Posted by BRIGGS:

C Dan Gadzuric 6-11 245
PF Joe Smith 6-10 230
SF KVH 6-10 245
SG Michael Redd 6-6 220
PG Mike James 6-2 185
6th man Desmond Mason
C Daniel Santiago 7-1 260
F Toni Kukoc 6-11 235
G Mo Williams 6-1 180
G Eric Strckland 6-3 200

Marcus Haislip PF 6-10 230
Zendon Hamilton C 6-11 250

IR
TJ ford 5-10 165
Zaza Pachulia 6-11 250
Lonnie Jones 7-0 235

projected record 35-47

We don't know how long Ford's going to be on the IR for. But this team looks weak at PG without him, weak at C, mediocre at PF and SF, and obviously good at SG. They have little depth too. It really hurt them when the Wiz matched the full MLE offer to Etan. 35-47 sounds reasonable.

they dont have the depth at c but gadzric = or > nazr. i would way rather have gadz as our starting c than nazr. i like nazr, but i do see gadz as younger way more athletic and he will blow up this year. if he can avoid the injury bug

The Bucks will actually make the playoffs, they are a well coached veteran team with good size in the front court. Putting young unproven teams like Wizards above them is not very smart. I would be very suprised if the Bucks went under .500. However it will be a shock if lets say the Wizards or the Magic make the playoffs. Past success counts for a lot cause it shows what the team is made of.

As far as I know Wizards are a bunch of young unproven guys, or proven loosers, and there coach does not exactly demand respect, while Porter did an awesome job last year.

The magic just exchanged Tmac for Francis, who is even a bigger ballhog. There frontline is relying heavily on the development of a rook, Howard, who showed in summer league while he will rebound and block shots, his offense is nonexistant yet. And Cato is just pretty bad. Mobley is way undersized for a 2 guard. I'm not sure what they were thinking giving all that money to Turk. Where exatcy has he shown to be more then a 3pt shooter?

The Bulls are once again terrible. So much for trying to mix vets with young players. There entire starting 5 could be of 3 year players and younger.

Atlanta has no PG, no C, and like 12 small forwards. They look more like a rebulding team then the bobcats do.

Botcats are awful.

Raptors have there best player and only scoring option on a team that was the last in scoring last year basically saying he will not bother to play for them this year. Imagine how many games Carter will miss this year. No way they make the playoffs.

Sixers will have Iverson playint he PG, just watch how many times they turn the ball over. He harldy gives up the ball at SG. The team has virtually no shooters, no proved starting SG, a shaky bench that is heavily relying on the emergance of very young players. A couple of injuries will decimate any chance they got. And considering how injury prone Philly has shown to be last year, they can't count on a healthy year.

Cavs should make it, they are a very good young up and coming team with a great mix of vets and Lebron James.

They should replace the Celtics who managed to get even worse this this offseason. They will be putting all there hopes on Al Jerfferson in the frontcourt and hoping that it was not a fluke year for Blount. They will have two lockeroom cancers in Ricky Davis and GP, who does not even want to be there. Pierce is coming off of one of his worst years.

New Orleans is not here anymore, so that opens the door for one of the horrible teams to snick in. Take your pick, but either way, there is no way the Bucks are not making the playoffs and the likes of Wizards and Orlando do.

Posted by Bobby:

one of the few teams in the nba to gut their top tier players and still treat their fans by finishing .500....whoa, mr. wilkens meet mr. porter. on sheer instincts, bucks are in contention for another .500+ season. mighty joe smith should be heading for career year. bucks can still trade for upgrades

I was amazed at how amazing Porter was as a coach. What really surprised me was sub patterns in crunch time. I remember he put Kukoc in who basically won the game for the Bucks against the Knicks. I think you are right that they will easily have another .500+ year and Joe Smith might have a carrer stats year.

What position would the Bucks be looking to upgrade from last year? Is Desmond Mason ready to start?

tough to see where the scoring from this team is coming from outside of about 18-20ppg from redd and 16-18 from kvh. next higest scorer will be smith at around 12ppg.

not enough offense for this scrappy team to crack 32 wins. if everyone else in the east has improved, then this is one team that didn't.