Brandon Jennings will have to wait another season to become an All-Star. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Everything was set up perfectly. This would be the first year since 2004 that the Milwaukee Bucks would have an All-Star. Derrick Rose has been out all season. The Celtics have struggled, the Sixers have struggled and the Cavs have been the Cavs. Opposing point guards are playing on bad teams and in tiebreaker scenarios, coaches always seem to favor players on good teams over players on bad teams come All-Star selection time.

Finally, the Bucks would have an All-Star again.

That was what a lot of people in Milwaukee were thinking Thursday morning.

Well you were all wrong. The Bucks still are without star. Their best candidate, Brandon Jennings, will be watching the league’s best players from home, just like the rest of us.

Specifically, he’ll probably be watching Jrue Holiday. Selected seven picks after Jennings in 2009, the Philadelphia guard has now leapt over his competitor into what most saw as the final guard spot on the Eastern Conference All-Star team. 

With that said, it’s only right to take a look at the play of these two young guards from throughout this season. I know, many Bucks fans are ranting about how Jennings was snubbed but was he really snubbed or was Jrue really just better and more deserving? 

Wins aren’t everything.

There are many factors that go into the selection of an all-star. One of the big factors that come up in any sports is the “wins” argument. You have really good players, then you have All-Stars. There is a difference between the two.

All-Stars are great players that are capable of leading teams to wins while improving the state of a franchise. A great example of an All-Star would be a player like Kyrie Irving, who is quickly bringing the Cleveland Cavaliers back to respectability, even with the current level of talent around him. While the Cavs are still terrible, they at least can realistically sell the hope of Irving’s preternatural talent at the helm of that team.

In this case here, the Bucks (22-18) stand six games ahead of the Sixers (17-25). Yet, Holiday is selected over Jennings. For anyone feeling that Holiday shouldn’t have gotten in over Jennings may need to take a look at Holiday’s impressive season thus far. It’s possible the gap between Holiday and Jennings was great enough that wins weren’t really a factor, much in the way Irving was so good, it was impossible to exclude him.

Holiday has been a drastically improved player this year,.  Currently, Holiday is statistically better in Jennings in scoring (slightly), rebounding and assists. (Holiday: 19 ppg, 9 apg, 4.2 rpg. Jennings: 18.7 ppg, 5.8 apg, 3.5 apg.) It’s almost more impressive that Holiday’s been able to pass out nine assists every night with such a poor offensive team around him.

Head to Head.

Even without the record numbers, the Bucks are simply a better team than Philly. Currently 2-0 against their East-Coast counterparts, Milwaukee has shown no brotherly love to Philly. In their two head-to-head match-ups, Jennings torched the Holiday and the Sixers, as he should have, because they (PHI) aren’t that good. They have some moderately talented to slightly above average players like the Youngs, Nick and Thaddeus, Spencer Hawes and Jason Richardson, but they’re a mess of a construction and very poor defensively.

November 12th, Milwaukee took the first game in Philadelphia 105-96.  Jennings took it to Philadelphia with an all-around performance, scoring 33 with eight assists and five boards. Holiday held his own that day, scoring 25 with six assists. Then in Milwaukee on January 22, the Bucks would win 110-102 behind Jennings’ 25 points and seven assists. Holiday struggled that night, shooting 3 of 12 from the field with nine points and eight turnovers.

Head-to head games don’t really mean anything in terms of the selection of All-Stars but Jennings has taken it to the All-Star Holiday both times this year that they faced-off. Just something to keep in mind.

Consistency is key… to an All-Star berth.

I mentioned quite a bit of scoring and individual performances up to this point. Of course basketball isn’t just about who scored what and against who. This applies even more when looking at All-Stars and who deserved to get in and who didn’t. The difference between these two is defense and consistent offensive output.

Right now, Jennings is third in the NBA in steals. Outside of that,  Holiday has been the superior guard defensively. When Jennings is in at point guard, opponents, per 48 minutes, have an eFG% of 50 percent and an efficiency rating of 16.9 while averaging 21 points. When Holiday is in at point guard, opponents are a bit less productive per 48 minutes, with an eFG% of 46 percent,  a 14.2 PER while averaging 19 points. And, as a reminder, Jennings plays on the superior defensive team as a whole.

