is appropriate. Walker is on his 8th different NBA team and was out of the league last year.

Ruffin is, quite simply, one of the most unbelieveably inept offensive players in NBA history. Seriously. In his 7 year career, Ruffin has averaged 1.7 PPG while playing 14.8 minutes per game! Prorated out to 40 minutes per game, he would average under 5 PPG. He is also a very entertaining 46% career free throw shooter. He is, however, a somewhat decent rebounder (10.8 rebounds per 40 minutes for his career) and has a reputation as a pretty solid defender. We’ll see.

These signings bring the Bucks up to 16 players on the roster, so I have to think that between Ramon Sessions, Awvee Storey, and David Noel, one of them will not be with the team at the end of camp. My money is on Sessions, who will probably be in the NBDL working out the kinks in his jumper.

Now that the Bucks have at least cemented the return of their starting five and are nearly certain that they’re getting a few players back, I figure it’s time for me to offer my advice up to Coach K on how I would run things.

Center: Andrew Bogut starts, Gadzuric backs him up. Occasional action can be seen at this position by Brian Skinner (assuming he comes back).

Power Forward: Charlie Villanueva starts, Bobby Simmons backs him up (see Small Forward) or Brian Skinner on a match-up by match-up basis.

Small Forward: Desmond Mason starts (with the goal of having him lock down the other team’s best perimeter player early) and doesn’t log serious minutes unless he is playing well, Bobby Simmons comes in as the 6th man for whoever is playing the worst (Charlie Villanueva or Desmond Mason). David Noel logs minutes when Simmons is in the game already and Mason needs a break.

Shooting Guard: Welcome to the Michael Redd show. Charlie Bell (assuming he returns) gets action at this position for about 8 minutes a game.

Point Guard: Mo Williams starts obviously, playing the majority of the minutes. Charlie Bell is the first off the bench to replace him, with Lynn Greer getting action when Bell is already on the floor.

Question Marks? Yi, obviously, let’s assume he won’t be playing and that he’ll be traded. Obviously we need to get something in return, but what I don’t know. Ersan Illyasova (one of my favorite players) is reportedly going back to Europe to play. Ramon Sessions will probably be in the D League (it’s a great resource to develop players). I have no idea what their intentions are for Damir Markota, but he looked pretty good in Summer League play. Does he start to compete with Gadz or Skinner for minutes?

You can watch David Noel and the Bucks Summer League team for free tonight on NBA.com, game starts at 7:30 CST. They’re taking on the Kevin Durant and the Seattle Supersonics.

Update: This is just painful to watch. I’m not talking about the playing, but it appears the only audio we’re going to get tonight is from the stadium announcers mic, no sneaker sounds, no player grunts, no actual commentary. Painful, just painful. Hopefully Easy Yi’s game will be a little more exciting to watch.

Update: No Durant tonight, I forgot he’s at the ESPYs.  Damir Markota actually looked like an NBA player tonight.  His body moved well.

Update: Bucks win, 92-85.