Talk about a lucky tear.
Most Bucks fans in the know knew Michael Redd’s injury was at worst a neutral occurrence in terms of the team’s prospects, and probably a net plus. Its turned out to indirectly be a major plus.
Redd was out-of-shape, not fully recovered, and having, frankly, a horrible season. Despite all that, its almost certain that Coach Scott Skiles would have kept Redd in the lineup hoping he could somehow regain form. And Redd would have continued to do damage. The knee injury put an end to all that.
Redd’s injury opened the way for the Bucks to upgrade on the perimeter, first by obtaining Jerry Stackhouse, who has been okay, and then by obtaining John Salmons, who has been spectacular.
Who knows how long he can keep it up, but thus far John Salmons has been the Bucks best player in terms of Marginal Win Score per 48. I just finished an update of the Milwaukee Bucks Win Chart, and it shows that John Salmons has produced 1.3 wins and 0.0 losses for the Bucks since coming over from Chicago.
Compare that to the “Win__Loss Credits” compiled at shooting guard before Salmons arrived. The trio of players most used at the position, Charlie Bell, Jodie Meeks, and the aforementioned Redd, combined to produce 2.3 wins and 6.5 losses. So its safe to say Salmons has been — in the words of Hubie Brown — “a major, major upgrade”.
Redd got hurt and the Bucks were forced to sew up their most obvious wound. As a consequence, what once looked like a borderline lottery team now looks more and more like a competitive playoff team.
Sometimes things work out in funny ways.
March 6, 2010 at 6:55 pm |
LeBron out tonight.
Thank god.