Will Brandon Jennings ever make an All-Star roster? (Sam Forencich/NBAE Getty Images)

One of the big differences I’ve noticed this year out about Jennings and Holiday was that Jennings tends to have those games where he would just lay an egg. You never know when they are coming, but they do. One night Jennings is super efficient offensively then the next time out, he is scoring two points. In the six games when Jennings scored ten points or fewer, the Bucks went 1-5. Holiday has scored ten or fewer only twice this season.

Jennings is an improved player this year, especially over the past 10 or so games, but he hasn’t been quite as consistent as Holiday offensively or defensively. Ultimately, it appears that was the difference.

I’m sure that many would say that Brandon Jennings got snubbed in this year’s All-Star voting. I would suggest that those people take a look at Holiday’s and even Irving’s numbers. Those are two guys that deserved the spots that they earned. Jennings has been great this year too, it’s just that he isn’t quite the total package to be an all-star point guard. Only time will tell if he ever will be.

What do you all think? Will Brandon Jennings ever make an All-Star roster?

Phoenix was easy. Now Boylan gets his first real test as head coach. (Photo by Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images)

Jim Boylan is now at the helm of the Milwaukee Bucks’ ship and he is riding into a storm. He is going to get tested early.

The Milwaukee Bucks ushered in the regime of their new head coach with a 108-99 victory over the lowly Phoenix Suns, the Western Conference’s second worst team.

While the opinion of the team going forward shouldn’t be defined by Tuesday’s result, there were some very encouraging things to take note of. Brandon Jennings made more shots than usual and seemed comfortable with picking spots to score and spots to get others involved.  He even threw a couple of nice alley-oops to Larry Sanders and John Henson, which may be a wrinkle to look for in the next few games.

The team seemed to be a bit more relaxed and, I kid you not, there were a few smiles at certain junctures of the game, mainly when Sanders blocked a shot out of bounds and, how shall we put it, “searched for it,” much to everyone’s amusement. The Bucks, and Sanders especially, were a spectacle on Tuesday.

The Bulls (19-13) sit at 2^nd in the Central, 2.5 games ahead of the Bucks.  If the Bucks want to stick around in this division race, then consistent, high-energy efforts need to become more of a mainstay in the season, especially considering the two teams in front of them in the Central are holding things down until their injured stars can return (which isn’t so far down the road for Chicago).  The time is now for the Bucks if they are serious about contending for this division and/or a playoff spot.

Key Matchup:

Carlos Boozer versus the Bucks’ frontcourt. While many criticize Carlos Boozer for oftentimes not playing up to this contract, he has been playing exceptionally well. Well enough to sneak up on a Bucks team that is already distracted with a lot their own problems. The Bulls have been surging, winners of four of their last five. Boozer has been the key here. Over his past three games Boozer has been at his best, averaging 27.3 points, 11.3 rebounds while shooting 60 percent from the field. If the Bucks can contain Boozer, look for their chances to drastically improve in this one.

Bulls: What to watch for

Unlike the Bucks, the Bulls have strung together a nice little run as of late. Again, Carlos Boozer is playing well and the defensive efforts of Tom Thibodeau and his staff has Chicago the third stingiest defense in the NBA. Opponents average about 91 points against Chicago. It really just depends on if that defense will affect Jennings and Monta Ellis. You really don’t know what to expect with those two but what you CAN expect is for Thibs to have his guys ready for tonight defensively.

Bucks: What to watch for

How will the Bucks react to the win over Phoenix?

As our own John Hartzell put it, the Bucks react to momentum like … something that doesn’t react to momentum.  This team struggles to build on anything that led to traces of optimism from the previous game.  They’re also not very consistent.  Consider this:  the Bucks are 7-2 in the first leg of a back-to-back game, but only 2-6 in the second game.  Factors like travel and minute loads certainly play a factor in these games, but the Bucks usually come out flat in game two, something they can’t afford against the division foe Chicago Bulls.

(Jeremy’s Note: Probably because momentum from game to game is largely something created by the media in search of narratives to write about because they hate having to write “They missed/made shots”. Today might be the last day you see the word momentum on this website.)

Where and when?

Fox Sports Wisconsin at 7:00pm.

