Bogut - as Table Two indicates - is Milwaukee’s most productive player. Despite his new contract, though, he’s not the highest paid player on this team. Even after his new contract kicks in next year, his pay will still lag behind the compensation of Richard Jefferson and Michael Redd. Not surprisingly, Jefferson and Redd lead the Bucks in points scored per game. But both players are below average with respect to WP48 (and this was true last year as well).
Before moving on to Okafor, let’s quickly note that the Bucks have improved in 2008-09. Given what the players have done in the past the Bucks should have expected to be on pace to win 26 games this year (what they won last year). The performance of this team this year, though, is consistent with a team that will win about half their games.
About one-third of this improvement can be tied to the play of Bogut. Although Bogut has taken a step forward, the biggest leap can be seen in the play of Luke Ridnour. Ridnour’s WP48 was 0.125 as a starter in Seattle in both 2004-05 and 2005-06. When Ridnour stopped starting on a regular basis, though, his performance fell into below average territory. This season he has been returned to the starting line-up and his WP48 has risen to 0.147.
In addition to Ridnour and Bogut, the Bucks are also getting an above average performance from Ramon Sessions and a nearly average performance from Luc Mbah a Moute. Each of these players was a recent second round selection. Their play suggests that someone in Milwaukee knows something about drafting players. Then again, these same people selected Joe Alexander and Yi Jianlian in the first round. Both of these players have been below average NBA players, so maybe Milwaukee still has some issues in its scouting department.
Direct link to Bucks roster ranked by Berri's formula:
http://www.wagesofwins.com/Bucks310809.html
