Joe: Every year Milwaukee seems to be better than I though they would be before the season started. This is mostly because every year I look at their roster and who they decide to spend money on and I cant fathom that they would win more than 15 games. This year its the same, outside of Michael Redd, there is nobody on the team that i even have complementary words for. Andrew Bogut showed some signs that he was worthy of a number one pick a couple years ago, but he is still raw, and he hates Americans and made some borderline racist comments, so I honestly hope he develops a condition that requires microfracture surgery and the only surgeon available is the one who did Penny Hardaway's. Mo Williams is a capable point guard who flourished while Redd was injured last season, but plays somewhat passively when the sharp shooting lefty is on the court with him. The only other player of consequence (for this season) is Bobby Simmons who missed all of last year and will need to work his way back into the swing of things. I'm a bit cautious of considering the Chinese sensation Yi an impact player this year especially considering the steep learning curve of his older and taller counterpart Yao - as far as I'm concerned he wont be a factor. With that said, I fully anticipate being in awe as the Bucks hang around the outskirts of the Eastern Conference playoff picture yet again.
Dhivy: The pre-season hype surrounding the Buckaroos was centered around the acquisition of Yi Jianlian. I use the word ‘hype’ loosely since no one is ever excited about the Bucks’ prospects, and because Yi is teh lame. The Chinese government tried their best to send him to a major media market, but Milwaukee called their bluff and drafted him anyway. After some posturing by both sides, Yi was allowed to sign with the Bucks. There are many rumors of what took place behind the scenes, ranging from the Bucks promising Yi 20-25 minutes per game, to David Stern forcing the Chinese government to acquiesce, to MTV offering Yi a role on the train wreck that is “A Shot at Love”.
While Yi isn’t expected to have an instant impact, he does join a quality list of big men in Milwaukee. Andrew Bogut has developed toughness he didn’t have in college and has a chance to be a 15/10 guy. He is backed up by Dan Gadzuric, who surprised me by turning out to not be 45 years old. The position battle between Yi and Charlie Vill
anueva is what intrigues me most about this team. Villaneuva is definitely the “smooth”er player and is less likely to find himself in a “hairy” situation or to “shave” points. The Bucks hope none of these players gets hurt because it would require them to go to Michael Ruffin, who they signed from the Wizards. He is best known for his ability to have big muscles and not do anything of value on a basketball court. My most cherished memory of Ruffin was when he threw the ball straight up in the air with a three point lead and five seconds left on the clock. Morris Peterson calmly caught the ball and nailed a three to send the game to overtime, which the Wizards went on to lose. Which proves the old adage, “Michael Ruffin can’t even throw a basketball correctly, what a loser.”
The Bucks offense revolves around Michael Redd and he has become one of the great scorers in the league. Some would argue that his game is one-dimensional, but they are just jealous because their game is zero-dimensional. The Bucks boast three athletic swingmen in Bobby Simmons, Desmond Mason, and David Noel. However, their athleticism far outpace their skills and the Bucks will struggle to find consistency among them. Maurice Williams and Charlie Bell share the point guard responsibility, but Ramon Sessions from Nevada may push them for playing time. Maybe it’s just my infatuation with rookies, but I like Sessions’ tenacity and feel he can contribute on a young team. In the end, the Bucks are in the unenviable position of having a top-flight talent surrounded by sheer mediocrity. Don’t expect this team to challenge for a playoff spot.
Well, I guess if you really want to expect it, go ahead. Just don’t tell your mother.
