Sunday, February 26, 2012

2011-12 Milwaukee Bucks Midseason Player Rankings

Hopefully the NBA All-Star Break, yes it is a break since no one I will discuss below deserves to be involved in any portion of the festivities, will give the Milwaukee Bucks a chance to relax and re-charge their batteries.

The Bucks head into the break with a despicable 13-20 record.  It would be easy to blame their poor record on Andrew Bogut's injury but that is becoming an annual tradition in Cheesehead country so I hope management approached the season envisioning Bogut as gravy as opposed to turkey because as usual, Bogut looks done for the year.

In case you missed my initial player rankings, take a quick look because it will set the table for these mid-season rankings since it would be the understatement of the year to say that I am frustrated by the Bucks right now.

Let's consider this the In Memoriam portion of the post.  To no one's surprise, Darington Hobson is no longer with the Bucks after getting cut for the second time in as many seasons.  My two realistic shooting guard crushes in the NBA (i.e. Bucks either had them on their roster or could have easily added them to their roster) are Jodie Meeks and Jordan Crawford.  Since the Bucks traded Meeks for the right to draft Hobson, I officially despise Hobson more than Anthony Mason.

With that out of the way, here is my rapid fire updated mid-season player rankings for the 2011-12 Milwaukee Bucks:

#14 (5) Stephen Jackson (#5, SG/SF, 6'8", 220 lbs, Oak Hill Academy, 12th NBA Season):
As former President Bush would say: fool me once, shame on me.  Fool me twice, well you're not going to fool me again.  I know Jackson is a locker room cancer for non-playoff teams but who would have thought in less than a year Jackson would be the least valuable player of the three players the Bucks acquired before the 2011 NBA Draft.  In fact Jackson has been so bad this year that he is giving Latrell Sprewell a run for his money for the most talent squandered in Milwaukee.

#13 (14) Jon Brockman (#40, PF/C, 6'7", 255 lbs, Washington, 3rd NBA Season):
I know Brockman makes more money than most people but I think we all average about the same playing time as Brockman.

#12 (1) Andrew Bogut (#6, C, 7'0", 260 lbs, Utah, 7th NBA season):
Really sad for Brockman and Jackson that they couldn't beat out a hobbled Bogut that is most likely out for the season.  I hate to say this but I wonder whether a gimpy Bogut would be more productive than a healthy Brockman.  That may seem foolish but think about it for a minute.

#11 (13) Tobias Harris (#15, SF/PF, 6'8", 226 lbs, Tennessee, Rookie):
If I am salty about the Bucks no longer having Meeks because they flipped him for a second round pick that turned into Hobson, I might go postal over the fact that the Bucks passed on Kenneth Faried to draft Harris in the 2012 NBA Draft.

#10 (12) Larry Sanders (#8, PF/C, 6'11", 235 lbs, Virginia Commonwealth, 2nd NBA Season):
Each game Sanders is showing signs of being a guy that could take over a game defensively.  Unfortunately those signs have been nothing more than an occasional flicker.  Sanders will never be a dominate offensive player so he needs to focus on his defense if he hopes to crack the regular rotation.

#9 (7) Beno Udrih (#19, PG/SG, 6'3", 203 lbs, Slovenia, 7th NBA Season):
With Jackson attempting to sabotage the 2011-12 Milwaukee Bucks, settling on a regular back court has been challenging so versatile guys like Udrih have been invaluable.

#8 (9) Shaun Livingston (#9, PG/SG, 6'7", 175 lbs, Peoria Central High School, 7th NBA Season):
If salary were no factor, I would probably rather have Udrih than Livingston.  Unfortunately salary is a factor, since Livingston makes 50% of what Udrih makes, Livingston gets the higher ranking.

#7 (6) Jon Leuer (#30, PF/C, 6'10", 228 lbs, Wisconsin, Rookie):
Playing in Germany allowed Leuer to hit the ground running but now that we are half way through the season it looks like Leuer will get less opportunities to play as other guys round into playing shape.  Don't get me wrong, I would rather see Leuer continue to get quality playing time but it looks like Sanders and Harris might start taking away some of Leuer's minutes.

#6 (11) Mike Dunleavy Jr. (#17, SG/SF, 6'9", 230 lbs, Duke, 10th NBA Season):
It pains me to not only put Dunleavy in the Top 10 but he is threatening to crack the Top 5 but with how well he has played offesnivelyso far this year, Dunleavy earned the ranking.

#5 (3) Carlos Delfino (#10, SG/SF, 6'6", 230 lbs, Argentina, 7th NBA Season):
Milwaukee Bucks general manager John Hammond's crush on Delfino dates all the way back to the 2003 NBA Draft when he was an underling for the Detroit Pistons front office when they took Darko with the 2nd pick in the draft instead of Melo, Bosh, or Wade.  The Pistons clearly missed on Darko but Delfino has turned into a starting shooting guard/small forward, which is a pretty good result for a guy picked 25th in any NBA Draft.

#4 (4) Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (#12, SF/PF, 6'8", 230 lbs, UCLA, 4th NBA Season):
This is more reputation than production because The Prince has not taken a huge step forward this year thanks to visa and injury issues.  The Prince needs to right the ship in the second half of the season because the Bucks need him to shore up their sieve-like defense.

#3 (8) Ersan Ilyasova (#7, SF/PF, 6'10", 235 lbs, Turkey, 4th NBA Season):
Starting the season it looked like Ilyasova was fighting for his NBA life but with how well Ilyasova has played so far he will play in the NBA next year unless he wants to move back to Europe.

#2 (10) Drew Gooden (#0, PF/C, 6'10", 236 lbs, Kansas, 10th NBA Season):
Once Bogut went down injured, the Bucks asked Gooden to slide over and play center.  That's really a thankless job because Gooden spots most starting centers at least a few inches, which hurts him on both ends of the court.  Despite playing out of position, Gooden has performed admirably this year.

#1 (2) Brandon Jennings (#3, PG, 6'1", 169 lbs, Oak Hill Academy, 3rd NBA Season):
With Bogut hurt and Jackson sabotaging the team, Jennings is the only guy on the roster that sells tickets so he has to be ranked #1.

I don't want to jinx the Bucks but things can't go much worse in the second half of the season so absent a miracle, the Bucks look lottery bound for the fifth time in six years.


Related Posts:
- Sunday Funday - 2011-12 Milwaukee Bucks Initial Player Ratings

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