Buckipedia: Week One

This is the first edition of my periodic Bucks player rankings, aka Buckipedia.

I rank each Buck in 9 seperate statistical categories (production vs. direct opponent; plus-minus; Def eFG; Off eFG; Basket Attack ratio; Ass48; Reb48; on-off court Off Efficiency; on-off court Def Efficiency; and Eff48), and then take each player's cumulative ranking, average them, and then rank their play accordingly. I was going to provide each statistic for each player, but it looked like a mess, so I dropped that idea and decided simply to summarize them under each player's name.

1. Charlie Bell

So far, I've been really wrong about this guy, and all the commenters who ripped me have been really right. Charlie Bell is the only Buck who has thus far demonstrated all-around excellence. He's outproducing his opponent, and his Eff48 -- while not great -- is much improved, the Bucks are doing substantially better on both offense and defense when he's on the court, he's about the only Buck who is passing the ball, and he's locking down his defensive cover while simultaneously shooting well.

2. Michael Ruffin

Ruffin sort of screwed up my rankings, because he has only taken one shot and he made it, and his opponents have taken few shots themselves. Nevertheless, it is undeniable that the Bucks have thrived during his limited time on the court. He provides the kind of physicality that is sorely lacking in the Bucks front court regulars. He could, however, pick up his rebounding rate, which is pretty low for an inside player.

3. Michael Redd

Redd's shooting touch has been off (eFG: 43.2), and he still has to get his teammates involved more than he does, but he is slowly becoming more versatile, and he is still outproducing his opponent by a healthy margin (+17.3).

4. Andrew Bogut

I don't know if he will ever be the productive offensive force that everybody predicted when he was drafted number one overall, but until this season he was at least an efficient offensive player. This season he has been woeful in the offensive post. He's not finishing around the hoop at all. His eFG is, for a big man, quite low (35.3%), and he is the chief reason the Bucks offense has resembled a donut (empty in the middle). On the other hand, he is rebounding like a top-flight center, and he has stepped his defense up a notch or two.

5. Desmond Mason

If you looked strictly at +/-, Desmond Mason would be a runaway choice for No. 1 Buck. The team does much, much better with him on the court (both in terms of production and in terms of offensive and defensive efficiency). The curious thing is, I can't figure out why. He's the worst Buck when it comes to on-ball defense, with a defensive eFG of 58.6%, he can't shoot as his offensive eFG is putrid (38.6%), he doesn't pass the ball at all, he's a weak rebounder, and his overall Eff48 production (14.0) is very low for a starting small forward, and actually ranks 9th out of 11 Bucks. Nevertheless, you can't ignore his incredible +/- numbers (+52.4).

6. Yi Jianlian

This guy is much better than I thought he would be. His jumpshot looks so surprisingly sweet, I have to admit that the first time I saw it on Opening Night, I was on the phone and thus distracted and I wondered who shot the ball. That said, he has a long way to go before he can be considered even an adequate power forward in the NBA. His rebounding is very weak, he never passes the ball, he basically has no inside game at all, and his eFG (42.3) and eff48 (17.5) are way too low for a starting power forward.

7. Dan Gadzuric

I didn't know this, but a couple of years ago Dan Gadzuric had one of the best rebounding years in NBA history (going by rebounding rates). This year his rebounding is okay, but considering he doesn't really do much else, it needs to be exceptional and right now it is not.

8. Royal Ivey

Ivey's been okay, but he needs to produce far more assists than he does (3.3 ass per 48 minutes is a joke), and for some reason the defense has not done well with him on the court, even though defense is supposed to be his strong suit.

9. Mo Williams

Mo is having a terrible start to this season. The offense, with him on the court, is basically dead in the water (-20.2 points per 100 possessions with him on the court). He's not passing the ball at all, he has yet to take a foul shot, he's getting outproduced by his opponent, and his eff48 is horrifying (13.8). There's no question the team is better off at this point with Charlie Bell on the court. But that could change if Mo would just relax and stop believing that he must live up to his contract by shooting.

10. Charlie Villanueva

Is this guy trying to play his way out of another NBA city? He's been awful in every area except rebounding. No one has a more negative effective on defensive performance than Villanueva, he's not shooting well, he's 11th on the team in eff48 production, and he's being completely outplayed by his opponent (-14.7). Right now, having him on the court is killing the Bucks (-23.0).

11. Bobby Simmons

He is the anti-Desmond Mason. Whereas the team thrives with Mason on the court, the team is doing horribly whenever Simmons steps foot on the court (-34.3), especially when it comes to defensive efficiency (the team is giving up nearly 25 more points per 100 possessions with him on the court). Simmons is shooting okay, his eff48 (14.2), while low, is better than Mason's, but he is getting outplayed by his opponent (-12.4), and he isn't passing the ball or rebounding it. He ranks behind several Bucks guards when it comes to rebounding, and only Yi and Michael Ruffin have fewer assists/48.