Q. What makes for a very good NBA offense?

A. A versatile offense capable of driving to the basket, hitting outside shots or tossing it down low to their big-time center – also known as Saturday night’s version of the Milwaukee Bucks (save for the 40 percent shooting).

Earlier this season I resigned myself to the fact that I’d spend the majority of the year watching the Bucks launch difficult jump-shots, occasionally open threes and rarely driving to the hoop if Andrew Bogut didn’t have it going or couldn’t get a good look.  I never felt great about it, but hoped the Bucks tenacious defense would at least keep them in games long enough for them to get hot at some point and win.  After all, 48 minutes of defense in the NBA will get a team a lot of wins.  At this point, it’s starting to look like a few variables have been added to the mix that could drastically alter the course of the Bucks offense going forward.

Variable one is easy enough to figure out: John Salmons. In two games Salmons has shown more attack moves and signs of being the perfect “drive” player in a “drive and kick” game that gets other Bucks open shots (seven assists and five rebounds on Saturday to go with his 19 points!).  In addition, he’s a capable three-point shooter, has the size to finish on the break and has shot more free-throws in two games than other Bucks two guards did in the four games previous.

Variable two:  The Brandon Jennings Roller Coaster.  Jennings has had his ups and downs well documented.  He’s learning the pro game and isn’t just playing for this season.  With that being said, Jennings is going to have some pretty good games the rest of the way, perhaps not as frequently as he did in the first couple weeks, but he will have some and when they happen they’ll be a significant boost to the Bucks offense.  It’s impossible to tell when Jennings’ shooting touch will show up, but that’s just part of the excitement in following the rook.  Here’s to the ups. Read more…