Random thought of the game

Soooo….. Derrick Rose is almost back and this is all the progression the Bucks have made in the Central? Oh, OR if Chicago is this good post-Skiles, will the Bucks be too? Choose one.

Prediction

Quasi-low scoring affair. Bulls 97, Bucks 87.

This preview was co-authored by Tony Atkins and Eric Buenning.

The National Basketball Association announced today that Bucks guard Monta Ellis has been named Eastern Conference Player of the Week for games played Dec. 24-30. The honor is the third of Ellis’ career and his first as a member of the Milwaukee Bucks. Ellis won his first two Player of the Week Awards with the Golden State Warriors, the second of which came in his final week with the club before last season’s trade that brought him to Milwaukee.

Ellis is the second Bucks player of the week this season. (Photo by Allen Einstein/NBAE via Getty Images)

Over the course of the week, which saw the Bucks go 2-1, Ellis averaged 21 points, 8 assists and 4 steals. Ellis, who is often criticized for his high volume shooting, shot just about 47 percent from the field (46.7) and 57 percent from beyond the arc. The 30-point effort in Sunday’s loss at Detroit gave Ellis his fifth 30-point game this season, giving him the seventh highest total of 30-point games in the league this season.

Ellis’ impressive run comes right on the heels of an atrocious outing against the Memphis Grizzlies where he scored 4 points on 1-14 FG.

One other thing that stood out about Ellis’ week was his solid defense. Ellis had six steals agianst Brooklyn and five against Miami three days later. This was the first time in Ellis’ career that he has five or more thefts in consecutive games. You could say that Ellis truly had it all last week.

Ellis is the second Bucks player to earn the award this season, Brandon Jennings was the other after the season’s first week.

Ellis’ stats over last week

vs. BKN: 7-14, 20 points. 7 assists. 6 steals.

vs. MIA: 6-18, 14 points. 9 assists. 5 steals.

at DET: 12-22, 30 points. 9 assists. 4 rebounds.

Last time the Bucks played the Miami Heat, they took it to the defending champs but ended up losing 113-106. It was a pretty amazing until the very end where Miami (LeBron James specifically) came back to take the game to overtime where the differences between the Bucks and the Heat were a bit more clear. Miami was not playing around in overtime.

The Bucks fell just short last month in Miami. (Issac Baldizon/NBAE via Getty Images)

It’s almost two months into the NBA season and the once upstart Bucks aren’t as hot as they once were. Things have changed. In the last meeting with Miami, the Bucks got a huge 17-point, 18-rebound effort from rookie John Henson. Aside from Henson and the usual suspects Brandon Jennings and Monta Ellis, Tobias Harris and Mike Dunleavy were big contributors who turned in solid performances. Even Samuel Dalembert got into the fray with a solid ten points and five rebounds, and his first THREE BALL!

Since then, Harris has been dealing with a gashed elbow and Dalembert has dropped off the face of Scott Skiles’ Earth. Henson, the promising young forward, has gotten lost in the shuffle as well. He got rotation minutes in the six games following his impact performance over the Heat, but has seen only garbage minutes in Milwaukee’s past 11 games.

Jennings over Chalmers. Expect some of this. (Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)

When Milwaukee took Miami down to the wire on November 21, I quickly chalked it up as a “moral victory” and expected for there to be a more exciting game in their Milwaukee showdown. The Bucks as a team certainly learned from the last Miami loss but some of the key contributors from that time aren’t as important heading into this game. I honestly don’t expect for Milwaukee to back down by any means but I don’t know what to expect at all from this rematch.

From the Miami angle, Dwayne Wade is returning from his one-game suspension for kicking Bobcats guard Ramon Sessions in the groin. Without Wade, Lebron James and the Heat came up short against the Detroit Pistons and they’ll surely be invested in Saturday night’s meeting.

The Bucks have been pretty Jekyll and Hyde so far this season. Sometimes they make shots, sometimes they don’t. Much of their performance is predicated on that shot making. But Milwaukee hung tough with the Heat despite a poor shooting night in late November. They were a different kind of Jekyll that night.

With all of the changes between that last matchup and now, who knows what we’ll see out there?

