After tonight’s game with the Raptors, the Bucks will have successfully (actually, typically not so successfully) completed 41 games.  Milwaukee sits one game back of the eighth and final playoff spot in the East, with 22 home games and 19 away games the rest of the way.  With that being said, there are some things that I’m especially interested in checking out in act two of the NBA’s season.

1.  The Integration of Stackhouse

How much does the veteran have left?  He looked terrific as a role player type on Wednesday, but that was in his first game in nearly a year, surely it isn’t a true indication of his actual current talent level.  After a few practices and games, it’ll be interesting to see what Stackhouse can bring to the table offensively.  At the very least, I like the idea of having Stack out there at the two spot simply for the extra size he gives the Bucks.  While Charlie Bell can look good at times, there aren’t many twos he can physically match-up with very well.

While I’m not sure the actual relevance of this as I haven’t been in enough NBA locker rooms to really know, it’s supposedly going to benefit many of the Bucks younger players to have another old guy around.  It does make sense to me in theory, he’s someone who’s been through playoff races before, he knows when to feel good and when to feel bad.  He ideally can help calm overreactions to losses and prevent overconfidence after wins.  It’s after the real emotional games that I imagine having Stackhouse should help the Bucks, especially someone as young an emotionally involved as Brandon Jennings. Read more…