Ranking the Central Division Starting Fives: My project needs some tinkering

My attempt to flesh out and compare the Central Division's respective starting fives has gone a little pear shaped. My goal was to compare the Bucks starting five against the starting fives likely to be fielded by their closest rivals, in order to get a feel for what areas shaped up as glaring weaknesses for Milwaukee and what areas might be regarded as potential strengths. It sounded good, but the project has been undermined by a few miscalculations.

First, my reliance on hoopshype.com for the various starting fives is proving untenable. I used hoopshype.com because it was the only reputable site that had anything close to current depth charts. Unfortunately, those depth charts seem to be based on a little too much unfounded guesswork.

For instance, Matt from Blog-a-Bull has rightly pointed out that the more likely starting scenario for the Bulls would have Deng at the 3 spot, not Nocioni. I did my original analysis with Nocioni in the lineup. Unfortunatlely, if Deng were inserted, my entire projection chart would need revamping, as Deng brings certain strengths that Nocioni lacks and vice-versa. Oh well, the fact that the Bulls starting five came in dead last did not bolster my confidence in the original formula anyway.

Another problem is the rosters are so fluid at this point that what I write today may be obsolete tomorrow. (For instance, in my original calibrations Anthony Johnson was Indiana's starting point guard -- he is now a Maverick).

Nevertheless, I think the analysis I did and some of the comparisons between the various players I made would prove to be interesting and informative to fans of the Central Division teams. (Plus I put a lot of work into it, so I don't want to flush it all.) For that reason, I will rethink and retool my project and then give the cat one more kick.

Besides, hell its the off-season, what else do I have to do? Dream up some more bogus Magliore trade scenarios? I think we've all had enough of those. If not go immediately to realgm.com and click on the Milwaukee Bucks forum. I think they currently have Magliore being traded for Sweetriver Baines (Jordan's character from SNL skit "The First Black Harlem Globetrotter"), and two players who will never be named later. Hey, it works out under the salary cap, too!