The Bucks have talent. Will they finally put it all together? (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)

The first half to the NBA season hasn’t quite been the start that Bucks fans expected. Inconsistent play from the stars of the backcourt and more than a handful of lackluster team performances quickly killed the buzz Milwaukee started the season with. Even with all of that, the Bucks are sixth in the Eastern Conference and have shown that they are capable of competing with the best … at least on some nights.

It hasn’t been the prettiest way to 14-12, but it is a season that has Milwaukee standing ahead of teams like Boston, Brooklyn and Philadelphia. This season also has seen amazing performances from unsuspecting players like Larry Sanders, which was probably a Santa pre-order request or something from our own Jon Hartzell.

In all seriousness, there’s a lot of room to improve for Milwaukee moving forward. There is so much potential. Hopefully, this post and some sugar cookies from up under the Bucksketball tree may be all Bucks fans need to sway Santa and see their team improve moving down the stretch this season.

With that said, here are four things that should be on the Bucks’ Christmas list this year.

4.  Health

It wouldn’t be a Bucks winter without someone of value being unable to play due to injury.

In years prior, it was an Andrew Bogut migraine here or an Andrew Bogut broken everything there. If there was anything I’ve learned from those injuries, it’s that I sincerely wished they could never ever happen because the Bucks seem quite incapable of fixing them in a timely manner.

This year, the quiet loss of Beno Udrih has been the injury culprit. While Udrih isn’t going to push the Bucks to a conference finals on his own, his role, and his lovely PUJITS (Pull Up Jumper In Transition – get used to it), are very important to this team. Actually, having him on the court is important, period. With Udrih out, the Bucks have only three true guards on the roster, with starters Brandon Jennings and Monta Ellis being both undersized and maddeningly inconsistent. Without Udrih’s presence, the Bucks are forced to extend BJellis’ minutes, and with how inconsistent they’ve been, that should send Bucks fans running for the hills.

3. The Ersan Ilyasova that earned $32 Million

First of all, Ersan Ilyasova is beginning to find himself … a little bit. Over the last ten games, Ersan is averaging about ten points and six rebounds a night. This is definitely a step in the right direction, but it’s not nearly enough for someone who just earned $32 million last summer.

Ersan. Sitting a little more than $32 million would suggest. (Photo by Gary DineenNBAE via Getty Images)

Sanders has emerged, Epke Udoh is coming along as well and Ersan is in danger of getting lost in the shuffle at power forward. Ers has been the beneficiary of John Henson’s reduction of minutes and Samuel Dalembert not playing at ALL due to being abducted by aliens or something. He’s gaining confidence and he’s even gotten his shooting percentage up over the last ten games, shooting 43 percent. But that still hasn’t been enough. Santa, please help.

2. The backcourt to become real leaders, and not just “lead by talent”

More backcourt disdain! We’re all about it!  Jennings and Ellis are arguably the two most talented players on the roster, and thus everyone has anointed them the leaders of the team.  While that seems logical, it’s frustrating.

There are long stretches of times in games where, if Jennings is cold, he’ll just float around the perimeter and not be heard from until someone needs a late in the shot clock three-pointer attempted. Ellis can be just as frustrating when he goes “long two happy” in the midst of a “lukewarm check.” (Lukewarm check = heat check in the head, meh on the court.)

There is scoring. But then what? (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)

Now, if these two want the attention and praise that some feel they deserve, they should become able to actually LEAD the team and not just be the best players on the team. Ellis is an underrated passer and both he and Jennings have supreme quickness that they can use to their advantage to create opportunities for the other players. With that quickness, they should be able to create good looks for the other guys on the court, and sometimes that is better than having this backcourt try to shoot the team back into a game.

If Ellis wants the respect of a legit All-Star, not just a scorer and if Jennings wants to prove he’s worthy of a near-max contract, then they both have to find a way to make themselves more complete players. Just because you can get hot here and there doesn’t mean you can lead a team.

1. An answer or direction

We’ve all come to know and love over this nine seed machine that is the Milwaukee Bucks. For years, they have brought in players to accompany their “big guy.” Players like Richard Jefferson, Cory Maggette, John Salmons, Stephen Jackson and now Ellis have been brought in and so far, none of these players have achieved much success as a Buck. Ellis has had good games, but we will have to see how he does down the stretch and potentially in the playoffs. They have been looking for the answer, but to no avail.

