Who's hot, who's not?

November 9, 11:55 PMMilwaukee Bucks ExaminerKris Gilson

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Jennings has surpassed all expectations so far.  (Getty Images)

The Milwaukee Bucks are 3-2, an early surprise for most.  They've gotten major contributions from Brandon Jennings and Andrew Bogut, but guys like Ersan Ilyasova and Carlos Delfino have struggled.  Here's a list of who's hot and who's not for the Bucks.

HOT

• Brandon Jennings
  
  • No matter what your expectations were of the Bucks' 1st round draft pick, he's exceeded them thus far.  He leads all NBA rookies in points per game (18.4) and is second (4.4) to only Golden State's Stephen Curry (5.8) in assists.  If the Bucks were not among the lowest scoring teams in the league, you can bet Jennings' assist numbers would be higher.
• Andrew Bogut
  
  • Andrew got off to a slow start, but has had three consecutive double digit scoring games, his most recent a 22 point, 8 rebound game Saturday night against the Knicks.  He looks 100% healthy after last season's back surgery and should be a double-double machine for the rest of the year.
• Jodie Meeks
  
  • Granted, it was only one game, but Meeks showed his scoring ability on Saturday night, hitting 5 3 pointers en route to 19 points in the win.  Michael Redd's knee injury has opened up some playing time for Jodie and he clearly made the most of it against the Knicks.  Let's hope he can keep it up as long as Redd's hurt.
• The Bucks Defense
  
  • They are the only team in the entire NBA to not give up 100 points yet, believe it or not.  The Bucks have allowed just 85.2 points per game in the early going, good for 2nd in the league, only behind the Boston Celtice at 84.4.  They are number 1 in the league in rebounds per game (47.6) and 6th in steals at 6.4 per game.  Those numbers will probably decrease as the Bucks start to play some better teams, but the defense has been stellar nonetheless.

NOT

• Carlos Delfino
  
  • Carlos has started all four games he's played in (he was suspended for the season opener), but he has yet to really get into a groove.  He's played at least 28 minutes in the past three games, but has scored just 8, 6, and 8 points in those games while shooting only 32.3% from the floor.  One of the knocks on Carlos is that he settles for the 3 too often, and that's been the case in the previous three games, hoisting up 16 3s but making just 5 of them.  Delfino needs to get his shot going if the Bucks want to keep up their winning ways.
• Ersan Ilyasova
  
  • Ilyasova was primed to have a breakout season after spending the last couple in Europe fine-tuning his game, but it just hasn't happened yet.  He has struggled with his shot, shooting just 36.4% through the first five games and just 23.1% from behind the arc.  He's only been getting 16.6 minutes per game, and it is likely that he would produce better if given more minutes.  Coach Skiles won't give him more unless he starts doing better with the ones he's given, so look for Ersan to start picking it up soon.
• Michael Redd
  
  • Michael's knee looked great during the preseason, but that didn't last long as he strained his knee on a dunk in the team's home opener against the Pistons.  He'll be out for another week or so if all goes well.  He's the best scorer on this team, and the Bucks desperately need his offense to win games.  Speaking of the offense...
• The Bucks Offense
  
  • As good as the team's defense has been, the offense has been equally worse.  Averaging the league's 4th worst points per game average at 90.4, they need to start scoring more if they want to keep up their winning ways.  They're not going to be able to hold better teams like the Nuggets, Lakers, Celtics, and Cavs under 90 points very often, if ever, so guys other than Bogut, Redd, and Jennings will need to pick up some of the slack.

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