Quang: let me start off by that i'm not a racist. some of my best friends are asian. just yesterday i went to pf changs! then when i picked up my dry cleaning, i told the asian employee how articulate he was. so clearly, i am the furthest thing from a racist. i even have siblings who are asian. nearly my entire family is asian! how could i be racist?! now that that's clear, i think yi jianlian is going to be a tremendous flop. not because i think asians aren't good at basketball, but because yi jianlian isn't good at basketball. and for some reason china has babied him around so much that his main predraft workout was played against lawn chairs and garden gnomes. then they tried to force yi into a market with more asian people, like los angeles or chicago or the bay area or china. refusing to play for a team because they stink is one thing, refusing to play for a team because there aren't enough people cheering for you who look like you do is quite another. where does it end? when yi buys pants, does he only allow asian people to help him? can only asian firemen save yi's cats from trees? does yi only employ asian chimney sweeps? i definitely understand the desire to feel comfortable and to have people who can relate to you, but guess what, yi? you are a 7 foot tall asian millionaire. no one relates to you. if that weren't enough, apparently, yi jianlian is mandarin for "danny almonte" because there have been persistent rumors that his listed birth date was falsified to allow him to play in junior competitions. though he claims to be born in 1987, which would make him a precocious, young prospect, it has been alleged he was born anywhere from 1981 and 1984, which instead would make him lying, old man. there's a big difference between being a mediocre player at 19 and being a mediocre player at 26. but maybe i should be more open-minded. i'll admit that at times during summer league he did show glimpses of his potential. of course at other times he showed glimpses of getting crapped on by rudy gay.
as for those bucks who don't care that no asians show up to their games, i think they have a fair number of good players on their team. the problem though is that they don't have enough great players. michael redd is their primary star. he has increased his scoring averaged every year he's been in the league. i think seven years indicates a trend, therefore he will likely continue this improvement forever and by the time michael redd becomes a senior citizen, he'll torch these young whippersnappers to the tune of 158.6 points per game. next on the bucks' totem pole is mo williams, who flirted with miami only to re-sign with the bucks. what a skank. he's only 24 and is likely to get the bucks' their money's worth throughout the duration of the contract. after this i see a lot of questions marks. charlie villenueva followed up a surprisingly good rookie season with a stinker and missed over half of the season. andrew bogut is a solid center and an excellent passer, but whether he can develop into the dominant player that most 1st overall picks are expected to become is a little unclear. the other players who will see substantial time in the rotation are desmond mason, charlie bell, and bobby simmons. i'd be more comfortable with these players if they played a less prominent role on the team, or in charlie bell's case, if they even wanted to play for the team. 
other than david noel, who i hope plays more minutes only because i like him, the rest of the team seems pretty weak to me. if i were a bucks fan, dan gadzooksric, michael ruffin, royal ivey, awvee storey, jake voskuhl, and ramon sessions are not names that would instill any confidence in me. and i say this as huge michael ruffin and royal ivey fans. but unless this situation is addressed, the bucks will struggle to secure a playoff spot. thankfully though, i have a solution. sign prince fielder. he's already one of milwaukee's beloved players, and he hits homers. how many homers did andrew bogut hit this year? oh that's right, zero homers. in fact, just sign the entire brewers' team. imagine trotting out a starting lineup of prince, rickie weeks, corey hart, ryan braun, and jj hardy with bill hall coming off the bench. now after they finish the season 0-82, imagine how bad they'd kill the other nba teams in the annual company softball league. but since i'm not running the bucks, it looks like they're content on opening the season with their current roster. and as it stands now, it doesn't look like they have the talent to stay in a duck hunt let alone a playoff hunt.
Achilles Heel
Unsung Hero
- Charlie Bell (j)
- Ramon Sessions (d)
- Bobby Simmons (q)
Bold Prediction
- Andrew Bogut gets caught with a small arsenal of weapons in his car, blames it on the NBA lifestyle. (j)
- Yi Jianlian’s daughter will be kidnapped and he will have to rely on an inspector from China teaming up with a fast-talking black cop to get her back. (d)
- Michael Ruffin demands to be traded to a team that is in a market with a larger community of people of his race. The Bucks trade Michael Ruffin to the movie Mars Attacks. (q)
Favorite Moment
- Andrew Bogut gets dunked on by Andre Igudola in a game against the Sixers (j)
- I don’t know if this qualifies, but while in the D-League, Awvee Storey punched a teammate in the head and gave him a concussion. (d)
- In a game against the Jazz, Michael Redd scores 57 points, 25 of which in the fourth quarter. (q)
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