Bucks 4th in NBA in Youth Contribution VOE

[LUKE23]

Found this column interesting. Basically looks at how teams develop youth, using actual vs. expected win contributions of the players. Bucks are 4th in the league by this metric.

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story/_/ ... fresh=true

Milwaukee Bucks

Coach: Jason Kidd
Players 25 or under: Jabari Parker, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Brandon Knight, John Henson, Kendall Marshall, Khris Middleton, Nate Wolters
VOE: plus-1.61, No. 4

One of the common complaints about out-and-out tank jobs like the one in Philadelphia is that even if you're able to bring in high-level talent, those players are reared in a losing culture that will lower their eventual ceilings. That's hard, if not impossible, to quantify, but I personally don't put a lot of credence in that notion. Has four years of losing held back Kyrie Irving now that he's got elite talent around him? Did the struggles of the Sonics/Thunder early in Kevin Durant's career derail his development?

One of the remarkable things about Kidd's job so far with the Bucks is that he's been able to skirt the fence between development and playing to win now. He's done this by starting Milwaukee's top three young players -- Jabari Parker, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Brandon Knight -- along with young veterans Larry Sanders and, most recently, O.J. Mayo, while leaning on a veteran bench.

In that way, the Bucks have stayed in the top six of the East all season while still giving their youngsters plenty of time to work on their games. Parker, Antetokounmpo and Knight have all outperformed their forecasts, as has reserve John Henson, who has struggled with injuries. Under-25 guards Kendall Marshall and Khris Middleton are just a hair under forecast but have played meaningful roles at times.

Ranking teams by youth contribution

VOE: value (in wins) produced over expectation from players under age 25
Rank Team VOE
1 Golden State Warriors +4.18
2 Boston Celtics +2.19
3 Toronto Raptors +1.86
4 Milwaukee Bucks +1.61

[paulpressey25]

Seems like a goofy made up statistic. That said it does bring up the issue of young cores and where ours ranks.

Feel like we are in much better shape than most of those teams. I do like though how Boston took a flyer on Zeller and is is paying off. I'd wonder if the Jazz would ever deal Kanter and what the price would be.

ETA:Scratch that on Kanter. He's averaging 17/10 in December and breaking out at least offensively. We missed that window if there ever was one.

[old skool]

Some NBA team ranks 4th in the metric that measures which team has the shortest average height. That does not mean that the team is short.

Age 25 seems to be an odd cutoff for "youth", when those players can be in their 4th or 5th year in the league.

And the Kylie Irving example shows that you don't need to develop young players WITH savvy veterans. You just add a couple of All Stars, including the single most dominant player in the game, in lieu of any development effort.

Sent from my SPH-L720 using RealGM Forums mobile app

[CannondaleF400]

I bet the Bucks are first for players under 21

[ReasonablySober]

Some NBA team ranks 4th in the metric that measures which team has the shortest average height. That does not mean that the team is short.

Age 25 seems to be an odd cutoff for "youth", when those players can be in their 4th or 5th year in the league.

And the Kylie Irving example shows that you don't need to develop young players WITH savvy veterans. You just add a couple of All Stars, including the single most dominant player in the game, in lieu of any development effort.

Sent from my SPH-L720 using RealGM Forums mobile app

NBA primes are usually 26-29, so I get it.

[Badgerlander]

Seems like a goofy made up statistic. That said it does bring up the issue of young cores and where ours ranks.

Feel like we are in much better shape than most of those teams. I do like though how Boston took a flyer on Zeller and is is paying off. I'd wonder if the Jazz would ever deal Kanter and what the price would be.

ETA:Scratch that on Kanter. He's averaging 17/10 in December and breaking out at least offensively. We missed that window if there ever was one.

Not necessarily. The thing is that Favors + Kanter doesn't seem to be working, Gobert is better than Kanter defensively and is more efficient offensively, plus Kanter is going to get paid next summer. If Kanter isn't a long term fit they may want to move him rather than pay him. While I do think that O'Quinn is a better fit for us with his passing ability, but I also think that Ersan+Zaza would be great for Kanter's development and Kanter is more of an offensive and rebounding beast than O'Quinn. It's probably all a wash anyway as we have Henson for another season and JOB looks like he has lost more weight so unless somebody makes us an offer for one of them that we cant turn down I doubt that we make a move.