Within two hours on Monday, the Milwaukee Bucks filled out their 15 man roster by trading for power forward Jon Brockman and inking veteran point guard Keyon Dooling.
But even though it seems that GM John Hammond can finally sit back, light a cigar, and call it an offseason, one of the above acquisitions may be foreshadowing one final transaction to complete his work.
By Jake McCormick
Milwaukee’s roster has gone through a Heidi Montag-like reformation over the course of this summer. But unlike the secluded former reality star, the 2010-11 Bucks are more athletic, versatile, and deeper off the bench thanks to a higher talent level in both the new veterans and still developing youngsters.
With Brandon Jennings entering his sophomore campaign in the Association, and already with 1,071 minutes and 89 games started under his belt, Milwaukee needed a backup to limit turnovers, play respectable defense, and hit the occasional jumper while distributing the ball as needed to a team suddenly rife with scorers.
Dooling is a quality defender and three point threat, but otherwise shouldn’t stir a lot of confidence from the Bucks faithful that he’ll be the next Luke Ridnour. But as I mentioned in a previous post, this year’s team shouldn’t need the backup point guard to be anything more than a care taker capable of hitting a shot or two and defending when necessary.
For the price of a player that was never going to wear a Bucks uniform and an undisclosed future second round draft pick, Brockman comes to a team with power forwards in every flavor of the rainbow (analogy courtesy of Frank Madden at Brew Hoop).
Brockman is a Skiles-type player in that he has some deficiencies (only 6’9”, no shooting range, fairly immobile defensively) that can be overcome by a constantly running motor and physical rebounding presence under the basket. But he’s now the sixth power forward on the roster, and won’t be able to fill in for Bogut at center thanks to his lack of length and ideal size.
Almost by default, trading for the Brockness Monster signals the end of Ersan Ilyasova or Luc Richard Mbah a Moute’s careers in Milwaukee. Because the Prince is a stud defensive specialist capable of covering positions one through four, it leaves Ilyasova as the odd man out on the trading block.
Ilyasova was a good story in 2009-10, but ultimately he is stuck in limbo on the bench thanks to the Bucks’ commitment to their drafted power forwards. If Hammond makes one more tweak, assuming it involves Ilyasova or even Mbah a Moute, the question to ask is which position to target. We can already rule out the shooting guard, small forward, and power forward positions because each has at least three able players.
Bringing in a backup center or sharp shooting point guard would be Hammond’s best option. Bogut is really the only true center on the roster, and coming off a Joe Theismann-level injury, and just having a semi-experienced center on the roster would provide some level of insurance.
It would also make sense to dangle Ilyasova for someone with Luther Head’s perimeter skill set, as Dooling is a 10 year veteran and has had some injury concerns in the past. Strangely, both of these potential needs were strong suits in 2009-10, which reflects just how much Milwaukee has changed in the span of three months.
At this point, Hammond’s choice of action concerning the log jam at power forward is as impossible to predict as the Powerball lottery. But it shouldn’t come as a surprise if the 2009-10 Executive of the Year makes one final alteration to the 2010-11 Bucks roster.