What’s peculiar about this team is that the answer is simple, and it boils down to two decisions.

There is simply no more room for tinkering with this roster, because the evidence is stockpiling in suggesting that it’s not working. What the Bucks can hope for in these winter months is that the needle will point one way or the other.

Will they be able to find enough potential in the core of this roster to go after a bigger name that can come in and help make a semi-serious push for and through the playoffs?  Or will they be able to realize that the core has been tapped out and begin the fire sale? (This is outside of a few young big men, LRMAM, and Doron Lamb.) While neither option offers to provide astonishing returns, it will be better than finishing 1.5 games back of the 8th seed come April.

In the end…

With all of that said, the Bucks are still the sixth seed for what it’s worth and have shown that they can compete with the best. They have beaten Boston three out of four times, nearly beat Miami and have had some excellent individual performances as well. On the other hand, this team can make your hair fall out with some of the on-court “boneheadery” at times.

As far as the Bucks go at this point, all you can do this holiday season is sit, eat cookies and watch. Only time will tell if Santa hears our cries and grants Bucks fans these gifts of improvement. Please make them better. That would be great.

What do you think should be on the Bucks’ Christmas list this year? 

Here is Pryzbilla NOT throwing the ball at the ref. (Photo courtesy of Getty Images)

According to Stu Jackson, NBA Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations, Przybilla will be suspended one game without pay for throwing the basketball and hitting a referee late in Saturday’s debacle.

Przybilla will serve his one-game suspension against a Pacers team that is loaded in the frontcourt. This means Milwaukee will be down a big as they try to move three games over .500 on the season. In their last meeting with Indiana, Przybilla played six minutes and grabbed four rebounds.

After getting off to a hot 6-2 start, the Bucks have dropped three of their last four to Chicago, Miami and – get this, the Charlotte Bobcats. With twelve games in the books, the Bucks stand at 7-5 and have shown a lot of heart in both their wins and their losses. They have been playing HARD for forty-eight minutes every night so far this season. A prime example of that grit was showcased in overcoming a 27-point deficit against Chicago on Monday.

(Photo by Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images)

The Bucks have shown that they can compete against some of the best in close losses against Boston, Miami and Chicago. Without a doubt, they are improving and I still expect them to be in the playoff bracket somewhere when that time comes. They are young and they are experiencing some early growing pains. As a blogger and a lifetime fan of this organization, these losses have been very deflating for me, I can only imagine the frustrations that are brewing in the locker room.

But there have been some early season issues that need specific addressing.

1. Ersan Ilyasova’s struggles

Ersan Ilyasova, the man who received that four-year, $32 million (guaranteed) deal over the summer is not looking good at all thus far. In Saturday’s game against Chicago, he didn’t box out, making Carlos Boozer look like Dennis Rodman on the boards. He looked out of place, lost, scared to shoot, all of that. The (not so) silver lining about his performance on Saturday is that he scored what he averages… six points.

I know all about Ersan’s 18-point, six-rebound effort off of the bench on Monday. It was great. It really was. Perhaps, a sixth-man role will suit both him and the team better. John Henson was pretty solid in his first start.

Prior to Monday, it was eleven rough games for Ilyasova and now he has the ever-so-improving Larry Sanders, Epke Udoh and Henson all breathing down his neck for minutes. Minutes are being split and it’s clear that this isn’t the same Ersan Ilyasova that we saw at the end of last year. Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel recently took a look at Ersan’s recent struggles and this is what Ersan said about Scott Skiles‘ allocation of minutes between this and last year.

“We had just three or four guys last year and we knew our minutes. It was kind of stable.”

Unstable minutes or not, Ilyasova needs to make shots when he’s open. Perhaps Monday was the confidence boost that he needed.

When it comes to shooting from the field, the confidence issue has again plagued him. Last year, Ersan netted a new deal while shooting 49 percent from the field and an incredible 45 percent from three. That sort of percentage from deep was insane and we shouldn’t expect that efficiency but his current levels should be as difficult to expect to continue going forward. This year, his field goal percentage had dipped to a pedestrian 35 percent overall and 22 percent from three. Here is a look at Ilyasova’s shooting this season.

$32 Million?

