Fear the deer! The all-time Milwaukee Bucks team has a unique blend of perimeter firepower and low post dominance. With one championship, they are the 17th seeded team in our tournament, and have a first round matchup with the Seattle Sonics/Oklahoma City Thunder.
The starting backcourt consists of all-around dynamo Sidney Moncrief, and the all-time leader in three pointers made, Ray Allen. Moncrief was one of the great, underappreciated players of the 1980s, and won the first two Defensive Player of the Year awards ever. If they need more ball handling, they can bring in the past-his-prime but still effective Oscar Robertson, or Sam Cassell, who averaged 19.0 PPG and 7.2 APG during his five years with the Bucks. In addition, they have two-time Sixth Man of the Year Ricky Pierce, and three point gunner Michael Redd to spread the floor. Similar to the Sonics, they’ll play a lot of three guard sets, and space the floor very effectively around their big men.
Marques Johnson and Terry Cummings are the starting forwards. Johnson was another special player who rarely gets his due; watch how he dominates a do-or-die playoff game against the 76ers to get a feel for his incredible offensive game. Cummings was very athletic, had a great face-up game, and should be a perfect fit in the starting lineup. Bobby Dandridge is the first forward off the bench, a prototypical three who used his quickness and mid-range game to frustrate opponents. They also have Glenn “Big Dog” Robinson, who could score prolifically, even if he didn’t have a great all-around game. Vin Baker is the backup big man, and he’ll have to play both the power forward and center spots. This is another team without great big man depth, so health and foul trouble will both play an important role in their fortunes.
Every single player in this tournament is good, and many are all-time greats. Only a handful are transcendent legends who can single-handedly carry their teams to victory. Milwaukee’s Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is one of those legends. In his six seasons with the Bucks, the team averaged 57 wins per season, and went to the only two NBA Finals in franchise history. Jabbar won three MVP awards during his Bucks tenure, and easily ranks as the greatest player in franchise history. His presence makes them a dangerous sleeper in this tournament.
In many ways, this team is similar to their first round opponent, with a deep backcourt featuring Ray Allen alongside one of the great defensive players ever, and an athletic, multi-talented frontcourt that lacks big man depth. Jabbar should expect to play a ton of minutes, which he’s accustomed to, since he averaged over 40 minutes per game every year he was with the team.
Coach: Larry Costello
All-Time Franchise Winning Percentage (through 2014-15): .512