Who is in your Starting 5?

After yet another disappointing ,but expected year for the Milwaukee Bucks have made quite a few changes to their roster. Hammond drafted Brandon Jennings and Jodie Meeks, and also added Kurt Thomas, Carlos Delfino and Roko Ukik recently through a trade. Former, Big East star Hakim Warricks also signed as a free agent a month ago. Ramon Sessions who was offered a deal, has yet to sign with the Bucks or another possible team.

So if you were Scott Skiles, who would be your starting 5?

C -Andrew Bogut
F - Hakim Warrick/Luc Mbah a Moute
F - Carlos Delfino
G - Michael Redd
G - Jennings

Michael Redd and Andrew Bogut are the cornerstones, which should still leave room for rookie Brandon Jennings. He played a lot of minutes in Summer League, and should be the favorite for the starting PG job over Luke Ridnour. With Warrick banished in Memphis, I haven't seen nor heard enough about him to give him the job over Mbah a Moute, but I am sure Warrick's career 10.2 PPG, 4.3 RPG can help the Bucks front court. Warrick is also in his fourth year, and he still should improve.

Leave us a comment! Post your starting 5.

Bucks sign Jennings

The future of the Milwaukee Bucks, Brandon Jennings has signed his rookie contract today. He will earn $3.75 million over the next two years and the Bucks will have the option his third year. During NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, Jennings averaged 14.6 points and 8.2 assists.

Out of the gates, Jennings looks to be the started for the Milwaukee Bucks as the point guard position. If you watched any of the Summer league games he is a young exciting player to watch. He opens the floor with his quickness and make those quick decisions that lead to easy baskets. The Bucks trotted out Luke Ridnour last year, and what a disappointment that was! Actually, I had ZERO expectations for Ridnour and he did not let me down. Ramon Sessions could resign with the team, as the Bucks can match any contract offer from another team if they choose to do so. Seems like a win-win for both the Bucks and Jennings.

The NBA season is a long way away, but its been a unexpected offseason for many teams. Many thought this may be a slow FA market with the 2010 free agent bonanza. What are your early expectations of the Milwaukee Bucks?

Our Apologies

SheffieldsHouse.com would like to apologize for far too many NBA stories, including a massive percentage of them being Bucks posts. We understand the season is long enough as it is to be covering this right now, even if the NBA draft did just occur. Against our better judgement we keep finding ourselves rooting for the home team, even if it is a minor league system. We will take this under advisement moving forward.

From Compton to Milwaukee

Sounds like a good fit to you? Sounds good to me, the Bucks selected Brandon Jennings who played pro ball in Italy instead of going to college. Obviously, this guy likes the money.

Other than a few highlight videos, I haven't seen much of Jennings. However, is he the point guard of the future for the Bucks? This draft pick seems to make the departure of my favorite Buck, Ramon Sessions. Sad, but if you compare the two, Jennings has more "upside" (my favorite ESPN word).

Win Eventually

The draft is done and it looks like the Milwaukee Bucks are content with the players they drafted. With their 1st Round selection the Bucks drafted point guard Brandon Jennings, a former top-rated high school player who, rather than play a year in college, spent last season struggling to find playing time in Europe.

What does this pick mean? Jennings is widely considered the most boom or bust prospect in this year's draft. The upside is certainly there but the upside was also there for Sebastian Telfair and Shaun Livingston. For the 2009-10 Bucks this pick really doesn't mean a whole lot.

Let's elaborate on that point, Jennings is a project pick. He's 19 years old and wasn't able to garner significant playing time in his season in Europe. As far as next season goes he'll probably play sparingly off the bench behind Luke Ridnour and, if he's resigned, Ramon Sessions.

As far is his game goes, Jennings is lightning fast and is suited to an up-tempo style of play. To be successful in the NBA he'll have to develop a jumpshot though. Right now his strength as a scorer is not as a shooter and he isn't much of a three-point threat.

Jennings could be a significant player in the future for Milwaukee, maybe two or three seasons down the road. He could also be a wasted draft pick. When I looked at this springs draft class there was one player I didn't want to see drafted by the Bucks and that was Brandon Jennings.

As far as there second round choice, no complaints there. Jodie Meeks, a shooting guard out of Kentucky, provides a solid player to come off the bench and supply some relief to Michael Redd. This pick adds some much needed depth to the backcourt, specifically shooting guard.

So far the Bucks have done very little to make themselves a better team next season. Trading Richard Jefferson made them worse, drafting a project in the first round does not make them better. If Andrew Bogut stays healthy (he won't), if Michael Redd comes back %100 (maybe by mid-season), and if Joe Alexander becomes a passable player (not this year), and both Charlie Villanueva and Ramon Sessions re-sign (not likely), the Bucks have a chance at a .500 record. That's a lot that needs to happen.

The reality is that the Bucks have drafted project picks in two straight first rounds. The way this offseason has played out, management looks like they are focusing on 2-3 years from now. This team as assembled will require significant improvement to avoid a 55 loss season and a return to the lottery. If there is a plus side, it's that Milwaukee should have a lot more ping-pong balls next year.

I know Bucks GM John Hammond came over from the Pistons, was he the guy whose idea it was to draft Darko Milicic over Carmelo Anthony?

They did what?

I've been looking for a reason to break up the Brewer talk and thanks to the Milwaukee Bucks I now have that. The Bucks have agreed to send Richard Jefferson to the San Antonio Spurs in exchange for Bruce Bowen, Fabricio Oberto and Kurt Thomas. It's good to know that they have already thrown in the towel for the 2009-10 season.

A good headline for this trade would be "Spurs get better, Bucks get old." Jefferson was one of only two players on the Bucks roster to play in all 82 games and was second on the team in scoring. The combined age of the three players the Bucks are getting is 107.

Don't get me wrong, this is probably a good move in the long run. None of the three players is under contract after next season and will free up over $13 million in cap space. This probably means enough money to re-sign pending restricted free agents Ramon Sessions or Charlie Villanueva.

But as far as next season goes? Good luck. Even if Michael Redd comes back healthy and Andrew Bogut finally plays to his potential (and stays healthy, which is unlikely) the Bucks will be hard pressed to replace Jefferson's production, offensively and defensively.

Bowen may be able to improve the team defensively but can Milwaukee afford his lack of offense. And at 37 what kind of minutes can he play? That's if he does play, Bowen has spent the last eight seasons contending for a title with San Antonio. Whose to say he doesn't retire rather than join a new team.

Kurt Thomas will provide some much needed front court depth, but much like Bowen, he's 36 years old and won't be able to play heavy minutes. Oberto may not even see the court more than 20 times next season. He's coming off surgery to fix an irregular hearbeat and is 34 years old.

Let's just call this what it is, cost cutting. At least we don't have to worry about a playoff appearance interrupting the start of next year's baseball season.

Bogut Cleared to workout

In basketball news, Andrew Bogut has been cleared to begin work outs. Bogut played 36 games for the Bucks this past season, and with a bad back had to shut it down ending the Bucks hope. Now, we just have to wait to see if all goes well with Bogut and Michael Redd.

Scott Skiles and John Hammond got a free pass this season due to losing two key players forcing Jefferson to be the lone star. The Bucks hung in there, and played hard, but just couldn't reach the 8th playoff spot. At times, the games were dreadful, it was the first time that I can remember that I never attended a Bucks game at all. With the playoffs headed into the conference finals, the Bucks will prepare on their next draft pick. Hopefully, the Bucks can bring some excitement back to the Bradley Center.