2. Late game situations FAILS

This team isn’t doing well in late game situations against quality opponents. Milwaukee used some late game heroics to top the Cavs in the home opener and out-executed the Hornets not so long ago, but quality teams have given the Bucks fits when the game has been close late. Over the three-game losing streak, Milwaukee has shot roughly 37 percent in the fourth quarter.

Against Charlotte, Milwaukee led by as much as eleven late but struggled to hit shots. Down two, on the Bucks final possession Monta Ellis took a twenty-seven foot shot with five seconds left. He missed and the Bucks lost.

Against Miami, Milwaukee overcame an 18-point deficit and even built a late, 7-point lead of their own. Eventually Miami came back to tie the game and then… Ellis took a twenty-three foot shot with the score tied at 98.

Notice a trend here? There has to be another way than just chucking up long jumpers out of pick and roll or isolations late. This team plays way too hard to lose on these horrid, live-or-die long jumpers. Surely you noticed some of Milwaukee’s biggest baskets against the Bulls on Monday came right at the hoop. An “and-1″ layup from Ilyasova. A difficult fake and finish off a pick and roll from Udoh. Those were 23-footers, they were 2-footers that the Bulls didn’t see coming.

Monta Ellis and Brandon Jennings are the unquestioned leaders of this team and they are the go-to scorers in the clutch. A big part of the Bucks’ fourth quarter failures falls on their shoulders. Ellis went 1 for 10 total in those fourth quarter “clutch situations” over those three games. (Clutch situation: The final 5 minutes or under, when the score is within five either way.) This doesn’t really say TOO much considering these shooting percentages are spread over three different games which had three entirely different scenarios. Even with that however, this is pretty inefficient shooting in crucial moments of games, especially for a scorer like Ellis.

Jennings has been even worse in these situations, going 0-4 down the stretch in these three games.  As the team’s leader,  Jennings needs to be more assertive in the clutch, whether it’s orchestrating more off pick and rolls or finding a way to get to the rim himself. Letting the offense bog down into 20-foot chuck mode isn’t great point guard play.

In Monday’s Bulls rematch, notice that both Ellis and Jennings sat as the Bucks took that win. (GO DORON LAMB!) From a non-statistical angle for a second, I think that it was great seeing the stars cheer the bench guys on to victory. That was amazing and shows the character of this team.

Lets talk about Monday

It was great seeing the Bucks climb out from that 27-point hole and win a big division rematch. During the game, Jim Paschke pointed out that the Bucks scoring drop-off from the first to the second half is second to last in the league, only ahead of the Brooklyn Nets.

Milwaukee’s reserves outscored Chicago’s 56-10 on Monday (Photo by Ray Amati/NBAE via Getty Images)

While coming back from down 27 is great and all, THE BUCKS WERE DOWN 27 IN THE FIRST PLACE!

It was a very slow start but they really got it together, obviously, with the win and all. The depth of this roster is one of the strengths of this team and they showed it on Monday. It was a great night for depth but against a Chicago Bulls team without Derrick Rose, a one-point win and  a combined 16 points from Jennings and Ellis isn’t going to sustain. Don’t get me wrong, they are doing fine and their stats look nice at surface-level. We need to see more out of these two when it counts. To the defense of Jennings, his ankle hurts. He gets a pass.

The Bucks will be tested this week as they face Carmelo Anthony and the red-hot New York Knicks at home, followed by a quick stop to Minnesota and another home game against Boston.

Monta’s 26 weren’t enough for Milwaukee against Toronto. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Chris Young)

The NBA preseason isn’t the time for fans to push the panic button by any means. It’s a time however, where strengths and weakness begin to show for every team. That being said, a couple of familiar concerns popped up in the Milwaukee Bucks’ 104-95 loss to the Toronto Raptors.

Tonight was not good. Each half began well and ended poorly. The Bucks began each half with steals, fast break points and solid defense. However, as soon as that bench hit the floor in each half, it got real … ugly.

This game brought on an array of frustrating sequences on Raptors’ possessions. Toronto attacked the rim. The presence of Samuel Dalembert showed when he was playing. The problem was when he was taken out. The Raptors exposed his absence with relentless attacking of the rim. When they attacked, they found their fortune by drawing the Milwaukee defense in and kicking it out to the open man. Andrea Bargnani and Amir Johnson were just some of the beneficiaries of this attack, finishing with 17 and 10 respectively.

