If you are like me, you became bored with the NBA after the greats like Michael Jordan, Reggie Miller, John Stockton, Patrick Ewing, Dennis Rodman and Karl Malone retired. You could cheer for your team all season long knowing that it wouldn’t matter (because the Bulls were going to win it all in the end) and it was fun to watch legends dive headfirst onto the floor after a loose ball, or have a game for the ages while playing with a stomach virus or a broken foot. You’d hope and pray that the refs would actually call a foul on Jordan, or that the prayer he put up in the waning seconds just wouldn’t go in. That’s what kept us on the edge of our seats.
I started to lose interest when the Diva Era was ushered in by guys like LeBron, Kobe, and Dwight Howard: star players who seemed to trade in their teamwork and hustle for prissy attitudes. Thus, the me-first generation began.
We all cheered when Kobe Bryant dropped 81 points in one game, but in our hearts we all knew that he did it, not because he needed to (his team won easily by 18 points), but just because he could. The biggest let down for me was when this generation of arrogant stars struggled in the Olympics against teams who may not have been as talented, but played fundamentally sound and team oriented ball and simply wanted it more.
Now we have a rash of Mega Teams, where owners dish out ridiculous amounts of money to load their teams with superstars in an attempt to buy championships. Even though it was fun to watch the Heat attempt to dominate the league with a roster full of egos, we all saw where that led. Now that LeBron is back in Cleveland, the Cavs are trying to do the same thing, as they traded away a potential superstar in an attempt to win now, instead of building for the future.
What has drawn my interest back to the game is that even though most people might not be aware of it, there is a little team in Milwaukee that is finally doing it right. The Bucks have wiped their roster clean of any big names, and high dollar contracts, and are building what I predict to be the next great dynasty around young, talented, team-minded players.
Milwaukee Bucks A Team to Watch as the NBA Season Begins
After only winning fifteen games last year, the Bucks drafted forward Jabari Parker second overall in this year’s draft, and Damien Inglis thirty-first overall, and they currently have three teenagers on the team. The other is Giannis Antetokounmpo (the Greek Freak) who doesn’t turn 20 until December. The rest of the team’s core is very young as well, with their oldest player being thirty year-old center Zaza Pachulia.
It is a very strong possibility that at some point we could see a roster consisting of twenty-two year old Brandon Knight at point guard, Antetokounmpo at shooting guard, Parker at small forward, twenty-three year old John Henson at power forward, and twenty-six year old Larry Sanders at center. That would make the average age of the Bucks starting lineup a very youthful twenty- two years old. What makes that even more interesting is that out of those five players, only six foot-three point guard Knight is shorter than six foot-eight.
Not only are the Bucks young and tall, but they are very talented as well. Parker averaged 19.1 points, 8 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, and 1 assist while shooting 47.2% from field goal range and 35.8% from three-point range last year for the Duke Blue Devils, and has been compared to Paul Pierce, and Carmelo Anthony. The Greek Freak didn’t have the most amazing stats in his rookie year, although he did shoot, 41.1% from field goal range and 34.7 from the three point arc. He is also long and athletic, is able to ignite fast breaks and get to the basket, and is a great passer and ball handler. He’s even being mentored by Gary Payton to possibly be utilized as a point forward or maybe even a point guard.
Knight came to the Bucks in a trade last season and averaged 17.9 pts per game, while dishing out 4.9 assists and shooting over 80% from the free throw line. Henson, who played both forward and center in his second year for the Bucks last year, averaged 11.1 points per game, along with 7.1 rebounds and 1.7 blocks in only seventy games. Although Larry Sanders only averaged 7.7 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks in 23 games last year after missing time due to off the court issues and injuries, he has established himself as a dominant defensive force, and is working his way back to the form he was in last year when he averaged 9.8 points, 9.5 rebounds, and 2.8 blocks.
This is a very raw team that is still lacking experience, which is why Milwaukee brought in a young coach who has a ton of experience at winning. Jason Kidd, whom the Bucks traded two second round picks for, is only one year removed from a stellar career as one of the top point guards in the NBA where he played from 1994-2013. The next season he took over as the head coach for the Nets where he was named Easter Conference Coach of the Month twice and led his team to a great season and a victory in the playoffs before being eliminated in the semifinals by the Miami Heat.
Even with all this new potential flowing in the Bucks direction, I don’t expect an immediate improvement from last year’s 15-win season. However, I do expect this team to be very exciting and fun to watch, and I believe that they will turn into one of the better teams in the league, and possibly even a Young Buck Dynasty. Regardless, I’m just glad that someone has finally restored my hope in the NBA.
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Main Photo via Usa Today Sports
