LestersLegends.com » Milwaukee Bucks


.
Injuries often open the door for certain players to elevate their game. Milwaukee’s Drew Gooden seems to cherish that opportunity. The injury to Andrew Bogut is the latest opportunity for Drew to up his game.
.
So far he has delivered. In the two and change games he’s played since Bogut went down with an ankle injury, Gooden has averaged 19.0 points, 8.3 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 0.7 blocks, 1.3 steals, and 1.0 three-pointer.
.
Gooden has seven starts this year. In those starts he’s averaging 17.4 points, 9.4 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 0.3 blocks, 0.7 steals, and 0.4 three-pointers. The simple fact is, with Bogut out the Bucks are going to ask Gooden to play 30+ minutes per game. With that amount of run I expect him to put up those kinds of numbers.
.
He has obviously put up better numbers as a starter, but playing center has suited Gooden well. He has 33 career starts at the position and has averaged 13.7 points and 9.8 rebounds, which is 1.3 more points and 1.3 more rebounds per game than he averaged in 421 career starts at forward.
.
At first glance there is a pesky little problem of facing Orland four times in the next 18 games. In sixteen games against Orlando since Dwight Howard’s rookie year, Gooden is averaging 16.0 points and 9.0 rebounds. Not many people can say they had that kind of production against Howard.
.
Gooden is owned in most ESPN leagues (81.0 percent), but there still could be some time to snatch him up in Yahoo! leagues where he is owned in just over half of their leagues.
.
In deeper leagues you may want to look at teammate Ersan Ilyasova.
.
.

Also check out:

Pistons Add Firepower

2 July 2009
The Pistons made a big splash in the NBA Free Agent Pool by signing on two of the most coveted free agents on the market.  They added a big-time scorer in Ben Gordon, who unlike Allen Iverson, has not only shown that he’s OK with coming off the bench, but thrives in the situation.  He averaged 20.7 during the regular season and 24.3 in an epic playoff showdown with Boston.  For his career he’s averaging 18.5 ppg.  He’s a great three-point shooter (2.1 per game at 41%) and a career 86% free throw shooter.  At just 26 years of age, his best years have probably yet to come.

The Pistons also added some muscle in the form of Charlie Villanueva.  He is an inside scoring presence as well as a decent rebounder.  He averaged 16.2 points in 26.9 minutes per game.  He added 6.7 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 0.7 blocks, and 0.6 steals.  He can stretch defenses out by knocking down the three (1.1 per game at 34.5%).

The deals for the former UConn stars won’t be official until July 8th.  Gordon’s is for five years at $55-60 million and Villanueva’s is for five years at $40 million.  Perhaps the best aspect for the Pistons is they are getting two players from division rivals.

With Iverson and Rasheed Wallace gone, nobody should take too much of a fantasy hit with this signing.  With Gordon gone, John Salmons’ fantasy value increases.  In Milwaukee, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute’s fantasy value increases.

ESPN is reporting that the San Antonio Spurs landed Richard Jefferson from the Milwaukee Bucks for Bruce Bowen, Kurt Thomas and Fabricio Oberto.  No word if a crate of basketballs and some gym shoes were included. 

Jefferson gives the Spurs some more firepower, who had a disappointing season by their standards.  Teaming with Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili give the Spurs a better chance to challenge the Champion Lakers.

Milwaukee had dollar signs in their eyes for this trade.  They are clearing $15 million of the books.

Joe Alexander gets some Run

27 January 2009

BASKETBALLL-CHN-NBA-WARRIORS-BUCKS

You may look right over it in the box score because his line wasn’t all that impressive, but if you’re a Joe Alexander fan, you have to encouraged by the 24 minutes he logged Monday night.  He hasn’t played that many minutes since early December.  He put up a modest line:  4 for 7 (.571) FG, 8 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, 1 turnover.  Perhaps the season-ending knee injury suffered by Michael Redd will open up some playing time for the explosive Rookie.  I wouldn’t suggest you go out and pick him up off the waiver wire just yet.  Just keep an eye on him and see if he runs with this opportunity.


Part of the USA Today Sports Media Group