While the Raps attacked, the Bucks elected to shoot from the perimeter. Believe it or not, that didn’t work out quite so well. The Bucks shooting just over 40 percent, making 37-92 from the field. Sad to say, those shooting numbers may have been a bit inflated as result of a hot start turning into a game of chucking shots up.

A main concern with the Bucks roster is the size of the guards. When the Raps had the ball, DeMar DeRozan took advantage of the smaller guards, scoring 21 points on 7 of 10 shooting.

Monta Ellis put up points, as he often does. The issue was more with the matter in which he did it. There were stretches where he would just run up the court in shoot the ball like he had a “Gamebreaker” on NBA Street. Granted, those were amazing shots when they went in, but then the well ran dry and the Bucks were in bad shape with him looking to regain that rhythm. This is the Monta Ellis Experience.

Brandon Jennings wasn’t quite as aggressive attacking the rim against Toronto but he did get the ball to the hot man and managed to rack up 10 assists. The 10 assists were nice, but Jennings did finish 3-15 from the field.

To further the problem with tonight’s play was the problem rebounding. While it began as a fairly even rebounding game, Toronto pulled away 49-40 on the boards, handing the Bucks another woeful rebounding night. Again, this became a problem when Dalembert was resting. But this has been a repeated problem for the Bucks, as they’ve now been out-rebounded in each of the past four games.

The CAN’T MISS issue here was bench production. Mike Dunleavy did his part as expected, coming off of the bench with 21 points and five rebounds. Other than that, Milwaukee bench looked stagnant as the rest of the reserves scored 14 points combined.

It’s only the preseason, so Bucks fans shouldn’t be pressing the panic button. But still there are real problems that were evident in this game. Bench production, attacking the rim, rebounding and shot selection. Oh, and defense. Always defense. While bench production shouldn’t be too much of an issue given that depth is supposed to be a relative strength of this team, the other issues seem like serious ones. Welcome to the future, it’s awfully similar to the past.

The Bucks take on Bobcats in Charlotte Thursday. The Raptors take travel to Memphis to take on the Grizzlies Thursday.

WAIT! IT’S NOT OVER: A FEW NOTES ON TONIGHT’S GAME

•  The starters were solid overall, Samuel Dalembert was a center playing center, something that the Bucks haven’t had in a while. He reeled in 11 boards and did his job.

•  Tobias Harris struggled with three points and four rebounds as a starter.

• Ellis himself began each half on fire but I was concerned that the quick start would translate into an inefficient, high scoring night. He finished with a cool 26 points on a not-so-cool 11 of 24 shooting.

• Ersan Ilyasova had another strong night, scoring 19 and bringing down 7 boards.

• Toronto got off to an 8-0 run in the fourth, would ultimately outscore the Bucks in the final quarter 30-18.

• Toronto’s Jonas Valanciunas was impressive tonight with 10 points and 8 boards. Look out for that guy.

Milwaukee Bucks: Your ticket … to the postseason?

After bringing in solid veteran players like Sam Dalembert and promising rookies like John Henson, this year could be different … right? Just where do the Bucks stand in the Central Division as of now. Let’s take a look at the Bucks’ chances against the division.

CAVALIERS versus BUCKS

The Bucks aren’t expected to have much trouble with the Cavs this year.

Cleveland is a team with some talented players. Key word there is “some.” They are just … not so loaded on experience and will need time to grow before they are anything resembling a contender, or even a division champ.

Kyrie Irving is a rare talent and could be a star in this league. The problem here is that he lacks much of a supporting cast. Anderson Varejao and Tristan Thompson could only get you so far. In terms of depth, this team is shallower than a back yard blow up pool. I like the Cavs, they definitely are moving forward but they have to get some more guys if they want to get better. The Bucks are definitely better than Cleveland. Better scorers, better defenders and more depth. Sorry Drew Carey.

PISTONS versus BUCKS

Samuel Dalembert will be vital in the Bucks having a presence down low.

