Sixers Go Big Game Hunting Against Bucks

By Sean Kennedy

Unlike the Sixers, the Bucks came into the 2013-14 season with a mandate to make the playoffs, as owner Herb Kohl is very much anti-tanking. You can’t really blame him considering the rumors swirling around about Milwaukee being one of the teams to possibly be moved to Seattle. So this offseason, they parted ways with last year’s starting backcourt of Brandon Jennings and Monta Ellis, and brought in a bunch of good, not great players to fill out the roster. Guys like OJ Mayo, Carlos Delfino, Gary Neal, Zaza Pachulia, and Luke Ridnour aren’t going to win you a championship by themselves, but they might snag you a 7 or 8 seed in a weak Eastern Conference, which seems to be the goal for Milwaukee.

Unfortunately for Bucks fans, all of those moves haven’t equated to wins on the court, as the team has started 2-8 amidst a host of injuries, early-season slumps and a rotation that Coach Larry Drew still has no idea what to do with. The Bucks have 9 guys averaging at least 20 minutes per game which is basically unheard of in the NBA. It also hasn’t helped that they signed Larry Sanders to a 4-year, $44 million extension, and he went ahead and got himself injured in a bar fight, and is now out after having surgery on his thumb. Way to show you’re worthy of being a franchise cornerstone, Larry.

Milwaukee has been the fourth-worst offensive team in the league thus far, as they don’t shoot the ball particularly well, and also rarely get to the free throw line. O.J. Mayo has lived up to his end of the bargain after signing with the team, averaging a team-high 17.5 ppg and shooting 53.2% from three through 10 games. Other guys to watch on the nightly ‘who’s going to kill the Sixers from three-point range’ game show sweeping the nation, include former Spur Gary Neal, Ersan Ilyasova, and Caron Butler, who’s really worked on that corner three at this point of his career (Yes, Caron Butler is still in the league, and starting (!) for the Bucks). One other player I really like is former Tar Heel John Henson, who is a long, rangy defender in addition to having a nice mid-range jumper. Why they give him only 25 minutes per game is a mystery to me.

When the Sixers are on offense, they should really look to crash the offensive glass as the Bucks are the worst defensive rebounding team in the league. That stat is really odd considering they play at the fourth-slowest pace, so you would think they would usually be back on defense and in good position to secure those boards. I’ll be watching for whether it’s just poor fundamentals on the part of the players.

Thaddeus Young’s status for tonight is still unknown after he missed Wednesday’s game and practice yesterday for undisclosed personal reasons. He would be the perfect guy to exploit the poor rebounding of the Bucks, as well as defend a dangerous stretch four like Ilyasova. If Young plays and the Sixers are back to full strength, I like them to break their losing skid tonight. But if they’re once again giving big minutes to the likes of Brandon Davies and Hollis Thompson, all bets are off. Let’s bag us some Bucks, boys.