Bucks need to close the "Steal Gap"

I'm working on an update of the Bucks Player Value Ratings, and I noticed something funny. Check it out. You see anything cockeyed?

The Bucks opponents are stealing the ball from the Bucks at an incredible rate. That's unusual.

There's something else weird. Despite the "steal gap", the turnover margin is nonexistent. So the Bucks are, in general, limiting the so-called "unforced errors", but they are getting nabbed by an unusual amount of theft. What's going on?

I'll tell you exactly what's going on. The Bucks are making a point to run their offense through Andrew Bogut. In general, I'm for that. But early in the season, he was very, very careless with his passes. I noticed it when I was doing the TWC boxscore. Nearly every steal the opponents were getting was from Bogut or Villanueva, and mostly Bogut. You got tighten that up, mate.

If you read this blog, you will know that possessions in basketball are like gold. Therefore basketball turnovers are in many ways just as costly as interceptions or fumbles in football... but we rarely acknowledge their costliness because, compared to football, there are so many more possessions in basketball. But just because there are more doesn't mean any of them are less valuable. They're not.