The once mighty Detroit Pistons of this basketball generation are gone. Richard Hamilton is gone. Chauncey Billups, Ben & Rasheed Wallace, gone. Impulsive and/or expensive experiments with veterans like Ben Gordon, Allen Iverson and Charlie Villanueva have or are looking to be on the verge of potential failure.  Last season, they began the season with a 4-20 record en-route to a fourth place finish. The Pistons are likely to finish at or near the bottom of this division this year.

The Bucks are and will be a better basketball team than the Pistons without a doubt THIS year. The thing is, but for how long? The Pistons have really good young players like Andre Drummond, Austin Daye and Greg Monroe. Johnny Flynn should also help Pistons offense that averaged a pedestrian 90 points per game last year. The Pistons are a young, overlooked team that could rise in due time. At the moment, the Bucks manhandled the Pistons 108-91 on Oct. 13 showing what the current state of this rivalry is.

If the Pistons continue to develop their young players correctly and that offense improves, the Motown players will be alright. As far as where the Bucks stand in the division today, I think it is safe to say that it is somewhere ahead of Detroit.

PACERS versus BUCKS

Roy Hibbert was a big part in the Pacers being fourth in rebounding last season.

When I actually got a chance to sit down and ask myself if the Bucks could be the best team in the division, I’ll admit, I said yes. Then I broke down and wrote this. Now, not so much.

Indiana has steadily improved over the years, mainly because they are a team with players who know and play their roles well. Danny Granger is the unquestioned leader of the bunch. There are the stars that can go off on any given night in David West and Roy Hibbert. The depth is incredible here! Paul George, D.J. Augustin, Tyler “Psycho T” Hansbrough and George Hill are all very serviceable and have proven themselves at their respective positions.

Last season, the Bucks were a smaller team and they have gotten some size and depth this year. The question is are they in the same ballpark as the Pacers who were 10^th in points allowed and the fourth best rebounding team in the league a year ago. Probably not, but it’s not unfathomable. The key to the Bucks being near, at or above the level of the Pacers will depend on how they match up with depth and size down low. The Bucks could possibly jump Indy in the division but I wouldn’t bet a steak dinner on it. (See: Buenning, Eric)

BULLS versus BUCKS

Nate Robinson will have to fill in for the inured Derrick Rose at point guard.

Allow me to elaborate. No Rose, no problem for the Chicago Bulls. Many Bucks optimists see the absence of the Bulls’ star Derrick Rose as the shining opportunity for their team to usurp the Central, but it’s really not.

Without Rose, many expect the offense to dip from last year. Even if it does, it wasn’t the best anyways. Last season, Chicago averaged a modest 96 points a night, 18th in the NBA. The real key to Chicago’s success was its stingy defense, top in the league.

Like the Bucks, the Bulls are loaded. Just in a different way. At the guard position, Nate Robinson will do just fine making up for the absence of Rose. He has already lit up on the Bucks in the preseason. On the defensive end, expect high energy players like Joakim Noah and Kirk Hinrich to hold up their end of the bargain. Carlos Boozer, Richard Hamilton, Taj Gibson and Luol Deng will be enough to anchor the Bulls until the return of the leader. My concern about the Bucks versus the Bulls is the size of the guards. One of the opportunities that I see opponents seizing against the Bucks is the small guard problems. Hinrich, Hamilton, Marco Belinelli and Jimmy Butler are all bigger guards and will make things hectic for the smaller Bucks guards.

The Bulls will not be as good this season without Rose, but they still are the class of this division. If the Bucks want to be the team to beat this season, they will have to prove they will be better than Chicago. I haven’t seen that yet.

THE BURNING ANSWER

Brandon wants to know!

It’s still the preseason, so one must be able to control and temper their optimism for the Bucks this year. Same goes for pessimism. Will the Bucks win the division? It isn’t likely, but it isn’t a far cry either. The Bucks are built the same way as the front-runners Chicago and Indiana. They have multiple big men, they have depth, they have scoring and they have a chance.

The other question raised is where exactly the Bucks stand in the division. I have the Bulls winning it becuase of their depth and tenacious defense. I also have the Pacers and Bucks in a tight race for second with a slight edge going to Indiana, the Pistons in fourth due to their young talent and the Cavs in fifth due to their lack of depth and loss of veteran leadership in players like Antawn Jamison.

What do you think? Where do the Bucks stand in this division?