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| 'Good job, good shooting, bro!' (Getty Images) |
I want the Brandon Jennings-Monta Ellis combination to work when I watch the Bucks. Just from a basketball aesthetics and theoretical constructs standpoint, I want it to be what it was envisioned to be when the Bucks traded Andrew Bogut for Ellis: Jennings as shot-taker and creator, drawing opponents and then dishing to Ellis, who can either spot-up or create his own with the space provided, as the Bucks' legion of big men cut and swoop and dash off screens and onto the glass.
But, alas, as surprisingly fun as the Bucks are a lot of the time, their two best players are pretty terrible offensively. Jennings is shooting 39.5 percent from the field this season, Ellis 39.9. But there are plenty of guards who don't shoot well and are still considered good offensive players (hello, J.R. Smith). The problem is that not only are the two lacking in efficiency, but they are high-volume bad shooters. And we mean high volume. From Bucksketball.com:
I wondered how many times our lovelies Brandon Jennings and Monta Ellis had “bad shooting nights” of 15+ FGA at less than 40 percent. This is what I found.
So ... you know ... gross.
Westbrook's notable there. Pierce isn't surprising; neither is Rudy Gay. But Jennings and Ellis are on the same team!
The Bucks seem intent on letting Jennings wander off in restricted free agency, and have made noise about not trading Ellis. The fact is unless Ellis shows some sign that with a true creator point guard he would start to work more as a spot-up man, and do so efficiently, he needs to be considered trade bait. They both freelance way too much.
And on top of that, they keep shooting! At some point, after you've shot so poorly for 10 shots, don't you think maybe it's time to chill out? Either way, the Bucks are close to having a model that works, but this, their most important function, is a pretty big disaster.
